Marcia Moffat has been appointed head of BlackRock Asset Management Canada Ltd., the Toronto-based asset manager announced on Thursday.

Moffat brings more than 15 years of financial services industry experience to the role. She joins BlackRock from her most recent position as founder and principal of Toronto-based Compasar Solutions, a management consulting firm that serves companies in the financial services industry, BlackRock stated in its announcement.

Moffat began her career in 1997 as a corporate lawyer in the New York and Paris offices of Shearman and Sterling LLP. She moved to Toronto-based Royal Bank of Canada (RBC) in 2000. Her 12 years at RBC included stints as an investment banker in the firm’s capital markets division, vice president and head of investor relations and senior vice president of home equity financing.

“We see incredible opportunity to expand our footprint in Canada,” Robert Fairbairn, senior managing director at BlackRock, said in a statement, “and, with Marcia’s insights and knowledge, she is ideally placed to represent the firm’s capabilities across our diverse set of clients, and to develop our long-term business strategy in this market.

“We believe that in the evolving regulatory environment,” Fairbairn added, “her deep roots in the Canadian retail sector of the financial services industry positions her, and the firm, well for the next leg of growth in Canada.”

For her part, Moffat says she is honoured to lead BlackRock in Canada.

“I look forward to helping to take the business to the next level and to building on the many successes BlackRock has achieved to date in this marketplace,” Moffat said in the statement. “My focus will be on working closely with the Canadian business and investment community and, with my new colleagues here in Canada and from around the world, to expand BlackRock’s position and reputation as a leading asset manager in this country.”

The appointment follows a previous announcement that Noel Archard would be moving out of his role as head of BlackRock. The firm’s announcement noted Archard’s success in diversifying the firm’s business lines with targeted growth in fixed-income and alternative mandates, the introduction of a set of mutual fund offerings and the evolution of the iShares products in Canada.