Richardson Wealth’s chief operating officer Dave Kelly will take over as the wealth manager’s chief executive on Oct. 1 as Kish Kapoor announces his retirement.
Mr. Kapoor said Wednesday he will be stepping down as president and CEO after leading Richardson Wealth since it was restructured as a public company in 2020. He will remain on the board of directors.
“I started this journey with the Richardson family 10 years when I was 57,” Mr. Kapoor said in an interview with The Globe. “When you start a journey at 57, you know you are building a platform to attract the next generation of leaders.
“This is my legacy. Now is the time to step aside.”
In an internal memo, the company also announced the departure of chief financial officer Tim Wilson, who will join private bank and trust company People’s Group next month as CFO. The search for his replacement at Richardson is under way, Mr. Kapoor said.
With about $38-billion in assets as of July 31, Richardson Wealth is one of Canada’s largest independent wealth managers. It has 154 investment adviser teams and 22 offices across the country. In 2020, Richardson Wealth – formerly known as Richardson GMP Ltd. – split from former parent GMP Capital Inc. and began the lengthy process of becoming a standalone, publicly traded wealth-management business.
Prior to joining Richardson Wealth, Mr. Kapoor was the chief executive of RF Capital Group Inc., its parent company. Mr. Kapoor was appointed head of Richardson Wealth after the departure of former Richardson GMP CEO Andrew Marsh.
Since then, Mr. Kapoor has been aggressively recruiting both advisers and executive members. The company says it has added about $10-billion in assets since Sept. 20, 2020.
Last September, he began the hunt for a successor, which included a list of about 100 candidates.
“Top of the list was always Dave Kelly,” Mr. Kapoor said.
Mr. Kelly joined Richardson’s executive leadership team as chief operating officer earlier this year – a position created to help the company accelerate its goal of hitting $100-billion in assets by 2026. It also marked the start of Mr. Kapoor handing over the baton.
“When I recruited Dave in January of this year, I knew he was our future leader,” Mr. Kapoor said. “He has the experience, insight, talent and focus on execution that we need to continue to grow this business.”
While he has only been with Richardson Wealth for a short time, Mr. Kelly is a 30-year veteran in the wealth-management industry in Canada.
In 2022, Mr. Kelly joined Onex Corp. as head of Gluskin Sheff + Associates, an independent boutique money manager. But less than a year later, Onex transferred the majority of assets and advisers to RBC Wealth Management Canada. Mr. Kelly was not transferred and began to look for other opportunities at independent wealth managers.
Prior to Onex, Mr. Kelly spent 14 years at Toronto-Dominion Bank in the wealth-management group in various roles, including the head of private wealth and financial planning. It was during his tenure at TD that Mr. Kelly said he got a closer look under the hood of Richardson, when the two companies were in discussions over a possible acquisition in 2016.
Now, Mr. Kelly says he is doubling down on adviser support, which includes technology upgrades and efficient compliance.
Another area of focus for Mr. Kelly will be to improve the company’s share price – which has dropped to $7.64 as of Wednesday from a high of $24.90 during the summer of 2021.
“While the stock price does not reflect what I know to be the growing intrinsic value, which is very disappointing,” Mr. Kapoor said. “The work we did made this a better business, with a brighter future.”