LEADERSHIP

Jim has had a long career of successful leadership of global companies. In the 1990s he was the COO of International Data Group. IDG was a global company that operated in more than 50 countries around the globe with revenues exceeding $2.5B.

In January 2002 he joined Reed Business, a division of Reed Elsevier/RELX as president and CEO of their North American business-to-business division. He was vice chairman for the last 18 months focused on expanding the business into China and India.

In 2007 he joined Austin Ventures, initially as an Executive in Residence and in 2008 he launched Asset International, with a focus on the financial information industry. Eventually, 10 companies were rolled up, including the well known Strategic Insight. This company operated around the world, including Investor Economics, headquartered in Toronto. In 2013 after a successful auction process, the company was sold to Genstar Capital. He stayed on for a year and started to consider other opportunities in the global financial information/software sector.

In 2017 he launched Compliance Solutions Strategies, with the backing of CIP Capital. Again, this was launched as a global SaaS platform with the acquisition of three companies operating in North America, the United Kingdom Europe. At the end of 2021, the company was sold to Confluence, after a successful auction process.

Jim has served on a number of outside boards during this time including IDG Books “The Dummies” series, Ask Jeeves, Infomedia India, Questex, and Jigsaw Data. He continues to serve on the boards of Equilar and SAPinsider.

Ms. Hastings has worked in the banking industry for the over thirty years holding credit and enterprise risk positions at Canadian financial institutions, with a specific focus on oversight of Capital Markets businesses.  She holds an HBA from the University of Western Ontario, and an MBA from York University.

She currently serves on the Advisory Board for the Rotman Financial Risk Management program.

Loren Rafeson is Partner, Growth Equity at BDC Capital in Toronto. He has close to 15 years’ experience in private equity and corporate finance, and has worked and lived in North America, Europe, and Asia. Since joining BDC Capital in 2018, Loren has focused on helping leading Canadian companies scale globally as well as executing ownership transition transactions.

Before joining BDC, Loren was a Principal at VERTU Capital, a technology-focused private equity firm, where he evaluated growth equity and buyout investment opportunities. Before that, he worked at Spectrum Capital Partners, a Canadian mid-market private investment firm, and Serone Capital Management, a UK-based investment management firm. He also worked at BMO Capital Partners, the merchant banking division of Bank of Montreal. Loren began his career at TD Securities.

Loren received a BBA from the Schulich School of Business at York University and an MBA from INSEAD. In addition, he is a CFA charterholder. Loren also serves on the board of several BDC Capital portfolio companies.

David Reeve is founder and CEO of InvestorCOM. Over the last 25 years, InvestorCOM (and its predecessor companies) has built long-term outsourcing relationships with Canada’s leading financial services firms. From 1984 – 1992, David held a variety of marketing management roles at IBM Canada Ltd. His expertise is in developing high-performance outsourcing relationships with leading financial services organizations. David graduated from the University of Western Ontario with a BA in Economics. He has served on the board of Pathways to Education and is current board chair of Outward Bound Canada.

Bill has had a successful 40-year career holding a variety of senior roles including as a CEO, COO and CFO in sectors including banking and financial services, investment and wealth management, consulting, and fintech software. Previously, he was the CEO of the Equion Group, COO of Assante Advisory Services and a member of Assante Corporation’s Board of Directors. He was also the COO of one of Canada’s largest international business law firms, Faskens, leading a number of diverse and large-scale initiatives ranging from the Firm’s rebranding to numerous systems integrations to an overhaul of the Firm’s practice management organization. Bill is currently the COO and Partner of the Regal Holdings, Grand Rapids, MI and the Managing Principal of Vine Street Shoppes, LLC, Toronto, Canada.

Bill received his Bachelor of Arts from Victoria College at the University of Toronto and his CA (now CPA, CA) designation while at Coopers & Lybrand (now PwC). He has served on several charitable and fundraising boards.

Rob Dearman is on a mission to help financial advisory firms build and grow the next generation of client-obsessed, fiduciary-focused, technology-accelerated strategies and platforms.  Trained as a software engineer and architect, he has a unique 25+ year background in application architecture, user experience design, wealth management platforms, and product development which provides his clients with differentiating advantages for their investors.

Rob co-founded the country’s 3^rd largest independent broker-dealer network, National Planning Holdings, where he served as Chief Information Officer, and Head of Wealth Management.  He was also a designer and Chief Technology Officer for the first digital TAMP, Curian Capital, and led the Office of Strategic Initiatives for Jackson National.  He served as a regulatory liaison and held a position on FINRA’s CIO Advisory Board, FINRA’s FinTech Innovation Council, and contributed to the SEC Reg BI and CRS regulation, DOL Fiduciary rule, NAIC Model Suitability rule, and several NASAA state fiduciaries efforts.  Most recently Rob has assisted BD networks, RIA aggregators, fintech, and regtech firms to create unique client service experiences while managing their risk matrices.

