CommunityLend Announces a New Chief Compliance Officer and Three New Advisors
Toronto, Ontario (January 5th, 2010 ): CommunityLend Holdings Inc. the parent company of Toronto-based peer-to-peer lending company, CommunityLend Inc., today announced a new Chief Compliance Officer and three new additions to its Board of Advisors.
New Compliance Officer
Starting in January 2010, long time financial services professional, Tim Gleeson, will be joining CommunityLend Inc. as its new Chief Compliance Officer. “Tim comes to CommunityLend from a distinguished 30 year career in the financial services industry.” noted Michael Garrity, CEO of CommunityLend Holdings Inc. and Co-Founder and CEO of CommunityLend Inc. “and brings to our team considerable experience in capital markets and a sophisticated understanding of securities related compliance requirements.” Prior to joining CommunityLend, Tim was the founder and Chief Compliance Officer of investment management firm, FairLane Asset Management.
New Advisors
CommunityLend Holdings Inc. is also announcing three new Advisors. The Board of Advisors for CommunityLend Holdings Inc. is comprised of industry leaders who advise and guide the company on strategic decisions and business progress.
“All three of these new advisors to CommunityLend have achieved significant success in their respective industries and it is a great honour to have add their guidance, experience and passion to our team.” said Garrity. “They all represent for us significant professional experience immediately relevant to operating a successful peer-to-peer lending system for the Canadian financial services market.”
Executive Biographies
Tim Gleeson, Chief Compliance Officer
Tim comes to CommunityLend from a distinguished 30 year career in the financial services industry. Prior to joining our team, Tim was the founder of investment management firm, FairLane Asset Management. Tim’s financial services career started when he first joined Merrill Lynch in 1979. He worked subsequently in fixed income trading at Bay street firms Burns Fry Ltd. and Richardson Greenshields . In 1989 Tim switched gears and joined Mackenzie Financial where his role as Senior Vice President included portfolio management and contributing to Investment and Derivatives committee oversight. Fulfilling a lifelong ambition Tim recently earned his Private Pilot’s license and is working towards an instrument rating.
Giles Andrews, Advisor
Giles co-founded the world’s first online lending and borrowing marketplace, Zopa, in 2004. He led 4 fund raisings as CFO and then led the UK business as MD before taking over as CEO in January 2009. Giles spent the first ten years of his career in the motor industry pursuing his interest in all things automotive. This included co-founding Caverdale in 1992, a start-up taken to a £250m revenue motor retailer and sold in 1997. After an MBA at INSEAD he set up his own consultancy business whose clients included Tesco and Tesco Personal Finance and which also provided start up advice and early stage funding for new businesses.
Roger Couldrey, Advisor
Roger is the acting Vice President Administration at McMaster University. He was CommunityLend’s Chief Operating Officer until 2009 and is a long time banking professional. Roger joined the Bank of Montreal in 1971 and had a variety of executive responsibilities including his last position as Vice President of Electronic Financial Services. After leaving the bank in 1999, he was Executive Vice President of Operations with epost (www.epost.ca), was the General Manager of Corporate Services for Orlick Industries Ltd in Hamilton before returning to epost in 2004 as President and CEO. Roger has extensive experience serving on community boards, most noticeably McMaster University, where he is Chair of both the Finance and Audit Committees. He completed the Financial Studies Diploma, the senior qualification of the UK Institute of Bankers, in 1982 as the top candidate.
John Prato, Advisor
John Prato is a Managing Director in the Equity Capital Markets (ECM) group of TD Securities Inc., the investment banking division of The Toronto Dominion Bank Financial Group. He has been a member of the ECM group since 1998, and has worked on a variety of equity underwritings, including initial public offerings, common equity, convertible and exchangeable debentures, income trusts and private placements for companies in diverse sectors. From 1996 to 1998, Mr. Prato worked in merchant banking with TD Capital Group Limited on a variety of mandates including early-stage investments, private equity, mergers and acquisitions and leveraged buy-outs. Mr. Prato has served on the Board of Trustees of the Royal Ontario Museum, including the executive committee of the Board, and currently sits on the board of St. Michael’s Hospital Foundation, Toronto. Mr. Prato holds a Masters of Business Administration from Queen’s University in Kingston, Ontario and is a CFA charter holder.
