Profile
“I’m so proud to see that through my hard work and that of my team, we have built trust with our industry partners”
Victoria Coster,
Credit Fix Solutions
Jacqueline Dinsmore has successfully blended her legal and entrepreneurial skills, following a calling she always knew would be her path.
The managing partner at Caravel Law LLP was drawn to a law career to make the world a better place and jumped at the chance to work for a large, national corporate firm. While on maternity leave, she explored her entrepreneurial side and launched Luvali/FlapJackKids.
That experience sparked the idea to blend her entrepreneurial skills with the legal world, and she became captivated by the alternative legal services model practised at the law firm Cognition.
Being a disruptor in the tradition-heavy legal profession proved challenging, especially when proposing new ways of approaching legal services.
“We weren’t looking to replace long-time legal counsel at companies but wanted to encourage the idea of having another tool in their toolbox for day-to-day, in-house legal work,” she notes. “It was an uphill battle, but in the last five years, we have been pleasantly surprised to see new in-house counsel embrace change and innovation and, essentially, the disruption of a very old industry.”
Dinsmore has been fortunate to have had three successful exits under her belt. She counts among her most significant accomplishments the thrill of building something from the ground up that someone else finds valuable enough to purchase.
“There is nothing better than popping that champagne cork,” she reflects.
A skilled networker known for her kind and empathetic approach in everything she does, Dinsmore strives to build strong personal relationships that help her to see the other person’s perspective and understand them better. These attributes have helped her tremendously in business and business development, as she can create bespoke solutions for her clients.
“We are all human, after all, and the human connection is incredibly powerful,” she remarks.
Dinsmore is passionate about growing the firm and its mission and is deeply grateful for the opportunity to do what she loves. After some difficult times in finding her niche, she has arrived at a place that fills her with anticipation and excitement about what each new day will bring.
Her mindset is reminiscent of the “rolling stone gathers no moss” or her favourite quote that has resonated throughout her career: “Every morning in Africa, a gazelle wakes up, it knows it must outrun the fastest lion, or it will be killed. Every morning in Africa, a lion wakes up. It knows it must run faster than the slowest gazelle, or it will starve. It doesn’t matter whether you’re the lion or a gazelle – when the sun comes up, you’d better be running.”
345 Queen Street W. Ste 200, Toronto, ON
647 236 5505
jdinsmore@caravellaw.com
linkedin.com/in/jacqueline-dinsmore-3a11a55
caravellaw.com
Jacqueline Dinsmore
Managing Partner
Caravel Law LLP
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Milestones
“I’m genuinely keen to keep bettering myself”
Victoria Coster,
Credit Fix Solutions
1998–2002
2002–2010
2008–2021
2016–present
2003–present
Associate (Securities and Corporate) at Blake Cassels & Graydon
1998–
2002
Assistant General Counsel and Associate Corporate Secretary, Senior Legal Counsel, and Legal Counsel at Torstar Corporation
2002–
2010
2008–2021: Founder and Previous Owner of FlapJackKids
2012–2016: Chief Development Officer and Previous Co-Owner at Cognition
2008–
2021
2016–2020: Senior Practice Manager at Axiom Canada
2016–present: Managing Partner and Previous Co-Owner of Caravel Law
2016–
present
Co-founder of Rubin Thomlinson LLP
Received Lexpert’s Zenith award and National HR Awards’ Employment Lawyer of the Year
Received Chambers and Partners award for Corporate Social Responsibility and Inclusion, Canadian Who’s Who and Lexpert’s Leading 500 Lawyers in Canada
2003–
present
Assistant Vice President and Senior Broker at MJ Hall & Company since 2018
Present
Milestones
Aug 2022
Milestones
Sept 2021
Feb 2022
Apr 2022
Jul 2022
Aug
2022
Suncorp Bank introduces Solar Home Bonus offer for customers who are choosing renewable energy for their homes
Sept 2021
Month-on-month market share growth commences
Feb 2022
Suncorp Bank wins the Canstar award for most outstanding value in investment loans
Apr 2022
Suncorp Bank wins Money Magazine’s Bank of the Year and Business Bank of the Year awards for the fifth year in a row
Jul 2022
Suncorp Bank’s turnaround times are the lowest they have ever been. The lender becomes Australia’s first certified carbon neutral bank for both its operation and transaction services
Aug 2022
Milestones
Coster brings depth and breadth of experience to her current position, having joined the industry as a mortgage processor before leaping into broking. She later honed her credit reporting education and credit repair skills for several years while working directly for various brokers.
“Starting Credit Fix Solutions was a deliberate move, as I saw there was a niche in ‘no win, no fee’ credit repair that the industry didn’t currently offer,” she says.
As a CEO, Coster learned through business coaching that there are no challenges in business, only opportunities to learn and grow. She wholeheartedly adopted that perspective, enabling her to overcome the obstacles inherent in team management and implement new and improved systems. She employs several strategies for challenging situations, such as following routines, forward planning, sleeping well and exercising.
“If I make sure I look after myself, have a plan of action, and I’m organised, then I can overcome any challenge (opportunity to learn) if and when it presents itself,” Coster says.
A firm believer in the power of leadership, Coster strives to set an example that the next generation of women and men can look up to. She prides herself on her reliability and trustworthiness and is the first person to show up and the last to leave the workplace.
“I’m genuinely keen to keep bettering myself,” she says. “Even now, at the top of my game, I’m still always learning.”
Guided by her favourite quote, “It’s better to be green and growing than ripe and rotting”, Coster constantly stokes her curiosity and keeps an open mind about life and business. Her kindness, positive attitude, business acumen and dedication to her profession make her a trusted and valuable partner to her peers and the mortgage industry.