The Private Investor - Fall Winter 2019

Meet Felicia O’Neil
Assistant Vice President,
Business Development
Private Capital Solutions
at Computershare

1. Tell us about your company and its focus.

Computershare is a global
financial services company
operating in 21 countries
with over 12,000 employees worldwide. We
have extensive experience offering transfer
agency and corporate trust services as well
employee equity plans, mortgage servicing,
stakeholder communications and other
diversified financial and governance
services for public and private companies.

We work with some of the world’s leading organizations to maximize their relationships with investors, employees, creditors, members and customers.

Q2: Tell us about Computershare’s initiatives and contributions to the PCMA.

Computershare is committed to the exempt market and continues to develop and enhance our Private Capital Solutions for exempt market dealers (EMDs), dealing representatives (DRs), private issuers and investors. We invest time and resources to ensure that we provide a competitive solution with high service standards.

We are delighted to support PCMA
industry events that take place throughout
the year. We were Title Sponsor of the
PCMA National Conference for four years
and are currently Lead Partner with the
PCMA. It’s always great to participate and
gain valuable insights from industry
participants and experts.

Q3: What is your company’s focus in the private markets?

When Computershare entered the private capital market in 2015, we realized that demands of the market were developing faster than the solutions available. Most notably, there was a gap for a national trust company committed to the exempt market. Computershare is the only OSFI-regulated trust company licensed in all jurisdictions that is helping EMDs and private issuers when offering products in all provinces, by making its registered plan trusteeship services available to exempt market investors. We are focused on providing DRs and EMDs with solutions suited to their growing demands and changing needs, in the form of a competitive offering, with a robust online platform, enhanced reporting tools and simplified pricing. We are constantly improving our online platform with ongoing developments to both the EMD/DR and investor platforms. We recently launched a new and improved investor portal offering more self-serve options for investors.

Q4: Tell us a little about your background and what made you gravitate toward the exempt markets.

I see two major challenges in the private I
have been in the financial services industry
for over 20 years in various capacities and
have spent the last seven years in the
exempt market in a Business Development
and Marketing capacity, working closely
with EMDs, DRs and private issuers.

The exempt market offers many exciting opportunities and challenges. Having been an investor for over 10 years, I have been fascinated by the growth and evolution of the industry.

In my previous roles, I received feedback from DRs and EMDs about changes they would like from their registered plan trustee and am fortunate to be able to implement some of the recommendations as part of Computershare’s Private Capital Solutions.

Q5: What are you most passionate about?

I am passionate about travelling and have a long bucket list of places that I would like to visit. My goal is to visit two new places each year; one within North America and one elsewhere. I am also an advocate for ongoing education and am currently enrolled in a mini-MBA program through McGill University. Continued learning and personal and professional growth along with working out and leading a healthy lifestyle are all important to me.

Q6: With the adage, “Membership has its Privileges”, please finish this sentence: Joining the Private Capital Markets Association of Canada is imperative because…

The PCMA is a critical voice of the industry, in an exciting period of growth and evolution in the private market. I am delighted to be a member of PCMA and part of its evolution and am looking forward to getting more involved in various committees and initiatives over the coming years. Computershare is proud to support the PCMA as Lead Partner and be involved in this conversation. We can’t wait to see where this partnership takes us. PCMA JS