James Meadows

Experience

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  Ernst & Young

  Sept 1996 - May 2002

  Manager
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  Burgundy Asset Management

  May 2002 - Mar 2009

  Vice President & Chief Compliance Officer

  Responsible for Trading Process Improvements • Canadian first for investment counsel – electronically streamlined trade processing enabling traders to touch a trade order once, which reduced human error, increased accuracy and trading flexibility and resulted in 100% same-day trade settlement instructions. In addition, trades can be executed on several marketplaces simultaneously. • Implemented pre-trade and post-trade transactional cost analysis to review trading activity and make improvements to the best execution process. Responsible for the Strategic Direction of I.T. • Implemented a disaster recovery location with real-time backup and remote connectivity. • Designed, implemented and tested a disaster recovery location with a heavy focus on business resumption. Responsible for Building a Strong Administration Team • Built and managed a highly effective and energetic team in day-to-day client servicing activities. • Ensured the timely and accurate preparation of quarterly client reporting. Rolled out the Burgundy Private Client website that provides up-to-date valuation, transactional summary and performance returns for all clients. • Directed the implementation of new client relationship management technology for client service and relationship management personnel. • Initiated and implemented a tax reporting package – designed to provide a quick snapshot or full detail. Responsible for the Firm’s Risk Management Through Compliance Regulatory • Designed and implemented a firm-wide Compliance Program based on the Securities Exchange Commission and Ontario Securities Commission (OSC) regulatory requirements. Successfully underwent an OSC audit. Client Relations Process Improvements • Reviewed and approved all monthly/quarterly institutional compliance letters. • Reviewed and approved all Know Your Client and Investment Policy Statements. Show less

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  Gluskin Sheff + Associates

  May 2009 - Apr 2010

  Controller

  Responsible for Corporate Financial Reporting Process Improvements• Responsible for company public financial and regulatory reporting, internal control testing and documentation and International Financial Reporting Standards. Coordinated the annual audit and preparation of the Annual Information Form.• Successfully implemented a new corporate accounting system and migrated all historical information. Automated manual accounting processes.• Responsible for Corporate Governance and reporting to the Audit Committee. Redesigned and implemented changes to the internal control review process. Show less

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  AGF Investment Inc.

  Apr 2010 - Jan 2015

  Responsible for Leading and Developing the Investment Operations Governance Model• Lead the team to design and implement all investment operations policies and procedures. Created a system to ensure that all policies and procedures were kept current and tied directly into the compliance manual.• Successfully lead the team to perform the first ever CICA Section 5970/ISAE 3402 audit report on internal controls for investment operations.• Successfully lead the first ever GIPS audit for 83 composites for the firm with a five year history. Developed the policies and procedures for GIPS program. Merged two GIPS entities to improve marketability of firm.• Designed and implemented an institutional client on-boarding process to minimize risk of errors and improve the client experience. Effectively brought internal teams together to ensure all operational, reporting, compliance and trading issues were addressed.• Responsible for all investment operations vendor management governance. Established a model to evaluate the risk of all critical venders on a semi annual basis. Performed review all of investment management applications and services and eliminated redundancies resulting in $250,000 annual savings. Responsible for annual investment operations budget process.Responsible for Leading the Business Continuity Plan and Crisis Management Team• Responsible for ensuring that all business continuity plans across the firm are current and tested on an annual basis.• Report to the Board of Directors on an annual basis the current status of the business continuity plans and initiatives for the coming year.• Lead senior management through business continuity program on an annual basis to ensure understanding of responsibility.• Responsible for coordinating all business continuity activities during an event. Show less Responsible for Building a Strong Application Support and Report Development Team• Responsible for hiring 4 application support and 3 report developers in a 4 month time period and ensuring a cohesive team atmosphere.• Ensured proper training and education for all new employees to the applications and procedures.• Performed a competitive analysis of institutional client reporting to determine best of market client reporting and designed an AGF standard template for all institutional clients.Responsible for AGF's Fund Fact Sheet Development• Successfully lead the fund fact sheet development for the automation of over 950 documents for AGF, Elements, Harmony and Acuity within a two month time period. This implementation resulted in the ability to produce fund fact sheets on demand and saved the firm considerable costs in outsourcing.• Designed and lead a governance process to ensure the fund fact sheet annual renewal process is effective, efficient and accurate. Worked with all departments within the firm to ensure that all data attributes are accurate and business rules followed.Responsible for Designing and Implementing Asset Under Management (AUM) Reporting• Successfully gathered 65 client data attributes for over 300 accounts. These attributes allowed the firm to effectively report AUM internally and externally in a consistent and accurate manner. Centralized all AUM reporting accountability into the Governance team.• Designed a governance model and template to gather new attributes and modifications to client accounts. Show less

  • Vice President, Investment Management Administration

    Jul 2013 - Jan 2015

  • Vice President, Investment Operations, Governance

    Apr 2010 - Jul 2013

  • Vice President, Investment Operations, Data and Reporting

    Apr 2010 - May 2011
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  Manitou Investment Management Ltd.

  Jan 2015 - now

  • Chief Operations Officer

    May 2021 - now

  • Executive Vice President, Operations

    Jan 2015 - May 2021