Industry moves this week

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

• Mackenzie Investments has laid off senior executives as part of a series of job cuts that affected approximately 50 people, according to Bloomberg News. Those individuals reportedly included Michael Schnitman, head of alternative investments, and Michael Cooke, head of ETFs. A second round of cuts involved dozens of jobs, Bloomberg reported, citing unnamed sources, with Canadian portfolio managers Adam Rivers and Clayton Bittner among those departing. The cuts represented 3% to 4% of Mackenzie’s employees, the report said.
• Mark Noble, who worked with Horizons ETFs Management (Canada) Inc. for nearly 14 years, is now senior vice-president of retail strategy and sales enablement at Guardian Capital Group Ltd. He was most recently executive vice-president of ETF strategy with Horizons ETFs.
• Team Baronian, comprised of Vartan Baronian, Kristine Epoyan, Johanne Thibault and Alice Daglis, has joined National Bank Financial Inc.’s wealth management division. The team, which will work out of the Laval, Que. office, comes from BMO Nesbitt Burns Inc.
• Ronald P. Harvey has been named chairman of the board for FP Canada, succeeding Martin Dupras who has completed his two-year term. A release noted that Harvey, a retired executive with more than 30 years of experience in financial planning, has been a member of the board since 2017. Other board changes included Teresa Black Hughes becoming vice-chair. She’s been on the board since 2020 and works with Vancouver-based RGF Integrated Wealth Management.
• Phil Witherington, currently CFO at Manulife Financial Corp., will be named president and CEO of Manulife Asia, effective July 1. Witherington will replace Damien Green, who’s slated to chair Manulife Financial Asia Ltd. (MFAL), with a release noting that Green will help in the transition. Succeeding Witherington will be Colin Simpson, who joined Manulife Financial in 2022 from Aviva plc and is CFO for the U.S. and general account.

If you know of other people moves in the financial industry and/or would like us to consider your announcement, email Katie Keir at katie@newcom.ca.

Katie Keir

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Katie is special projects editor for Advisor.ca and has worked with the team since 2010. In 2012, she was named Best New Journalist by the Canadian Business Media Awards. Reach her at katie@newcom.ca.