Title: Managing Director
Company: TD Bank, N.A.
Length of FEI sponsorship: Three years
Length of FEI membership: 8 years
FEI leadership involvement (past and present): Annual Sponsor
Work email: [email protected]
Work phone number: (813) 466-4662
Tell us a little bit about your career, educational/professional background and how you got to where you are today.
I was born and raised in Toronto, Ontario, but went to college at the University of North Carolina, at Chapel Hill, where I was on the cross country and track teams. After a year of travelling around the world, I landed back in Toronto and had job offers from NIKE, Xerox and Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce (CIBC). CIBC offered $2,000 more than the other two (and I didn’t have to buy a car), so I became a banker.
From CIBC I moved to RoyNat Capital/Scotia Bank and did sub-debt/mezzanine financing, then joined LaSalle Bank/ABN Amro in Toronto to focus on asset-based lending just as it was becoming accepted in Canada. Then, I joined J.P. Morgan Chase in Toronto to build an ABL group for them, but I told the HR recruiter that I did not like the cold weather (and had gone to UNC and my family had a place in Vero Beach) – so in 2010 I accepted a transfer from Toronto to Tampa!
A year later, I convinced Chase to sponsor the Tampa Bay Lightning, after I became friends with Steve Griggs, Tod Leiweke, Jeff Vinik, Steve Yzerman and a dozen other friends at the Lightning. The next seven years, I co-hosted the Bolts/USF golf tournament and Coach Cooper's charity fishing event, and I took clients on the Lightning team plane four times a year for roadtrips.
Chase also designated me as the regional mid-market investment banker, so I studied for and passed my Series 79 and 63 licenses, and became a licensed Investment Banker. In Tampa, I won and closed sell-side mandates and equity raises and bond issuances and lead multi-bank senior debt deals for companies in the area.
I joined TD Bank two years ago, and with my Toronto background and many connections within the bank in the U.S. and Canada, it is an ideal fit and we are growing rapidly.
Have you ever done anything out of the ordinary to apply for and/or get a job?
I likely received a few promotions due to my running and social skills. At my first job at CIBC, I put together a corporate running group of 100 people and three of the guys could also run five km in 15 minutes. We won a number of races in the 90's, so that got some attention from the senior executives.
What do you love most about working in the finance profession?
It can be a very social profession and I have made some of my closest friends from it. I was on the ACG Board locally too, serving two-plus years as the Tampa Bay Chapter President, which was a great experience.
What is your best networking tip?
Be true to your personality and make genuine connections. It really is a relationship business, so while they call it networking, it goes deeper than that and true connections are important. Be with people you would like to spend time with regardless of whether
there is a deal or service to work on together.
My wife is a great example of this. She is a top land use real estate attorney (Elise Batsel, at Stearns Weaver Miller). She has a group of seven friends who go back 25 years and meet regularly, but it is never about business. However, from their relationships they all end up helping each other at some point, and two are now in senior state roles in Tallahassee.
What are some of your personal hobbies outside of work?
My kids! I have five awesome kids, four of whom are teenagers and the eldest turned 21 this year. Three are now out of the house, with the last two at Plant High School. My daughter just transferred to Florida State and my son is on scholarship in Kentucky. My youngest is a state champion for hockey, but hung up the skates last year, which freed up our weekends.
Prior to kids taking over my free time, I used to be a Triathlete and runner. I placed 9
th in Montreal IronMan in 9:41/4:32 for ½ IM, won the Toronto Marathon and ran 1:07 for the half-marathon, and 30:20 for 10km.