IA Financial Group Inc. executive Julie Gallagher will take over as chief executive officer of RF Capital Group Inc. RCG-T, an independent wealth management firm acquired by iA last summer.
Quebec-based iA announced Tuesday that Ms. Gallagher – who is the head of investment products, solutions and capital markets – will step into the role of president and CEO of RF Capital, known as Richardson Wealth, replacing Dave Kelly, who joined the boutique firm in 2024.
Mr. Kelly, who told The Globe and Mail last year he would remain as CEO until a new leader was found, will be appointed vice-chair of Richardson’s board of directors during the transition period, which will end in June.
After that time, Mr. Kelly will remain on the board as a director to “provide guidance and counsel going forward,” the company said in an e-mail.
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Last summer, iA Financial bought RF Capital, which was partly owned by Winnipeg’s prominent Richardson family, for $597-million, adding about 142 investment adviser teams and $43.6-billion in assets under administration.
Stephan Bourbonnais, iA Financial’s executive vice-president of wealth management, said the company immediately began a rigorous CEO search after the deal, which involved an an external search firm, more than 25 interviews and ”many strong candidates," both internally and externally.
“Julie stood out at every step,” Mr. Bourbonnais said in an e-mail. “She showed exceptional insight into advisers’ needs, genuine leadership and steadfast commitment to our field.”
Ms. Gallagher first joined iA in 2021 as chief compliance officer for iA Private Wealth – a division that oversees two other investment dealers in addition to Richardson. She was later appointed senior vice-president and head of investment products and capital markets, where she led product development for iA Private Wealth, iA Capital Markets, Investia Financial Services and iA Clarington Investments.
Today, iA Wealth is one of the largest independent wealth managers in the country with more than 2,750 advisers managing about $200-billion in assets. Ms. Gallagher said iA has not lost any Richardson adviser teams since the deal closed late last year.
Ms. Gallagher began her career more than 20 years ago as legal counsel for a private practice doing commercial litigation, where she was first introduced to financial adviser practices through several wealth management clients. In 2009, she joined Bank of Montreal as senior legal counsel for the bank’s wealth management divisions. Nearly a decade later, in 2018, she moved to National Bank Financial as senior director of compliance.
Throughout her career moves, Ms. Gallagher – who is based in Montreal – has been a member of the Quebec district council for the Canadian Investment Regulatory Organization, an investment industry regulator. Over the past 14 years, she has been an advocate for advisers and investment firms in the Quebec region. It was here that she met iA Financial’s Mr. Bourbonnais.
“I’ve always played a central role in supporting advisers in their day-to-day queries – from advisers contracts, to merging teams, building teams, selling books as well as fielding questions on regulation,” Ms. Gallagher said in an interview. “Because at the end of the day, managing a dealer is also about managing regulation.”
Mr. Bourbonnais said Ms. Gallagher played a role in the due diligence process for the Richardson deal, and over the past several months her responsibilities have expanded to support Richardson Wealth’s advisory teams.
RF Capital’s head office will remain at its Toronto waterfront location, and Ms. Gallagher will split her time between offices in Toronto and Montreal.
Over the next 90 days, Ms. Gallagher said she will be travelling across the country to meet directly with advisers and discuss the short-term goals she has set as a new leader: investing more money in digital tools, keeping a close eye on regulatory changes that will allow advisers to incorporate and beginning the arduous process of rebranding the firm, after iA promised to drop the Richardson name within 30 months.
However, with so much change on the horizon, Ms. Gallagher said her top priority will be to maintain the strong independent culture that Richardson Wealth had fostered for so many years.
“They have a strong sense of family and they collaborate with one another,” she said. “That is something I will focus on right at the beginning because it is so important when you have a great culture and you need to protect it.”