As I look back over my past 30 plus years in the financial industry, I wonder how people with whom I have interacted will remember me. While many will certainly remember the time we worked together –on the trading floor, trading desk, buy side or sell side – I hope many will remember me in my role over the past five years as CEO of CFA Society Toronto.

These are years of which I am very proud. I was able to spend precious time assisting others in achieving career goals and helping an organization focused on professionalism and ethical behaviour in markets move to a much higher level of achievement. In doing so, I hope I am leaving the financial marketplace better off for my presence.

Throughout most of my career transitions, I left behind colleagues who wondered what the inexplicable reasons were behind each move. With each career change, I helped build a trading team, developed a product line, managed a division, and ultimately (ran?) an entire pension plan. The directions my career has taken have always seemed unclear to others but were entirely obvious to me. In each position, when I had accomplished what I thought I could, it was time for a new challenge. That is true for me in my role at CFA Society Toronto as well.

We have accomplished much here in a short time. While always a strong CFA society because of a wealth of generous, committed volunteers and members and financial institutions that support us, recent activities and accomplishments have moved the organization to a new level. Through a combination of good governance, strong strategy development, financial strength, and opportunistic individual action, we have become the model society others wish to emulate. Much of that is due to the effort and work of many different members, and I had the privilege of managing implementation during this period. To those who gave their time and effort, I offer my thanks.

Our programs are top-notch, our office facilities are the envy of our peers, and our quarterly magazine The Analyst is a terrific and much improved publication. Our business is increasingly centred on communications, education, and outreach, and we are improving all the time. We have mobile apps, LinkedIn pages, telecast and videoconference capabilities, and increasingly sophisticated systems and management capabilities.

CFA Society Toronto is a strong business entity. We are also, and will continue to be, a member organization committed to our members and society as a whole. We are now able to service those members better than ever before, and we will continue to strive to improve.

I hope when people look back at my career they will remember me as the person who led the organization at an important time when the Society transitioned to this new professional level. Perhaps in a few years if my name is mentioned they might say “I remember him; he was Mr. CFA in Canada” for a while, wasn’t he?” While not entirely accurate, it would work for me.

Thank you for your support over the years, and I look forward to meeting again soon.

Regards,
Peter S. Jarvis, CFA
CEO