Financial Planners Standards Council (FPSC) has chosen Alastair Rickard, a financial services veteran with more than 30 years in the industry and currently AVP, government and industry relations for Sun Life Assurance Company of Canada, as the 2007 recipient of the Donald J. Johnston Award for Outstanding Contribution to the Profession of Financial Planning in Canada.

Rickard will be honoured with the award that also comes with a $10,000 contribution to the charitable organization of his choice, at the FPSC board reception in Calgary, on June 14.

Rickard and his wife Pat have requested the $10,000 contribution associated with the award go to a charity they have supported in the past — Women’s Crisis Centre of Waterloo Region that operates two women’s shelters and an expanding outreach program.

“Al Rickard has worked tirelessly and passionately for the development and practical implementation of the highest standards of competence and ethics in the delivery of financial advice in Canada. His legendary political acumen and knowledge of the regulatory landscape has been a tremendous asset to the cause of professionalism in financial planning for many years,” says FPSC’s founding and now retired president Donald Johnston. Johnston, in whose honour the award was inaugurated at FPSC’s 10th Anniversary celebrations in January 2006, was the first recipient of the award.

Rickard, who served on the FPSC board of directors from 2002 to 2005, says, “I am deeply honoured by this award, especially because it is named after Don Johnston and is bestowed by FPSC, an organization that I believe in very much.” He adds, “My interest in serving the cause of financial planning professionalism has been greatly enhanced by my longtime association with the financial planning professionals in Sun Life’s Clarica Estate & Financial Planning Services department.”

FPSC developed the Johnston Award program to annually celebrate and inspire outstanding contributions that will forward the development of the professional practice of financial planning toward recognition as a bona fide profession that serves the public interest. The charitable contribution associated with the award celebrates the spirit of a community of financial planning professionals who say “helping people” is the most rewarding aspect of their careers.

FPSC received nominations and supporting letters for the 2007 award during October and November 2006 from representatives of the industry, regulatory arena, the public and academia. All nominations stand for three years. The decision made by the committee was ratified by FPSC’s board of directors in March.

Alastair Rickard has held various roles with Clarica, now Sun Life, that included directing the operations of a national network of regional offices staffed by salaried financial planners and extensive involvement with distribution and regulatory matters. Additionally, he has served on various financial services industry task forces and regulatory committees for over 20 years. He has been chairman of the Canadian Life and Health Insurance Association’s Committee on Distribution and Intermediaries since 1992, and was a founding member of the Joint Industry Group, a multi-stakeholder alliance of financial services associations. He has also served on the federal government’s Canadian Advisory Committee on Personal Financial Planning relating to the work of the International Organization for Standardization (ISO).

Rickard was invited to join the board of FPSC in 2002, served as its vice chairman in 2003, chairman in 2004 and past chairman in 2005.

In 1978, Rickard founded The Canadian Journal of Life Insurance and Financial Services. In addition to editing the journal, he has written articles for various newspapers and magazines in Canada and has contributed articles to U.S. magazines.