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Our Team

Our team is dedicated to the design and development of tailored structures and solutions specific to the purpose of generating Indigenous equity and other commercial revenue opportunities, while providing often unique potential commercial benefits to industry partners.

Our Team
Ian Matheson, Chairman

Ian is a former Chief Risk Officer for a diversified public company and an international financial services company with responsibilities that included mergers and acquisitions, SEC and compliance reporting, investor and governmental relations, environmental, health and safety oversight, litigation management and corporate secretarial duties. As Chief Consulting Officer and Senior Counsel for a global consulting company, Ian provided strategic risk planning and advisory services to public and private corporations and governments, including turn-key due diligence for complex mergers, acquisitions, financings, corporate reorganization and restructuring, including as a principal consultant for the reorganization of the Canadian blood supply system, litigation consultancy and management of mass toxic tort and class action claims and settlements, and the negation of consent decrees to enable voluntary and phased environmental remediation of contaminated sites or exceedances on an economically feasible and restorative basis. Consulting assignments regularly include catastrophe risk modeling and quantitative risk assessments for both corporate and governmental clients. As Chief Development Officer of a multi-national insurance and risk services corporation, Ian was a co-founder of a capital markets division that initiated the securitization of risk using capital markets capacity in the form of Catastrophe Bonds, Insured-Linked Securities, Industry Loss Warranties and other financial instruments attractive to investors seeking alternatives and uncorrelated assets and investment classes; established in excess of forty-five insurance and reinsurance companies, including federal, provincial and state licensed and regulated multi and mono-line commercial insurance and reinsurance companies, reciprocals and co-operatives; pure, sophisticated, group, mutual and association captive insurance companies and risk retention groups; turn-key due diligence for the purchase and sale of federally and provincially licensed property & casualty insurance companies, including the preservation of financial-strength ratings from A.M. Best and other rating agencies; and the establishment, licensing, tribunalization and reinsurance syndication of new specialist managing general agencies, including for the specialty coverage lines of tax indemnity, title, director’s and officer’s, credit, credit enhancement and environmental insurance and the associated and respective insurance policy wordings, filings and approvals; and developed innovative insurance solutions in facilitation and credit enhancement of mergers and acquisitions and other commercial transactions. As National Chair of an Indigenous services group, Ian was instrumental in the development of corporate-Indigenous partnerships and, through innovative insurance backed constructs, in advancing the availability of capital market access and commercial lending capacity to First Nations on competitive and non-recourse terms employing structures based upon Indigenous ownership or equity on a partnership basis. As a member of legislative working groups, he successfully advocated for legislative reforms beneficial to the development of wealth creation for First Nations, including recently enacted Captive Insurance Companies Act and Regulations and Insurance Act reforms in Alberta. Ian holds or has held directorships with companies involved in the environmental services, transportation, chemical, manufacturing, health care, engineering, disaster recovery, emergency restoration, title insurance, financial and insurance services sectors, and served a four-year term as a Trustee of Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan, one of the largest and best performing pension plans in Canada.

Robert Metcs, Director

Robert Metcs has been an advisor to numerous First Nations in Canada for close to 30 years. During this time, he has been recognized widely for developing innovative commercial frameworks and structures that have facilitated sustainable partnerships between industry and First Nations. Robert has been involved heavily in the development of an LNG export industry in British Columbia. He acted as lead negotiator and advisor for the First Nations (PTP) Group Limited Partnership (FNLP), a commercial partnership that now includes all 16 First Nations impacted by the proposed Pacific Trail Pipeline (PTP). The agreement concluded by FNLP in February 2013 with the then proponents of PTP and the Province of British Columbia changed the way in which industry now approaches First Nations engagement with respect to major project developments in Canada. He was also involved in negotiating a number of key agreements related to the Coastal GasLink pipeline, now under construction as the transportation component of the LNG Canada project. Robert also has extensive experience with the Specific Claims process in Canada, having been involved in the preparation, negotiation and/or resolution of over 100 First Nations claims, covering a broad range of issues. His work in this area has been recognized as standard setting, particularly with respect to matters concerning the economic benefits and land entitlement provisions of the Numbered Treaties of Western Canada. Early in his career, Robert worked for the Canadian Foreign Service on matters related to export finance and capital projects, the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development and management of issues related to Indigenous peoples within the United Nations and other international agencies.

Gord Anderson, Director

Gord has over 30 years financial services experience with his last role as President of Cidel Trust Company, a national trust company and asset management firm. He has held other senior roles with CIBC and RBC focused on senior leadership, corporate strategy, governance, sales management, investment management, fiduciary services, philanthropic planning, cross border structuring, risk management and training and development. Gord first started working with Indigenous communities in the mid 1990’s when he helped launch CIBC’s Aboriginal Banking team in the Alberta/NWT region. His focus historically has been on trust, banking, lending, investment management and economic development. Gord serves on several for profit and not for profit boards and is a Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA), Trust and Estate Practitioner (TEP), Family Enterprise Advisor (FEA) and Corporate Director (ICD.d).

Questions? Contact us

We would be pleased to provide further information and answer any questions related to IWF Group and the insured and structured finance solutions for First Nations.

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