The Mutual Fund Dealers Association of Canada (MFDA) has appointed a wealth-management executive and a securities lawyer to the top two positions within its board of directors.
Steven Donald, the president of Toronto-based Assante Wealth Management (Canada) Ltd., is the board’s new chairman. He is also president of Assante Financial Management Ltd., Assante Capital Management Ltd., Assante Estate and Insurance Services Inc. and CI Private Counsel LP.
Donald held senior financial roles in the mutual fund and technology industries before joining Assante in 2003. He is a Fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Ontario and has a bachelor of commerce from the University of British Columbia.
Christopher Nicholls, a securities lawyer and business law professor, joins the MFDA’s board in the role of vice chairman. He teaches at the University of Western Ontario, in London, Ont., and is also head of research and policy at the capital markets institute at the University of Toronto’s Rotman School of Management.
Nicholls has practiced securities law in Toronto and Hamilton, Bermuda. He is a graduate of the University of Ottawa, York University’s Osgoode Hall Law School in Toronto and Harvard University in Cambridge, Mass.
See also: New directors approved at MFDA annual general meeting