Rob has been acknowledged as an industry thought leader, receiving awards from AM Best and contributing to the Insured Retirement Institute, the Financial Services Institute, Wealth Management magazine, and Investment News magazine. He has served and continues to serve on many advisory boards/councils and in a strategic consultative capacity for firms including the SEC, FINRA, NAIC, IRI, DTCC, Money Management Institute, Financial Services Institute, Envestnet, Pershing, Fidelity, Morningstar, RIA In a Box.  Rob has been a driver for many industry standards for World Wide Web Consortium, the Financial Services Institute, Insured Retirement Institute, Investment Company Institute, custodians, clearing firms, and the DTCC/NSCC.

In 2019, Ms. Fontana retired from Fidelity Clearing and Custody after a thirty year career in financial services.  She served as a Senior Vice President of Sales for over a decade, where she focused on cultivating and securing new clients for the clearing platform. Prior to that, she held various senior positions in sales and operations at Correspondent Services Corporation and Broadcort Capital. Ms. Fontana earned a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration with a concentration in Finance and Economics from the University of Delaware and an EMBA from Columbia University.

Currently, Ms. Fontana serves on the University of Delaware Board of Trustees. She funded the Fontana Family Graduate and Undergraduate Education Scholarships at UD to advance teaching and scholarship in urban education and financial literacy. Her passion for excellence lies in improving the urban education system through philanthropy and also through hands-on volunteering, such as teaching financial literacy through Citizen School. As a board member, philanthropist, or volunteer, Ms. Fontana seeks out ways to connect with individuals to help them, and the organizations in which they reside, reach their full potential.

Mr. Quigley brings thirty-four years of experience in financial services, having held leadership roles among wealth management, banking, insurance and global custody firms, in part as a Chief Operating Officer, a Director of Compliance, and as a leader of strategic initiatives.  Most recently, Mr. Quigley was a Managing Director with BNY Mellon I Pershing where, at his retirement in 2020, he led the business planning process, collaborating with premier client relationships to translate purpose and strategic vision into operational reality and firm growth.

Currently, Mr. Quigley serves as Executive-in-Residence, and as an Advisory Board Member to the School of Economics at The Bryan School of Business and Economics at the University of North Carolina- Greensboro.

Mr. Quigley is a graduate from UNC-Greensboro with degrees in Economics and Political Science.  He is also a graduate of The Securities Industry Institute at The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, and the Bell Leadership Institute at UNC-Chapel Hill.

Recently retired, Todd’s professional career included senior executive positions in domestic and international businesses across a variety of industries and functions including 20+ years in Financial Services.  Most recently, Todd’s thirteen year career with Fidelity Investments included roles as SVP, Regional Managing Director leading a team focused on the largest and the smallest registered investment advisor relationships in the RIA segment of Fidelity Clearing & Custody Solutions, CEO and Chairman of the Board of Fidelity Clearing Canada and CFO of the National Financial Services clearing business.  Prior to joining Fidelity, Todd spent seven years with E*TRADE Financial in a variety of increasing significant finance roles and 10 years with Eastman Kodak in a variety of accounting, internal audit and finance roles in the US and Australia.  Todd began his career as a CPA with Ernst & Young.

He has an B.S. in Accounting from Miami University, an MBA from Indiana University and carried the Series 7, 63, and 24 FINRA registrations as well as the Principal, Officers and Directors registration in Canada.

Tom Selman is founder of Scopus Financial Group, which provides regulatory guidance to the broker-dealer industry. With over two decades of regulatory leadership and expertise, Tom served as FINRA’s Executive Vice President for Regulatory Policy and its Legal Compliance Officer. A prolific author, commentator, and expert in financial services regulation, Tom led many FINRA departments, including FINRA’s Department of Advertising Regulation, Department of Corporate Financing, and Office of Disciplinary Affairs.

Tom holds a CFA charter and is a member of the Board of Directors of the CFA Society Washington D.C.

Doug Trott brings more than 35 years of executive experience in the financial services industry, as well as operational expertise in product development and a passion for growing businesses. Most recently, Mr. Trott was a Partner in McKinsey & Company’s New York office. Earlier in his career, Mr. Trott co-founded and served as President, CEO and Board Chairman of PriceMetrix, a provider of SaaS data and analytics software to the North American full-service retail brokerage market, which he sold to McKinsey. Before founding PriceMetrix, Mr. Trott founded, grew, and sold The Taddingstone Consulting Group, a boutique strategy consulting firm.

He has an MBA from the University of Chicago and a Bachelor of Commerce with Honors from the University of Toronto.