CI Financial Corp. Wednesday announced an orderly transition of roles and responsibilities among its executive team.

Effective September 1, Bill Holland will transition from his position as chief executive officer to the role of full-time executive chairman of CI.

As executive chairman, Holland will devote his energies to important strategic initiatives and pursuing a growth mandate.

Holland has been with CI since 1989, serving in progressively senior positions, including senior vice president, sales and marketing, and executive vice president and chief operating officer, before being appointed president and CEO in 1999. In May 2005, Holland relinquished the responsibilities of president to Steve MacPhail.

In what is a natural evolution for CI, MacPhail will become CEO in addition to president. MacPhail joined CI in 1994 as chief financial officer, shortly after the company went public. He assumed the additional responsibilities of chief operating officer in November 1999, before being named president in 2005.

“Steve and I have worked closely together for over 15 years with an extraordinary team of talented executives,” Holland says.

“We will continue to work together to ensure that CI achieves further success and growth and takes full advantage of the emerging opportunities in our industry. This transition has been under consideration for a number of months and I view it as an alignment of titles, since Steve and I have essentially been performing these roles for some time,” Holland adds.

CI also announced that MacPhail and Peter Anderson, executive vice president of CI and a member of the company’s senior executive team since 1997, have been appointed to the board of directors at a meeting of the board held Wednesday. The board has been increased from seven to nine members, with a majority of members independent of management.

“CI has been fortunate to have had such continuity in management,” said Ronald Besse, lead director and chairman of the governance committee of the board of Directors. “Bill, Steve and Peter have been a strong team and we see this as an obvious next step and part of an orderly transition of roles and responsibilities.”

Raymond Chang, who currently serves as non-executive chairman, will continue to serve on CI’s board of directors. Chang has been with CI in senior positions for over 25 years, including a number of years as president and CEO.

CI Financial Corp. (TSX: CIX) is an independent, Canadian-owned wealth management company with approximately $88.8 billion in fee-earning assets as of July 31.

IE