Ventum Financial Corp. has announced a leadership shake up in several key executive positions, less than a week after the sudden departure of the new financial services company’s president and chief operating officer.
Karanjit Bhugra is the new president of the firm, effective Oct. 22, Ventum announced Wednesday. At the same time, Richard Butterworth has stepped into the role of chief operating officer of the company, which was created in the summer through the merger of PI Financial Corp. and Echelon Wealth Inc.
Together, Mr. Bhugra and Mr. Butterworth have replaced industry veteran Jean-Paul Bachellerie, who held both the president and COO titles. Prior to his appointment at Ventum, Mr. Bachellerie led PI Financial for almost 30 years as chief executive officer.
His departure on Oct. 16, first reported by Bloomberg News, was announced in an internal memo by Ventum chief executive officer David Cusson, who was a co-founder of Echelon Wealth. Mr. Bachellerie could not be reached for comment about his departure.
“Following the merger transaction completed in June, these strategic moves position the company for new long-term stability and growth,” the company said in a release about the new appointments.
Ventum’s predecessor companies have both faced regulatory issues in recent years.
Last year, Echelon Wealth lost millions of investors’ dollars after regulators halted trading of Ontario-based hedge fund Traynor Ridge, with Echelon subsequently unable to collect payment for millions of dollars of trades done for Traynor Ridge. Echelon is also defending itself from a Canadian Investment Regulatory Organization action saying it should have stopped customers from engaging in alleged market-manipulation schemes.
In 2022, PI Financial’s former owner, Gary Ng, was charged by the RCMP with fraud and money laundering for allegedly inflating the value of his assets when he borrowed money to buy the brokerage firm in 2018.
Prior Mr. Bhugra’s new appointment, he was co-head of capital markets for Ventum. In his new role, he will provide executive leadership for Ventum’s capital markets division and be responsible for strategic initiatives for the broader firm, it said in Wednesday’s release.
The company also announced that by Oct. 31, Mr. Butterworth – who was the former chief financial officer at BlueShore Financial – will also take on the role of CFO at Ventum, replacing Andy Murray, who will retire at the end of the year.
Also effective Oct. 22, Asad Said was named head of capital markets for Eastern Canada, and Tim Graham was appointed head of capital markets for Western Canada.
