Christie Sikubwabo could have played it safe. Employed by Statistics Canada immediately after completing her undergraduate degree, the Ottawa native knew exactly what it meant to be a career civil servant.
“Ottawa is very government focused,” Christie said. “When I worked co-op terms in school, basically all of their resources were catered toward government positions. It’s so accessible, and I feel that naturally everyone kind of just gets sucked into the culture of government work.”
And yet, Christie felt like something was missing.
“In my undergrad, I had taken all of these optional courses in finance and been really interested in them, but there was no opportunity to use any of that knowledge,” she remembered. I was in the government, I was comfortable, and it was good, but I wanted more. I wanted to touch on what I learned in those finance courses.”
That drive to learn more about finance led to Christie exploring more options. She learned about the MFE program at the University of Toronto and attended a virtual information session.
“I attended an open house where they had students talking about the program and they just seemed so impressive,” Christie said. “They were extremely well-spoken, they came across so professionally and well-rounded. I wanted to be like them, so immediately I was sold on the MFE program.”
While the attraction to the program was immediate, COVID-era learning was less compelling.
“My undergraduate degree was impacted by COVID, and I didn’t want to pack up and move to a new city just to sit in my room and do courses online,” she remembered, so I stayed at StatsCan for another year and applied to start the following year. I was already taking a huge risk because Toronto is so expensive, but I wanted to better position myself for a positive experience.”
The return to in-person learning offered Christie the opportunity to fulfill other aspects of her life that had been missing: the chance to be truly involved in her learning community.
“Through high school I was on the student council every single year, but then throughout my undergrad, I hadn’t taken on any student roles,” Christie recalled. “I graduated and thought, ‘wow, I really didn’t do anything, huh?’ I knew I wanted my master’s experience to be different. So when the opportunity came, I applied to be president.”
Her involvement was both noticed and appreciated.
“It was immediately clear to me that Christie was going to be a great fit for the MFE program,” said Jeffrey Ferrer, Assistant Director of the program. “One of Christie’s greatest qualities is her ability to be a leader, someone who makes everyone around her better. As MFE Student Association President, she ensured that everyone enjoyed their time in the program and always presented great ideas about how to uplift and improve the student experience. She is a force of positivity, enthusiasm, and preparedness – she’s someone that future MFE students should aspire to become. Christie will undoubtedly find success in the next chapter of her professional career. We’re extremely proud of her efforts and the person she has become.”
Today, Christie is employed by National Bank on the ETF Research team. After leaving her safe government job at Statistics Canada, she now provides retail and institutional investors with value-add investment research on the ETF landscape in Canada and in the U.S.
“It’s exciting,” she said. “The work my team does is different every single day. I have met so many others who have done the MFE program here at National and in the industry. It really feels like a community. I took a risk, and to be completely honest I was scared, but I have no regrets!”
Return to the Department of Economics website.
Scroll more news.