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Our Leadership
As a modern, effective, and efficient regulator, BCFSA is committed to protecting consumers through fair and efficient regulation of the financial services sector.
We’re proactive and forward looking. We take a risk-based approach to financial services supervision fitted to the dynamic nature of the sectors we oversee.
Regulatory and operational activities of BCFSA are administered by the CEO and approximately 300 team members with diverse expertise in policy, law, investigations, accounting, education, technology, and other areas essential to the successful regulation of the financial services sector.
BCFSA’s focus is on the financial services sector as a whole. We are organized on a functional basis with departments that oversee the entire sector including Supervision, Legal, Policy and Stakeholder Engagement, Compliance and Market Conduct, and Regulatory Services. A Corporate Services and Transformation department provides support to all the core business areas.
Our leadership team members are leading experts in their fields.
Blair Morrison is the chief executive officer of BC Financial Services Authority (“BCFSA”). He also serves as B.C.’s superintendent of Financial Institutions, superintendent of Pensions, superintendent of Real Estate and the registrar of Mortgage Brokers as well as chief executive officer of the Credit Union Deposit Insurance Corporation (“CUDIC”).
Blair is leading BCFSA on its journey to become a modern, effective, and efficient regulator for B.C.’s financial services sector. He has been instrumental in driving BCFSA’s strategy to safeguard the integrity of the sector and boost public protection.
A multifaceted executive, Blair brings more than 25 years of extensive regulatory, legal, compliance, and risk management experience.
Prior to joining BCFSA, Blair held progressively senior roles with some of Canada’s major institutions. He most recently spent over 11 years with the Bank of Montreal (“BMO”) in senior roles in legal, compliance, and procurement. Prior to joining BMO, he served in senior legal roles with TMX Group and Nortel Networks Corporation.
Blair holds a bachelor of commerce from Queen’s University and a bachelor of laws from the University of Western Ontario.
David Weiss draws on more than 25 years of leadership experience in setting strategy, driving business growth, building teams, and leading transformational change. He is the senior vice president of corporate services and transformation with BCFSA. Recognized for his ability to lead with integrity, David oversees a wide range of responsibilities including business planning, finance, human resources, information management and technology as well as business transformation.
David brings with him a proven track record of strategic planning and change management accomplishments. Through innovative thinking and creative problem solving, David has seized opportunities that align with our mission to boost public protection and drive efficiencies. He has played an integral role in BCFSA’s efforts to become a modern, effective, and efficient financial services regulator in British Columbia.
His ability to build strategic partnerships has allowed him to collaborate and solidify ties with government organizations, regulators, and industry experts. He spearheads a team of highly trained and experienced professionals, who focus on driving results and organizational change as well as positioning BCFSA for the future.
Before joining BCFSA, David spent more than 20 years with TELUS, where he held progressively senior management roles. During that time, he helped transform TELUS from a monopoly provider to a leader in Canada’s highly competitive technology sector. This included driving transformative change in a variety of business areas and helping build an industry-leading corporate culture.
David holds a master of business administration from the University of British Columbia and a bachelor of commerce from the University of Alberta. He completed several executive training programs from the Richard Ivey School of Business, Rotman School of Management, and INSEAD. David is also an adjunct professor at UBC’s Sauder School of Business, where he teaches strategic management.
Jean-François (“JF”) Tremblay is the senior vice president of supervision and deposit insurance at BCFSA. An engaging and influential leader, JF’s mission is to build strong relations with industry and other regulators and safeguard the interests of consumers in the financial services sector.
With over 20 years in the finance industry, JF brings expertise and thought leadership to support BCFSA’s vision to benefit British Columbians as a modern, efficient, and effective regulator of the financial services sector.
Before joining BCFSA, JF served as deputy chief risk officer at the Bank of Canada where he played a leadership role in the oversight of the Bank’s risk management. During this time, JF chaired the Bank’s main financial risk committee, established emergency liquidity facilities that were at the core of the federal agency’s response to the pandemic crisis, and led the development of scenario and stress testing analysis on the Bank’s increasingly large and complex balance sheet.
Prior to joining the Bank of Canada, JF worked for Moody’s Investors Services for over 10 years in various senior management positions around the world, overseeing the credit analysis and rating operations for an entire region or continent.
For more than 10 years, JF also served as acting chief economist in the financial sector policy branch at the Department of Finance at the federal government, working closely with the office of the Superintendent of Financial Institution (“OSFI”), the Canadian Deposit Insurance Corporation (“CDIC”) and other supervisory agencies, a period during which he also held the position of Canadian finance counsellor in Europe.
JF holds a master’s certificate in risk management from Schulich School of Business, York University, Toronto and a master’s degree in international financial economics from the University of Ottawa. These followed the completion of two bachelor’s degrees, in psychology and international relations, also from the University of Ottawa.
Jon Vandall serves as senior vice president of compliance and enforcement with BCFSA. He brings more than 15 years of extensive experience in regulation and policy. Along with other members of the senior executive team, he is a leading force behind BCFSA’s work to protect British Columbians’ during some of their most important financial decisions.
