BY RATTAN MALL

HE’S polished, articulate and confident – and he excels at his job.

Little wonder, then, that Dhruv Mehra, Financial Advisor at the Surrey’s Scott Town Branch of the Royal Bank of Canada, has been recognized by RBC with the prestigious Leo Award.

That’s an outstanding achievement considering that Mehra, who came to Canada from India in 2010, has been with the bank for just the past five years.

Mehra was manager of client care at the RBC on Scott Road and 80^th Avenue and the one on 72^nd Avenue for three and a half years. He came to the Scott Town Branch as a banking advisor and has now been promoted to a financial advisor.

Mehra first won the Convention Award of the RBC last October. This award is given to about 700 people from around 80,000 RBC employees across Canada for excelling in their roles and they are rewarded with a cruise vacation.

From these 700 employees, about 30 to 35 are then selected for the Leo – the cream of the cream award. And Mehra was one of them.

He was recognized by the national office in Toronto for the business that he gave the market when he received the Convention Award. Then at the convention, his market here (Surrey-Delta) recommended his name for the Leo Award to the head office. Countrywide, there may be 100 to 150 nominations. Out of these, the RBC selects the Leo Award winners.

But it’s not just for the business they bring. Customer relations and community involvement are considered as well.

Mehra raises funds for BC Children’s Hospital, collects food for the Surrey Food Bank, participates at the Vaisakhi celebrations, engages in community activities with the underprivileged, and conducts financial literacy programs with schools in Surrey.

Before joining the RBC, Mehra worked with Rogers Communications for a year and a half.

In India, he worked for a prestigious multinational – Idea Cellular, an Aditya Birla Group company.

So why did he switch to the banking industry?

Mehra replied: “I was always a numbers’ guy and always very comfortable with financial statements and calculations. So I thought that my niche is going to be something around numbers; so nothing better than banking then.”