EQB Inc. has named Open Text chief financial officer Chadwick Westlake as its next chief executive, succeeding Andrew Moor, who died unexpectedly last month.
Westlake, who will assume the role effective Aug. 25, is a former chief financial officer of EQB, which owns Equitable Bank. He was in the position for more than four years before leaving EQB in March to join Open Text.
EQB board chair Vincenza Sera said Westlake knows the business inside and out and is uniquely positioned to uphold the company’s culture and innovation mindset.
“Having successfully served us in an executive capacity for many years, he is uniquely positioned to uphold the challenger bank culture and innovation mindset that drives us forward,” Sera said in a statement.
“It is the greatest honour of my career to take up the mantle of Andrew’s inspired leadership and rejoin my challenger teammates to further the remarkable institution he built,” Westlake said in a statement.
Before joining EQB as CFO in 2000, Westlake was with Scotiabank for 18 years. His most recent role there was executive vice-president of enterprise productivity and Canadian banking finance.
Marlene Lenarduzzi, who was named interim president and CEO at EQB after Moor died, will remain in the role until Westlake officially joins the company.
She will return to her position as chief risk officer once he is in place.
Moor grew EQB into Canada’s seventh-largest bank during his nearly two-decade tenure at the helm and was a strong proponent of Canada adopting an open banking regime to increase competition.