Over the course of his career, Jon has spearheaded policy reform and rule-making initiatives related to real estate regulation in B.C. His proven ability to translate strategic direction into operational objectives allows him to develop policy that strengthens the practice of B.C.’s real estate licensees. A strategic communicator who can find clarity out of complexity, Jon has built strong relationships with government officials, industry stakeholders, and other regulators.
Jon has forged a reputation as a team builder who puts people first. He is passionate about fostering a culture that drives remarkable outcomes for both his team and the public. Prior to joining BCFSA, Jon held progressively senior roles with B.C.’s Office of the Superintendent of Real Estate (“OSRE”) including deputy superintendent of real estate. In this capacity, he was responsible for directing policy development and legal strategy for oversight, investigation, and regulatory enforcement actions.
Prior to that, Jon worked as senior policy analyst with the provincial Ministry of Finance, where he provided the Minister of Finance and senior officials with strategic counsel on real estate policy as well as legislative and regulatory amendments. He also worked on developing key amendments to overhaul the Real Estate Services Act (“RESA”).
Jon holds a Bachelor of Arts in History from the University of Regina and a Master of Public Administration from the University of Victoria.
Saskia Tolsma is vice president, policy and stakeholder engagement with BCFSA. She is responsible for developing policies and best practices and operationalizing an engagement strategy for BCFSA as a modern, effective and efficient regulator. She leverages over 15 years of experience in policy and regulatory development, including extensive work with a variety of government partners, regulators, and external stakeholders in order to provide strategic advice on how BCFSA meets its commitments for meaningful engagement and transparency.
Before joining BCFSA, Saskia held progressively senior roles at the Department of Finance Canada. This experience included roles to support the Minister of Finance in developing the federal budget, developing the mandate for the Canada Infrastructure Bank and roles in financial sector policy related to financial services innovation and consumer protection. Most recently this entailed responsibility for the federal government’s review into open banking and supporting the Minister of Finance’s advisory xommittee on open banking. Prior to joining Finance Canada, Saskia also worked at the Senate of Canada in a policy capacity, particularly on environment and natural resource files. These roles have supported Saskia in developing a strong sense of how to advance priority public policy initiatives and how to manage challenging issues in the public environment.
Saskia holds a bachelor of public affairs and policy management from Carleton University, and a master of public policy from the University of Ottawa.
Derrick Lau is BCFSA’s vice president of supervision. He previously served as director of credit unions and was a key leader in developing and executing a strategy that modernized BCFSA’s regulatory framework to respond more effectively to the dynamic changes occurring in the macroeconomic environment.
Derrick is an entrepreneurial leader with over 20 years’ experience executing strategic initiatives, establishing strong partnerships, and strengthening organizational culture. He brings a strong background in risk management and finance to the role and will continue to advance BCFSA’s risk-based supervisory practices to better integrate safety and soundness with market conduct imperatives.
Prior to his regulatory roles, Derrick held senior management roles with multinational firms, including PricewaterhouseCoopers, Deloitte, and Ernst & Young. His areas of focus were to provide executive and board advisory services for merger and acquisitions, corporate restructuring, and risk planning purposes. He most recently served as director of finance for a national organization where he led a team responsible for treasury management, debt raising, and financial reporting.
Derrick earned a bachelor of commerce from the University of British Columbia. He is also a Chartered Professional Accountant, a Chartered Financial Analyst, and a Chartered Business Valuator.
Joy Tcheng plays a pivotal role in modernizing and strengthening supervisory capabilities and methods and driving best practices to promote sector stability and maintain public confidence in B.C.’s financial services sector. She leads a team of professionals responsible for overseeing the supervision of financial institutions and pension plans, conducting real estate audits, enhancing risk surveillance and analytics capabilities, and developing and implementing effective supervisory practices, reporting and standards.
Over the last 15 years, Joy has held diverse leadership roles in audit, risk management and financial services supervision. Most recently, she was the director of insurance and trust at BCFSA where she made significant contributions to enhancing risk assessment practices, implementing robust data analytics and reporting capabilities, and fostering a strong risk culture in the supervision of Insurance and Trust companies.
Joy holds a bachelor of arts from the University of British Columbia. She is also a Chartered Professional Accountant.
Anita Handregan is responsible for building an education strategy for BCFSA that focuses on elevating standards of practice across the financial services sector while enhancing education on consumer protection.
Anita is skilled at building high-performing teams and strategic partnerships to drive business growth. She has a tremendous track record as a strategic leader in the education field for over 20 years, driving business results through client-focused strategies for some of Canada’s top educational institutions.
Prior to joining BCFSA, she held executive and senior leadership roles in both the public and private sector. Most recently, she was responsible for the program standards and assessments portfolios with SkilledTradesBC, the crown agency that leads and manages the trades training and apprenticeship system in B.C.
Anita holds a bachelor of arts from the University of British Columbia as well as a master in adult education and human resources from Colorado State University.
