The de facto founder and first employee of the Mutual Fund Dealers Association of Canada, Larry Waite, is ready to call it quits.
Waite, president and CEO of the MFDA, is planning to retire at the end of September of this year. He joined the MFDA as its chief operating officer and first employee on October 1, 1998, from the Ontario Securities Commission, where he had been director of enforcement.
In a letter to members Wednesday, Waite says that he advised the MFDA board at its February 29 meeting that he intends to retire on September 30. According to the letter, the board has retained a search firm to identify his successor, and the expectation is that the search will be completed by early June.
From its launch with Waite as the first employee, the MFDA now has 170 employees and has become a national self-regulatory organization. Over the years, the MFDA and the other national SRO, the Investment Industry Regulatory Organization of Canada, have flirted with the idea of a possible merger to create a single SRO. The issue was considered most recently last summer, before being shelved.
“I was extremely fortunate to have been given this opportunity and will always appreciate the unique challenges and satisfaction I have experienced in working for the MFDA,” Waite says in his letter. “I see this next chapter in my life as one of exciting opportunities. I believe I can bring my 34 years of securities regulatory and business experiences together in some meaningful way.”