There have been two major leadership changes in the last month within the brokerage space as Ian McNaughton left Cumax Wealth Management Limited to join FosRich Limited while Brando Hayden has left JN Fund Managers Limited.

McNaughton joined FosRich as its chief operating officer on September 2 following his resignation as chief executive officer of Cumax Wealth Management Limited at the end of August, a role he had held since June 2021. McNaughton’s move out of the world of finance comes as he will now enter the electric lighting and distribution company where he will report to FosRich’s founder and Managing Director Cecil Foster while overseeing the daily operations of stores across the island.

McNaughton’s entry comes at a time when FosRich’s Operations Manager Michelle Thame demitted office on July 31.

McNaughton previously served as managing director of Barita Investments Limited between October 2013 to December 2019 and was also the chairman of the Jamaica Stock Exchange (JSE). McNaughton has more than 42 years of work experience across manufacturing and finance.

His departure comes after US-based Music Licensing Inc had threatened legal action against Cumax and the JSE over its stalled cross listing onto the Jamaican equity markets. The Jamaican Government through Ambassador Sheila Sealy Monteith is currently in negotiations with the firm which is considering arbitration through the Investor-State Arbitration at the International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID) as per a recent letter.

Apart from McNaughton’s departure from Cumax, there have been four other leadership changes amongst JSE brokers this year. Brando Hayden, managing director of JN Fund Managers Limited (JNFM), left the broker on August 10 with Hugh Miller being appointed interim managing director. Hayden had been leading JNFM since May 2022 when Allan Lewis was reassigned as a special advisor to JN Group CEO Earl Jarrett. Hayden had a prior stint leading JNFM as its general manger between 2013 to 2016 which is when Lewis took control of the ship.

Kareem Tomlinson took over as managing director of GK Capital Management Limited on May 22 from Patsy Latchman-Atterbury who has returned to her native Trinidad & Tobago to take up the role of director general of the Trinidad and Tobago Revenue Authority in July 2024. This was an additional responsibility for Tomlinson who was appointed managing director of GK Investments Limited in November 2023. Tomlinson previously served as general manager of JMMB Securities Limited.

Ramon Small-Ferguson was appointed the CEO of Barita on March 1 as he took over from interim CEO Dane Brodber. Small-Ferguson is also the managing director of Barita Unit Trusts Management Company Limited which he took on January 1.

Angus Young became CEO of NCB Capital Markets Limited in October 2023 following the resignation of Steven Gooden a day earlier.

All of these changes have left Gary Peart as the longest-serving JSE broker head following his appointment in May 2005 to the role of CEO at Mayberry Investments Limited.

Devon Barrett, former group chief investment officer, left the VM Group at the end of March which also saw him resign from the JSE board of directors. Rezworth Burchenson, CEO of VM Wealth Management Limited, took Barrett’s seat on the JSE board along with Angus Young on July 24. Gooden was appointed deputy chairman of the JSE board on June 20 with him now being an independent director.