Gord Nixon joined BCE’s board in 2014, and will soon hit the company’s recommended 12-year tenure cap.J.P. MOCZULSKI/The Globe and Mail
Former banking executive Gordon Nixon is leaving his long-time role as chairman of telecom BCE Inc. BCE-T and joining the board of U.S. fintech company Fiserv Inc. FI-N, whose stock fell 44 per cent Wednesday, after the company slashed its earnings forecast and announced a leadership shakeup.
Mr. Nixon joined BCE’s board in 2014, and will soon hit the company’s recommended 12-year tenure cap. He will step down from his role at the company’s annual general meeting next May, the company said Wednesday morning.
While the board can, in certain circumstances, extend that limit, no current director has yet served more than 12 years, according to the company. The average tenure of the director nominees is 5.69 years.
Prior to his role with BCE, Mr. Nixon served as president and chief executive officer of the Royal Bank of Canada between 2001 and 2014. In recent years, BCE’s board has had to contend with a slowing telecom market and a high dividend payout that drew substantial investor concern. The board approved a major dividend cut earlier this year.
In 2024, BCE paid Mr. Nixon $534,000 in fees, according to the company’s financial statements. As of Dec. 31, 2024, he held common and deferred shares worth $4-million, putting him above the company’s share ownership target for board members.
BCE says it plans to nominate current board member Louis Vachon to replace him, contingent on his re-election as director. The former National Bank of Canada CEO joined the board in 2022 and sits on the board’s management resources and compensation committee, as well as BCE’s risk and pension fund committee. He owned $1.4-million in common and deferred shares as of the end of last year, and was paid $262,000 in fees in 2024.
As of Jan. 1, Mr. Nixon will join the board of Milwaukee, Wisconsin-based payments processor Fiserv, which owns Clover, a point-of-sale business, in Canada, in addition to his other board positions at BlackRock Inc. and George Weston Ltd.
With its third-quarter earnings Wednesday morning, Fiserv announced a spate of leadership changes, which included the addition of Mr. Nixon as independent, non-executive board chair and two other directors.
Fiserv’s stock reached its lowest point since 2019 on Wednesday after the company’s results missed analyst expectations, closing at US$70.60 a share on the New York Stock Exchange.
In a call with analysts Wednesday morning, CEO Michael Lyons called the results “disappointing” and that they were impacted by “financial surprises,” including a slowing market in Argentina, but said the company has reviewed its operations and is implementing “a critical and necessary reset.”
Mr. Lyons took over the top job in May after the company’s previous CEO, Frank Bisignano, was tapped to lead the Social Security Administration by U.S. President Donald Trump. On Wednesday, the company also announced a new chief financial officer and two new co-presidents.
Editor’s note: This article has been updated to clarify that no current director on the BCE board has served more than 12 years.