Dave Kelly to take the reins at Richardson Wealth

Kapoor, 67, will continue to serve on the boards of RF Capital Group Inc. and Richardson Financial Group Ltd.

The firm also announced that Tim Wilson, RF Capital chief financial officer (CFO), would leave the firm in the third quarter to become CFO of Peoples Group in Toronto. RF Capital has begun a search for a new CFO, the firm said.

A 29-year industry veteran, Kelly, 54, joined Richardson Wealth as chief operating officer (COO) on Jan. 15 after Richardson Wealth had conducted a search for a successor to Kapoor.

Kelly had served as head of Toronto-based Gluskin Sheff + Associates Inc. from January 2022 to September 2023. Before that role, he worked at Toronto-Dominion Bank for 15 years, including as head of private wealth with TD from 2019 to 2022, and at CIBC for 10 years.

In a joint interview on Thursday alongside Kapoor, Kelly said he is even “more convinced” since joining the firm that Richardson is “positioned really beautifully to become a dominant brand of choice in Canada for the very best advisors.”

“[I have] twenty-five years in the bank channel, right? I know it really, really well,” Kelly said. “I absolutely believe there’s momentum for independent wealth management choice in Canada, I think, that’s driven both by clients and advisors.”

Kelly said he was also focused on maintaining and building on the firm’s “advisor-centric” and entrepreneurial culture.

“The next leg of [the firm’s] journey will be about striving for operational excellence,” Kelly said, with an emphasis on integrating desktop tools and technologies more seamlessly, and helping advisors “grow great practices” by providing access to planning resources, products and services.

Richardson Wealth has announced a number of key hires since Kelly joined the firm — some with connections to TD.

In March, Kevin Shubley, formerly of Gluskin Sheff and TD, joined as vice-president of business strategy and analysis. In April, Steve Hunter, formerly of TD, joined as branch manager in Richardson Wealth’s London, Ont., office. And in May, Derek Perritt, also formerly of TD, joined as vice-president, wealth planning and solutions.

Earlier this week, the firm announced that Marcus Chun, most recently with the Bank of Montreal, had been appointed as head of digital strategies and advisor services, replacing Scott Stennett, who had previously served in the role. Stennett was named vice-chair with Richardson Wealth.

Kelly said he would be focused on attracting top talent from across the industry — not just the banks.

“For the same reasons you see advisors thinking about other choices in terms of where to host their practices, I think you’ve got a group of very talented wealth management executives all over the industry, including banks, that are looking for the opportunity to be part of a true growth story.”

Kapoor would not say whether Richardson Wealth would be filling Kelly’s COO position. “We will work over the next couple of months thinking through all of that,” Kapoor said.

Kapoor said he made the decision that the time was right to “pass the baton” at the firm’s advisor conference earlier this summer. 

“A company needs strong leadership for the long term for us to get to our goals,” Kapoor said. “Kelly has got a long runway and he’s immensely talented.”

Kapoor said he was not retiring but rather focusing on growing Richardson Wealth in a new role.

Said Kelly: “I’m not going to let him go anywhere. I’ll be really well supported by having Kish in that capacity. And he is, by far and away, the best cheerleader of this program.”

In the second quarter of 2024, RF Capital announced total revenue of $91.2 million, an increase of 3% from $88.8 million in the same quarter last year. Operating expenses were $38.5 million, up 4% from $37.0 million in the same quarter last year. Net income from continuing operations was $2.7 million compared to a $1.4 million loss in the second quarter of 2023.