Bieber securities inc. has turned to a former high-profile executive at Crocus Investment Fund to lead its western foray outside Manitoba.

Allan Jacks, former vice president of sales at the failed labour-sponsored fund, has joined the Winnipeg-based Bieber as manager of business development.

“We’ve hired him to build a branch network for us. We’re looking to expand beyond Winnipeg, Dauphin and Portage la Prairie. Initially, we’ll look at Brandon and a number of points west,” says Guy Bieber, CEO of the 10-year-old investment dealer.

Depending on the quality of advisors Jacks attracts, Bieber says, the company’s footprint could extend all the way to the West Coast. However, he is not setting a specific goal for growth.

“We’re licensed [in British Columbia] right now. But we are going to be very particular about the calibre of people we hire. They don’t have to be the biggest hitters or the largest producers,” he says, noting that the firm has a dozen advisors and about 30 employees.

Bieber believes the dealer can continue to fill its niche in the market for client accounts of $100,000-$5 million. Its “sweet spot” is advisors with books of business in the $30 million-$70 million range, he adds. He declined to disclose the firm’s assets under administration.

Bieber says regardless of what happened at Crocus, the Winnipeg-based LSIF currently in the hands of an interim receiver, Jacks is well liked in the industry and has the right experience for the job.

“He put his heart into raising money for the organization, and I believe he was let down dramatically by a lot of other people,” Bieber says. However, he admits, bringing Jacks on board was “a little tricky” because Bieber is the lead agent for ENSIS Growth Fund, Crocus’s long-time LSIF competitor in Manitoba.

Jacks, who parted company with Crocus in April, says he spent the summer mulling over a couple of offers he had in the financial services industry. “I had to decide what I wanted to do when I grew up,” he says.

Jacks says he feels “very comfortable” in his new position, which, he says, is similar to his role at U&R Tax Services, the family-owned tax preparation business he helped build from a single office to 127 locations across the country. Now known as Liberty Tax Services, it was sold in 1992.

“I know the model for growth and the model for prospecting for quality people,” he says. “It’s a question of taking the Bieber culture and putting it into a marketing plan.” IE