Industry moves this week

Each week, Investment Executive reports on notable moves across the financial industry.

• Joanna Rotenberg will leave Fidelity Investments at the end of this year, saying in a recent Linked post that her decision came after the company had “reached an important milestone” amid its personal investing business being split in two: Fidelity Wealth and Fidelity Brokerage. “It was a decision that felt right for me and timely for the business,” she wrote, saying the company has “great momentum” and is seeing growth in core wealth divisions. Rotenberg joined Fidelity in fall 2021 as head of personal investing, coming from BMO Financial Group where was head of wealth management. Most recently she was president of Fidelity Wealth. In November, Tom Jessop was named president of Fidelity Brokerage.
• Colin Purdie became chief investment officer, public markets, with Manulife Investment Management on Dec. 1, succeeding Christopher P. Conkey who’s retiring at the end of 2024. The appointment of Purdie — who’s coming from Toronto-based Aviva Investors (a subsidiary of Aviva plc) where he was CIO, liquid markets — was announced in June.
• Jean-Sebastien Garant is now vice-president for T. Rowe Price (Canada), Inc.’s institutional business in Canada. He’s worked in financial services for more than 25 years, most recently with Boston-based MFS Investment Management. He’ll oversee sales, client service and consultant relations for T. Rowe Price in Eastern Canada.
• Gerard McDonald, who worked for 17 years with BMO Financial Group, is the new managing director and head of research with the Global Risk Institute, a Toronto-based think tank. Part of McDonald’s job will be to build partnerships with other research organizations in Canada and abroad.
• Anne Fortin has been named president with Intact Insurance, effective Jan. 1, 2024. She’ll report to Louis Gagnon, CEO with Intact Financial Corporation Canada, and will be responsible for the company’s Quebec, Western Canada, Ontario and Atlantic divisions. She first joined the company in 2011.
• Warren Funt has been appointed by the B.C. government to serve as a commissioner with the board of the B.C. Securities Commission (BCSC). He worked as a vice-president for Western Canada with the Investment Industry Regulatory Organization of Canada for two decades. He’s one of nine commissioners for the BCSC.
• Paul Van Iderstine, working out of Moncton, will become the new chair of the Financial and Consumer Services Commission of New Brunswick. His appointment is effective Jan 1. He has decades of industry experience, a release said, citing work in the financial, audit and cybersecurity fields.
• Sybil Verch, executive vice-president and head of private client services with Raymond James Ltd. for the past four years, has decided to step out of her leadership role to go back to being a financial advisor in Victoria, B.C. In an internal announcement, CEO Jamie Coulter recognized Verch’s efforts to “develop, attract and retain top women advisors” among other accomplishments. The firm is searching for a successor, while Verch is planning to start taking on predominantly ultra-high-net-worth clients in June 2024.
• Danielle Kee has joined Winnipeg-based Cardinal Capital Management Inc. as an investment counsellor, coming from Richardson Wealth where she worked for nearly 10 years. She’ll work out of Toronto.

In memoriam

Former Scotiabank chairman and CEO Peter Godsoe died on Dec. 13. Godsoe led Scotiabank from 1993 to 2003, overseeing the purchases of both National Trust and Montreal Trust. “Peter’s incredible career at Scotiabank spanned almost four decades, as he worked his way up from a teller to Chairman and CEO, and those who worked with him fondly remember the visionary and forward-looking leader that he was,” said Scotiabank chief executive Scott Thomson in a release.