The Montreal native initially studied social sciences and aspired to work in law enforcement as an investigator. Although her career took her in an entirely different direction, those investigative skills ultimately proved invaluable throughout her 30-year career in the mortgage business, which was been marked by numerous accolades, awards and recognition from industry leaders.
“It is a fluke, but it does make sense that I ended up in the financial world,” she says. “I’ve always been a numbers girl, and I could always balance a budget.”
That is ultimately what inspired Duric to follow a friend’s advice and apply for a job as a bank teller at Scotiabank after moving to Toronto at the age of 22. This decision led to a seven-and-a-half-year career with the bank.
“I did everything from a teller to a personal banking officer, I looked after the admin office, so I had a variety of roles on both on the commercial side and the personal side,” she says. “I quickly learned that the loan business was interesting, but I really wanted to specialize in mortgages.”
In 1999, Duric left her position as a senior banking officer at Scotiabank to start her next chapter at GE Mortgage Canada, a division of the global multinational that later became Genworth MI, and eventually Sagen MI Canada.
A few years into her new role, Duric was tasked with developing GE’s “Voice of the Customer” initiative, which collected feedback from mortgage lenders, brokers, specialists and end-consumers all on a single digital platform. While this might seem standard today, it was groundbreaking back in 2002.
“From that came a lot of positive feedback, and a lot of opportunities for improvement,” Duric recalls. “There were things that we could do better, and so there was opportunity to change processes and ultimately improve the customer’s experience.”
The impact of those improvements was significant enough to earn Duric recognition at the highest levels. In GE’s next global employee newsletter, CEO Jack Welch personally highlighted the project and Duric’s contributions. “For me, it was huge,” she says.
After 14 years at GE Mortgage Canada, Duric found herself back at Scotiabank, this time as a Senior regional insurance manager. She worked closely in the Broker space and then in her last year with them her mission was to improve the performance of the bank’s two lowest-producing districts. Within the first-year end, they had risen to rank first and third.
During that time, however, Duric’s instincts as an aspiring investigator began to resurface, particularly when analyzing her top competitor, Manulife.
“I tried hard to compete against them but, in my opinion, their product was far superior,” she says. “Then I started to pay attention to their people, because I was curious to see how they were in front of clients.”
The more Duric studied the competition, the more impressed she became, and the more she envisioned herself joining them. In 2018, she did just that, taking on the role of Director of Sales at Manulife. Just two years later, in February 2020, she was promoted to her current position as VP, National Sales Canada, Mortgage Creditor Insurance.
“Little did I know that the pandemic was waiting for us,” she says, noting that her background in social sciences proved invaluable during those challenging times. “What I brought it back down to was humanity — not just for my team, but also for our clients.”
Duric was not only responsible for managing the wellbeing of herself and her team during the pandemic, while navigating the shift to remote operations, but she was also tasked with enhancing Manulife’s Mortgage Protection Plan (MPP). Although MPP helps brokers protect their clients’ assets, it was hindered by a cumbersome approval process that limited its full potential.
“We had a digital solution that we piloted, and we took a look at our digital offering, and I thought we should just open that up to all brokers,” Duric says. “There should be more options available for brokers on how they want to send us business.”
In addition to making the product more digitally accessible and automating much of the application process, Duric also championed along side other Team members in different departments a partial coverage plan designed to better align with customers’ budgets and needs.
“Our approval limits were around $300,000, and I said, ‘we need to really elevate this,’ and the business was very supportive,” she adds. “We were the first in the industry to bring automatic approval up to a million dollars.”
Despite having been with the company for just six years and in a leadership role for only four, Duric has already earned two Manulife Emerald Awards.
“I feel privileged and super proud to be the recipient of those awards, but the truth is those awards don’t happen on your own, it was a collaborative effort,” she says. “I have an incredible team that I am fortunate to work with.”
After 30 years in the mortgage industry, Duric compares her experiences to childhood summer camp adventures.
“I really was lucky and fortunate where I worked and had great leaders and great people to look up to and mentors across along my career,” she says. “It’s like I went to all those camps, but then I finally came home to Manulife.”
The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company (Manulife)
Mortgage Protection Plan® (MPP) Insurance is underwritten by The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company (Manulife). Manulife, Stylized M Design, Manulife & Stylized M Design, and Mortgage Protection Plan are trademarks of The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company and are used by it, and by its affiliates under license. Manulife, P.O. Box 987, Stn F, Toronto, ON M4Y 2N9.
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Last modified: October 10, 2024