By Laura Urmoneit

(March 26 – 16:15 ET) – Fidelity Investments Canada Ltd. has a new leader. Effective April 2, Jeffrey Carney will assume the position of president of Canadian operations.

The change means that former president David Denison will be able to focus directly on Fidelity Investments Institutional Brokerage Group in Boston. Denison had been acting as president for both Fidelity Canada and the Institutional Brokerage Group since October 2000 — the search for his successor took five months.

Hailing from Red Deer, Alberta, Carney most recently held the title of executive vice president in charge of the full-service retail branch distribution business at Toronto-based TD Canada Trust.

According to Carney, his recent departure from TD was a difficult move to make. He’s been responsible for building TD Bank’s full-service retail brokerage — from 1993 until 1999 he was president of TD Evergreen.

“It was definitely a hard decision to leave TD, it’s a great company. But I felt this was a great opportunity to run an operation with a global brand and good values,” says Carney.

Responsible for the Canadian operations, he’s looking forward to expanding and improving services. Growing the division’s revenue base, providing better service and trying to provide more efficient back office capabilities at lower costs, are a few items on his agenda, he says.

With $33 billion in asset, 41 funds, 900 employees, and a market share of nearly 8%, Fidelity Canada is a strong force, one that Carney says he’s absolutely thrilled about joining.

Married with three children, Carney graduated from Queen’s University in Kingston, Ont. with a Bachelor of Commerce.

Beginning his career at Merrill Lynch Inc. in 1984 as a research analyst, he eventually specialized in mergers and acquisitions. In 1989, he moved to the Pattison Group in Vancouver and in the late 1990s moved to Warsaw, Poland for a time continually working within the investment industry.