Ontario Securities Commission vice chairman Lawrence Ritchie will become executive vice president and senior policy advisor at the transition office that will work to develop a single securities regulator in Canada, the office announced on Thursday.

The Canadian Securities Transition Office said Ritchie would assume the position effective July 13 – the day the office begins operations – until September 2010.

Ritchie will work with Doug Hyndman, chairman of the British Columbia Securities Commission, who has been named chair and CEO of the transition office. The pair will also work with Bryan Davies, chairman of the Canada Deposit Insurance Corp., who will be vice chairman of the transition office.

Hyndman said he is pleased that the OSC has agreed to make Ritchie available to work on the office’s mandate to lead and manage the transition to a Canadian securities regulator.

“I look forward to working closely with Larry Ritchie and welcome the expertise and enthusiasm he will bring to the project,” Hyndman said.

Ritchie has been vice chairman of the OSC since February 2007. Prior to joining the OSC, he was a partner at Osler, Hoskin & Harcourt LLP, where he was a litigator, specializing in general corporate, securities and commercial litigation.

Throughout the remainder of the summer, Ritchie will be engaged in the transition from his policy and adjudicative work at the OSC to his position with the transition office, according to the OSC.