Having to endure a few more canadian winters doesn’t faze Australian Earl Evans, CEO and head of Toronto-based brokerage firm Macquarie Private Wealth Inc. (MPW), as he has had his contract in Canada extended for another three years and also now will oversee all the North American retail operations of the parent firm, Sydney-based Macquarie Group Ltd.
Evans will oversee Macquarie Group’s banking and financial services group (BFS) in North America. In this position, Evans will continue to look after MPW, as well as oversee two other North American businesses for the parent firm: Macquarie Financial, the mortgage business; and Macquarie Global Investments, the structured-products unit. Evans also will be joining the BFS global executive committee. Furthermore, he has been appointed deputy global head of MPW worldwide, which will see him work closely with Eric Schimpf, global head of MPW, an American who works out of Australia.
“Eric and I will work very well together in taking the business to the next level,” Evans says. “Some of the challenges that come with a new role is that you can’t do everything in your first or second year. So, part of our business plan is actually to integrate and merge the businesses so that you are getting the best out of each other.”
Evans joined the Canadian marketplace in 2009 when Australian giant Macquarie Group bought Toronto-based Blackmont Capital Inc. from CI Financial Corp. for $102 million. What was supposed to be a three-day business trip to Canada for Evans has turned into three years and counting.
“I originally came here just to have a look under the hood [during the acquisition of Blackmont] and ended up never leaving,” Evans says. “I just love the Canadian culture, the people and the business community. I would find it really hard to go back to Australia right now.”
Acquiring a new firm and integrating advisors into a new culture is definitely a task in itself; but doing it in the midst of a global economic crisis is another thing altogether. Along with having to move halfway around the world, Evans also had the task of integrating a tight-knit group of independent advisors into the Macquarie culture. During his first few years in Canada, Evans remained focused on the firm’s internal environment and not on the difficult economic situation.
“It was a difficult time for everyone,” Evans says. “But we consistently communicated our vision, and I reinforced it through frequent travel to all of our branches. I told everyone that we had a number of metrics we were aiming to meet, and gave them regular updates about how we were meeting them.”
During the acquisition, Evans was able to retain the top 100 advisors (who remain with the firm today); he claims that is one of his biggest accomplishments since the merger. In addition, in slightly more than three years, Evans has added another 110 advisors to the firm, bringing the total to 215.
But it isn’t just a numbers game for Evans. Although he plans to continue recruiting top-notch advisors until he reaches his goal of 250, he doesn’t want to take just anyone. Each team at Macquarie manages at least $100 million in assets. Once the firm hits 250 advisors, Evans will cap it off so management can focus on individual advisors and help them grow their business organically.
“We are looking for the Navy SEALs of the investment-services business,” Evans says. “We are looking for the commandos of the advice world. And you can do that only if you have a small and finite number. You can’t do it if you have masses.”
Connecting with advisors comes easy to Evans, who has been in the investment industry for more than 20 years. He started out as a retail investment advisor himself, in time building a $360-million book of business before moving into a management role.
“I come from the advisor world, and that is still in my DNA,” Evans says. “It is actually very hard to break away from that mentality. I have sat at the desk and I know what it’s like when you need a quick decision, when you need a problem solved or when you need a barricade cleared.”
Although heading into management wasn’t part of Evans’ initial goal, it was a role he ended up morphing into easily even though he doesn’t see himself as an individual leader. He strongly believes that a great firm is built on meritocracy, not bureaucracy, and shows it by his open-floor office structure, where he sits alongside his entire management team.
“While I really enjoyed the discipline of looking after my clients,” Evans adds, “I also really enjoy the discipline of managing and growing a branch.”
But it’s not always about business for the self-proclaimed “workaholic.” As vice chairman of the Macquarie Group Foundation, the firm’s charitable-giving arm, as well as being nominated for the board of Second Harvest, Evans has a big heart for charitable giving. After hearing about Toronto-based The Aussie X, an Australian sports program designed for North American kids, Evans couldn’t resist bringing a bit of Australian flavour to the community. Evans recruited the team to run the “Macquarie Footy Cup,” a full-day event that included 400 children, many of whom come from underprivileged areas in Toronto.
“We really made this a day the kids will never forget,” says Evans. “It was like the Super Bowl for them.” IE