Aayaz Pira

Senior Vice President, CIBC Digital & Direct Banking and Head Simplii Financial

As the Senior Vice President, CIBC Digital & Direct Banking and Head of Simplii Financial, Aayaz oversees all things digital for the bank including client experience, innovation, sales and banking. Aayaz also has leadership responsibility for CIBC’s direct banking businesses including Simplii Financial in Canada and CIBC Agility in the United States.
Under Aayaz’s leadership, CIBC has been recognized as the top Canadian mobile bank in Canada for five consecutive years and the third best mobile bank globally by Forrester Research. In 2017, Aayaz was the single Canadian recognized as one of five “Digital Bankers of the Year” by American Banker.
Aayaz’s passion for all things digital began with his first entrepreneurial venture as the co-founder of a digital startup and continued with leading PwC Canada’s Digital Transformation practice where he was awarded PwC’s CEO Award for outstanding client service.
As a community ambassador, Aayaz is an active mentor at the MaRS Discovery District, an evangelist for the technology community in Canada and has worked closely with the City of Toronto on multiple digital transformation programs. Aayaz currently serves as the Vice Chair on the Ted Rogers MBA program advisory board and is a Board Member and Governor at North York General Hospital. As the executive sponsor of CIBC’s Women’s Network and Advisor to #MoveTheDial, Aayaz is an advocate for the advancement of Women in technology.