Toronto-based Vanguard Investments Canada Inc. has announced that Kathy Bock will take over as head of the company effective Jan. 1, 2019, replacing current Vanguard Canada managing director and head, Atul Tiwari.
Bock has served as principal and head of the Americas region, which includes Canada, Latin America and Mexico, for Vanguard Group since 2014. She has more than 20 years of experience at the company.
“After overseeing Canada as part of the Americas region for Vanguard for the past few years, I’m excited to continue our mission to change the way Canadians invest,” said Bock in a statement sent via email to Investment Executive. “Vanguard’s significant growth in Canada reflects the appetite of Canadians for low-cost and high-value investment [products] and we look forward to enhancing those capabilities.”
Tiwari, who joined Vanguard Canada in May 2011, has been a key figure in establishing U.S.-based asset-management giant Vanguard Group’s presence in Canada. The firm is the third-largest ETF provider in terms of assets under management, with $17.7 billion, according to a report from National Bank Financial Inc.
Although those figures are well behind the two largest players — BlackRock Canada Asset Management Ltd.’s iShares division, with $59.5 billion in AUM, and BMO Asset Management Inc., with $50.4 billion in AUM — Vanguard Canada has had the most inflows of any ETF provider this year, at almost $3.7 billion as of Sept. 30.
Tiwari will work with Bock through a transition period and leave Vanguard Canada at the end of the year. The firm offered no specific reason for the change other than noting in an email statement that “this transition is consistent with Vanguard’s rotational leadership culture.”
The statement adds that Bock’s appointment will centralize the “leadership of the Vanguard Americas region in Toronto.”