The Ontario Securities Commission is looking for a new executive director, as Charlie Macfarlane has decided to retire.

“After nearly eight years with the commission, Charlie has decided to retire as executive director. He sees this as the right time to move on to the next phase of his career,” confirms Wendy Dey, director communications & public affairs at the OSC.

Macfarlane is expected to stay until the end of May, and the OSC hopes to have his replacement in place by the start of June. An external search firm will assist in finding his replacement, Dey notes.

The executive director functions as the chief operating officer of the commission, and is the senior member of OSC staff. It is also one of the top-paid positions at the commission, paying just north of $450,000 per year, according to the latest provincial salary disclosure.

Among other things, Macfarlane is heading up the CSA’s registration reform project (formerly known as the Fair Dealing Model). He joined the OSC back in August 1998, shortly after the previous OSC chair, David Brown, took over as head of the regulator. He came to the OSC from TD Trust where he was chair, president and CEO.