Doug Copland brings extensive expertise to his role as vice president, legal at BCFSA.
Before joining BCFSA, Doug was a partner at Borden Ladner Gervais LLP, where he practiced in the areas of corporate, commercial, mergers and acquisitions, technology and intellectual property law, serving a broad clientele including for-profit and not-for-profit corporations, cooperatives, credit unions, and other corporate entities for 38 years.
His governance experience, gained through working closely with boards of directors across various sectors, positions him to lead BCFSA’s corporate legal, hearings and corporate secretary teams. His leadership is further demonstrated by his mentorship of high performing teams and his support for organizational succession planning.
He holds a bachelor of commerce and a bachelor of laws from the University of British Columbia.
Christine Smiley supports the CEO and senior executives to deliver on BCFSA’s mandate through strategic and digital communications, CEO operations, and corporate governance. The Office of the CEO also supports organization-wide initiatives that foster corporate values such as diversity, equity, and inclusion.
Christine played an integral role as project director for the creation of BCFSA as a Crown agency and the subsequent integration of real estate regulation into BCFSA. She has extensive leadership experience in business transformation, corporate planning, project management, strategic human resources, and communications.
Prior to joining BCFSA, Christine spent about 16 years in the B.C. Public Service, largely at the Ministry of Finance. Most recently, she was the executive director, corporate planning & strategic initiatives with the Ministry of Emergency Management and Climate Readiness during its transition to a new ministry including leading the development of its inaugural business plan and service plan.
Christine holds a bachelor of arts in economics from the University of Victoria and continuous education in leadership and organization development from Queens University, UBC Sauder School of Business, and Psychometrics Canada.
Joanna Carson is the chief financial officer of BCFSA. Overseeing finance and business operations, Joanna leverages her experience in system implementation, strategic planning, supply chain and enterprise risk management to lead the provision of key services and support to operational and project teams across the organization. She also serves as the Credit Union Deposit Insurance Corporation’s (“CUDIC”) chief financial officer.
Joanna is a valued financial executive with a proven track record of helping boards, educators, partners, and stakeholders achieve missions critical to British Columbians and Canadians. Building trust, mutual respect, equity and inclusion are at the forefront of her leadership style.
Joanna was previously chief financial officer at Canada’s particle accelerator centre, TRIUMF, and has served in both appointed and elected roles in pension plan governance. She has also held a variety of progressively senior roles at the University of British Columbia and brings 20+ years of experience working with boards, finance and audit committees over various sectors.
Joanna is known for making real and meaningful contributions and has created and stewarded substantial financial plans that deliver positive, innovative outcomes. She brings this experience to BCFSA with an intent to identify hidden opportunities and solutions, anticipate and solve problems, ensure compliance, and generate operational efficiencies and cost savings.Joanna holds a master’s of business administration from Queen’s University, a bachelor of arts in political science from the University of Toronto, and is a Chartered Professional Accountant.
Archana leads the establishment and execution of BCFSA’s information management and technology (“IM&T”) strategy. She supports the senior vice president, corporate services and transformation and other senior executives to ensure IM&T is aligned with BCFSA’s overall strategy. She also oversees the delivery of capabilities to enable BCFSA to deliver on its mandate. She was instrumental in building the Solution Design and Delivery team within the IM&T team, establishing BCFSA’s project management office and playing a vital role in the Crown transition and CRS projects.
Archana has over 17 years’ experience in leading complex projects and technology operations in financial services organizations. She is a collaborative leader with strong interpersonal, negotiation and stakeholder management skills. Archana has championed operational excellence, having supported business transformations through people, processes, and technology for multiple organizations. She is passionate about adopting an agile approach to provide client-focused scalable solutions
Prior to joining BCFSA, Archana spent over 20 years in a combination of global, private, and public sector leading project/program governance, project management, business intelligence, business analysis and creating new capabilities such as the project management office and process optimization units within various organizations.
Archana holds a bachelor of arts in psychology and English literature from the University of Allahabad, India and a master of business administration in finance from Devi Ahilya Vishwavidyalaya, India. Archana is a member of the Project Management Institute and the CIO Association of Canada.
Kevin joined BCFSA in 2021. He is responsible for oversight of BCFSA’s human resources programs which fosters positive employee engagement in line with the organization’s core values and to deliver on its public protection mandate.
Kevin is an accomplished executive with over 30 years of experience in the human resources field gained from diverse sectors, including the broader public sector, non-profits, and private sector organizations. He has a strong background encompassing employee relations, collective bargaining, compensation and benefits, organizational development, talent management, and enterprise technologies.
His strategic mindset and deep understanding of human resources best practices enables him to drive impactful initiatives and foster high-performance cultures among BCFSA’s over 350 employees. Additionally, he has expertise in talent acquisition, development, and retention.
Kevin holds a bachelor of arts in economics from UBC, a diploma of technology in human resources from BCIT, and has earned the prestigious Certified Professional in Human Resources designation. He has also served on the boards of the Chartered Professionals in Human Resources of B.C., and the International Association for Human Resources Information Management.
