The Financial Planners Standards Council (FPSC) board of directors today announced the appointment of Cary List as FPSC president and CEO.

After four years with FPSC, List assumed the position of acting president and CEO on July 1, 2006, upon the retirement of FPSC’s founding president, Donald Johnston.

“Cary’s record of accomplishments in his various senior management roles with FPSC, and his many years working in both the private and academic sectors to advance the profession of financial planning, demonstrate he is the right individual to successfully lead this organization through the challenges and opportunities ahead,” says FPSC board of directors chairman, Peter Volpé.

List joined FPSC in June 2002 as vp, standards and certification. In 2004, he was promoted to the role of executive vp and COO and was responsible for overseeing the organization’s operations, including standards development and enforcement. Under his stewardship, FPSC successfully launched the CFP Professional Practice Standards and developed the ground-breaking CFP Professional Competency Profile that together with the CFP Code of Ethics and a reliable certification process are defining the financial planning profession in Canada.

In 2007, List was elected to a three-year term as the first non-American board member for the National Association for Competency Assurance (NOCA), an organization dedicated to setting quality standards for credentialing organizations. He has also represented Canada on the Financial Planning Technical Committee for the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) on matters concerning the development of ISO guidelines for financial planning.

Prior to joining FPSC’s management team, List was director of the Centre for Financial Services Education at George Brown College, Toronto, where he oversaw the development of the Centre and established its Bachelor of Applied Business in Financial Services, the first-ever government-approved baccalaureate degree program in an Ontario college. From 1998 to 2002, List sat on FPSC’s volunteer panel of examiners, a standing board committee that oversees the development of the CFP Examination in Canada.

“For some years now, I’ve been personally committed to the development of the financial planning profession through CFP certification. I feel privileged to be at the helm of an organization that has the support of an outstanding staff, a dedicated Board of Directors, and a highly skilled and enthusiastic group of volunteers,” says List.