W. Edmund “Ed” Clark

Early life

Born in 1947, as a young man, Ed Clark attended the University of Toronto, earning a Bachelor of Arts degree from that institution in 1969. From there, he enrolled in Harvard University for his post-graduate work, completing a master’s degree and doctorate in economics in 1971 and 1974, respectively.

Career

After concluding his formal education, Ed Clark became a public administrator, holding a number of senior positions in Canada’s federal government between 1974 and 1984, and helping to mold and establish the country’s National Energy Program. In 1982, his contributions in the field were recognized when he received the Outstanding Civil Servant of the Year award. In 1985, upon the election of a new administration, Clark left the government and developed his career in the private sector.

Ed Clark entered the private banking world in 1985 when he joined Merrill Lynch Canada. After three years, in 1988, he became chairman and CEO of Morgan Financial Corporation, a position he held until 1991 when he joined Canada Trust Financial Services Inc. At Canada Trust, Clark rose through the company ranks quickly to become president and CEO in 1994. While there, he oversaw the strengthening of the bank’s customer‑service focus and introduced same‑sex partner benefits—believed to be a first among major North American financial institutions.

In 2000, Canada Trust was acquired by TD Bank Group and Clark joined TD as chairman and CEO of what became the combined entity TD Canada Trust, overseeing the integration of the two banks’ retail operations and culture. Later that year, he became president and chief operating officer of TD Bank Group, and two years later, he took the role of group president and chief executive officer. Under his leadership, TD Bank became one of North America’s major retail banking players—its wealth‑management and brokerage channels expanded, and notably, the bank avoided incurring major losses during the 2008 global financial crisis.

After retiring from TD Bank Group in 2014, Ed Clark took on a combination of public and private advisory and governance roles. Beginning in 2015, he advised Ontario Premier Kathleen Wynne’s government on major policy reforms, including helping guide the partial privatization of Hydro One, the province’s primary electricity distribution entity, and reforming alcohol regulations to enable consumer access to beer and wine in grocery stores. He also played a role in helping Stelco Inc., one of Canada’s largest steel producers, emerge from bankruptcy in 2017. Beyond that, Clark has taken on several other leadership roles: he served as chair of the Liquor Control Board of Ontario (LCBO), as well as oversaw the launch of the Ontario Cannabis Store as part of the province’s legal‑cannabis retail rollout. In the private sector, he holds several governance positions, such as being a director of Thomson Reuters Corporation, deputy chair of Spin Master Corp., chair of the Vector Institute with a focus on artificial intelligence, and partner in the venture‑capital firm Radical Ventures.

Net Worth

Information pertaining to Ed Clark’s net worth is not currently available to the public.