Toronto's Global Risk Institute chooses board, launches CEO search

Conceived in the aftermath of the financial crisis, the Global Risk Institute was seen by its creators — the Toronto financial services sector, and the federal and Ontario governments — as a way to take advantage of the growing recognition of Canada's strong banking system and penchant for conservative risk management

By John Greenwood

February 24, 2012

Conceived in the aftermath of the financial crisis, the Global Risk Institute was seen by its creators — the Toronto financial services sector, and the federal and Ontario governments — as a way to take advantage of the growing recognition of Canada’s strong banking system and penchant for conservative risk management.

Three years later, the organization has a headquarters, a board of directors and it’s now hunting for a permanent chief executive.

“This is a building blocks exercise,” said Paul Cantor, chair of the GRI board, which met for the first time in December.

GRI’s mandate is to become a global research and education leader in financial risk management. To achieve that goal it must move carefully, by first establishing a presence in Canada, said Mr. Cantor, who is also chair of the Public Sector Pension Investment Board and senior advisor at Bay Street law firm Bennett Jones LLP.

“We have to establish credibility in our own financial community,” he said in an interview.Other board members include former Maritime Life chief executive William Black; Alister Campbell, former president and CEO of Zurich Canada; Eli Dadouch, founder and chief executive of mortgage and lending company Firm Capital; Carol Hansell, senior partner at Davies Ward Phillips & Vineberg LLP; Timothy Hodgson, special advisor to the Governor of the Bank of Canada; Malcolm Knight, vice chair of Deutsche Bank; Paul Langill, senior vice president of trading risk at TD Bank Financial; Beverly Margolian, chief strategy officer at Manulife Financial Corp.; Michael Nobrega, head of OMERS; David Pelletier, chair of the Actuarial Standards Board of Canada; Leslie Rahl, managing partner of Capital Market Risk Advisors; Susan Wolburgh Jenah, head of the Investment Industry Regulatory Organization of Canada; and Janet Ecker, president of the Toronto Financial Services Alliance.

The plan for the institute was first presented in a report by the Boston Consulting Group in 2009 that looked at ways of boosting Toronto’s profile as a global financial centre. The formal launch took place in September 2010 — nearly 18 months ago. Since then GRI has held several events including a forum on financial risk in October but it remains a work in progress.