Porter retiring as Scotiabank’s CEO; Finning CEO Scott Thomson named successor

The Bank of Nova Scotia announced Monday that Brian Porter, its president and chief executive officer, is retiring next year.

He will be succeeded by Scott Thomson, who is currently the president and chief executive officer of Finning International Inc., and a member of Scotia’s board of directors. He isn’t a stranger to the finance industry, having served as a vice-president at Goldman Sachs earlier in his career.

“I was surprised that the Bank of Nova Scotia actually went outside its own executive ranks to choose a new CEO. … I was surprised as well that they had actually gone outside, which shows that the potential CEOs, the people that had been groomed internally to be potential successors, weren't the same quality as they were able to find outside,” said Anish Chopra, a partner and portfolio manager at Toronto-based Portfolio Management Corp. — which owns Scotia shares, in an interview.

Thomson will initially move into Bank of Nova Scotia’s management ranks as president on Dec. 1. Shortly before Scotia’s announcement Monday, Finning announced Thomson’s pending exit, while naming Kevin Parkes, the Vancouver-based heavy equipment-dealer’s chief operating officer, as its next president and CEO.   “Scott is an exceptional leader and a seasoned CEO with a history of delivering results across the Americas and in international markets through a strong focus on operational excellence, talent development, and digital transformation, and a proven track record in effective capital allocation and investments in strategic capabilities,” said Aaron Regent, Bank of Nova Scotia’s chair, in the release.