Grant Hughes and Anna Fernandes pose for a portrait in the financial district of Toronto on April 1.Galit Rodan/The Globe and Mail
Two former Kingsdale Advisors executives who left the company last year as part of a wave of senior departures are launching a rival proxy advisory business.
The new firm, Advisense Partners, comes from Grant Hughes, Kingsdale’s former president, and Anna Fernandes, who was vice-president of strategic shareholder advisory and analytics.
Advisense will serve as a direct competitor to Kingsdale in the proxy advisory market and its launch comes just ahead of the annual general meeting season for public companies, when businesses sign new annual contracts with advisory firms. Mr. Hughes and Ms. Fernandes said Advisense will offer a full suite of services, from proxy solicitation services and governance and executive compensation advice, to investor intelligence and assistance with proxy fights, mergers and acquisition transactions and crisis communications.
“This is a coming together of two people who have known each other a long time, worked together a long time, and respect each other,” Mr. Hughes said, adding that he and Ms. Fernandes spent more than eight years working alongside each other at Kingsdale.
“This is a knowledge-based business and therefore it relies on the people. I think where some firms lose focus is when the brand gets in the way of the people, and if you can’t keep those people, you don’t keep the knowledge, you don’t keep everything that helps you build the brand in the first place,” he said.
Mr. Hughes, who left Kingsdale Advisors last summer, is suing his former employer for wrongful dismissal. In a statement of claim, which has not been tested in court, Mr. Hughes alleges that Kingsdale has become a “toxic work environment,” and he pointed the finger at its founder and executive chairman Wes Hall. In a statement of defence, Kingsdale has denied the allegations and alleged that Mr. Hughes acted unprofessionally and appeared disgruntled with co-workers.
In an interview with The Globe and Mail, Mr. Hughes said the case is still before the courts and he’s limited in what he can say “other than I’m very confident in the strength and merits of the case and I’d be very happy to update you when there is a resolution.”
Mr. Hall did not respond to a request for comment about the new venture from Mr. Hughes and Ms. Fernandes, or about the wrongful dismissal suit.
Advisense Partners is the second firm to launch in recent months by a Kingsdale alumnus.
Last October, former Kingsdale chief executive officer Ian Robertson – who left the firm last fall – opened the Jefferson Hawthorne Group, with Daniel Gordon, a former deputy chief of staff to Ontario Premier Doug Ford, and Andrew Sidnell, who also left a senior role at Kingsdale last year. However, Jefferson Hawthorne has positioned itself as a leadership advisory firm, rather than a proxy advisory service.
Ms. Fernandes resigned her position at Kingsdale around the time that Mr. Hughes and Mr. Robertson left last year. Kelly Gorman, Kingsdale’s executive vice-president of the governance advisory group, also departed at the time to become the CEO of Advocis.
After the departures, Mr. Hall told The Globe he is “proud of my people when they move on to greater opportunities,” pointing to the example of Ms. Gorman. He added that Kingsdale has “an extremely deep bench” of talent to fill the vacancies.
Ms. Fernandes said she decided to move on because many of the people she enjoyed working with were leaving and it was “time for a change.” Initially, Mr. Hughes and Ms. Fernandes said they had no plans to launch their own firm and each explored other roles and opportunities – both together and separately.
“But ultimately, we saw the synergy and value of trying to do something together,” Mr. Hughes said. “We really do think that one plus one equals three, when it relates to the two of us.”
While Advisense might be new, Ms. Fernandes said they aren’t starting from scratch as each has spent years developing relationships on Bay Street.
“People that have worked with us, they know what we bring to the table,” she said. “If you’ve done good work and if you’ve provided the right advice, I think it’s natural for people to gravitate towards something they know and who they have trusted over the years.”
For now, Advisense is just Mr. Hughes and Ms. Fernandes, but they are in the process of hiring additional talent, they said.