Bill Packham, who has served as interim CEO of Vancouver-based Qtrade Financial Group for the last year and a half, will continue to lead the firm on a permanent basis as a result of the success he has had in the role, according to an announcement released on Tuesday.
Packham takes on the title of permanent CEO after holding the title of acting CEO since January 2015. He will also continue in his role as co-chairman of Qtrade’s board of directors and as executive managing director for wealth management and life and health insurance at Lévis-Que.-based Desjardins Group, which is affiliated with Qtrade.
“Bill’s familiarity with Qtrade’s strategic plans and operations, along with his leadership experience in the wealth-management and financial services sectors, made him a natural choice to lead the company,” says John Sibley, co-chairman and director of Qtrade’s board. “Under his direction, Qtrade has won a number of significant new partners, including credit unions, insurers and investment dealers. We have also seen strong financial results as client assets grew to a record level of almost $12 billion from $10 billion.”
Packham joined Desjardins Group in 2012 and took on the role of interim CEO at Qtrade in early 2015 when Scott Gibner, who was then CEO at Qtrade, and Joe Perrin, who was then president and chief operating officer at Qtrade, left the firm.
“I’m honoured and excited about the opportunity to continue working with the incredibly talented team at Qtrade,” says Packham in a statement. “Their expertise, dedication to continuous innovation and commitment to client service is inspiring. We will continue to focus on supporting and creating value for our partners who have placed their trust in us.”
Packham has been in the financial services sector for more than 25 years. He has held senior executive roles with Merrill Lynch Canada Inc., Rockwater Capital Corp. and Hampton Securities Ltd., all of which are based in Toronto. He is also the past chairman of the Investment Dealers Association of Canada, the predecessor to the Investment Industry Regulatory Organization of Canada.
Qtrade provides full-service and online brokerage services to individual investors; it also provides wealth- and investment-management platforms and insurance products to financial services institutions such as credit unions, banks, insurance companies and investment dealers.
The firm most recently signed partnerships with Smithers, B.C.-based Bulkley Valley Credit Union and Prince George, B.C.-based Integris Credit Union to provide them with access to Qtrade’s full-service brokerage platform for investment services.
Photo copyright: CNW/Qtrade