After six years main Verico Monetary Group, Mark Squire stepped down final week as president and CEO—a choice he describes as well timed.
“It was time,” Squire tells Canadian Mortgage Tendencies in a dialog reflecting on his tenure on the impartial dealer community.
Since taking over the function in 2019, Squire has helped Verico navigate the challenges of the pandemic, strengthened its connections to brokers throughout Canada, and earned a fame as a pacesetter who listens first.
“Typically it looks like everyone seems to be pushing their very own agenda a lot that they’re not listening to others,” he says. “I believe that’s one thing loads of licensees would say: that I listened to them, and I’m genuinely all in favour of serving to them develop their enterprise.”
A people-first method
That zeal for listening to the wants of others is finally what attracted Squire to the mortgage trade within the first place, and later, Verico’s distinctive community mannequin particularly.
Squire started his profession at CIBC in 1989, the place he spent the following 18 years serving in numerous corners of the group.
“Again in 2003, I used to be a enterprise growth supervisor for CIBC mortgages, and I liked it. It was the perfect job within the financial institution,” he says. “You’re serving to discover options for salespeople who’re in flip doing that for purchasers, and that’s what I get pleasure from. It’s a folks enterprise.”
As he ventured additional into the mortgage sector, first with CIBC after which with Nationwide Financial institution, Squire says he finally crossed paths with Verico founders Colin Dreyer and John Kelly.
“I used to be blown away by them and by the model,” he says. “I used to be actually impressed by the worth proposition and what Verico was all about, and I used to be recognized to say that if I used to be ever to go away the lender facet of the enterprise and go to the dealer facet, it will be with Verico.”
That chance finally offered itself in 2019, following the 2017 acquisition of Verico by M3 Mortgage Group. On the time, Squire says his solely mandate was to hold the torch of the model and keep its mission to empower brokers inside its community.
“A part of my function was to make sure that we might convey extra instruments to them, extra merchandise, and extra options for them to choose and select from,” he says, including that he was thrown a curve ball quickly after becoming a member of. “One in all my claims to fame early on was that I used to be a president underneath COVID longer than I wasn’t.”
Constructing group past the workplace
Squire additionally grew to become recognized within the trade for internet hosting the annual Donna Squire Charity Golf Match, an occasion he began in reminiscence of his late spouse that rapidly grew far past what he ever anticipated.
“On the celebration of life, I introduced to family and friends that I used to be going to do a small golf event in 2022 to lift cash for a bursary in her identify to assist worldwide nursing college students,” he says. “Among the associates have been additionally trade folks, and impulsively it went from what I believed can be 25 folks to 250 folks.”
After three profitable tournaments, Squire introduced that the 2025 occasion can be the fourth and remaining one, a choice he says was unrelated to his later departure from Verico. “It was by no means supposed to be an annual occasion,” he says. “The trade simply confirmed as much as assist me and my household, and for that I’m actually humbled and honoured.”
Colleagues and impartial enterprise house owners within the Verico community recall Squire’s eagerness to construct relationships and hearken to the wants of these he was tasked with supporting.
“Mark’s management confirmed up most within the quiet moments: the calls he made when issues bought powerful, the way in which he listened earlier than making selections, and his willingness to take the arduous conversations head-on,” says Patrick Soy, principal dealer and govt vice chairman of Integrity Mortgages. “Mark confirmed that when integrity leads, loyalty and success naturally comply with.”
“Everybody who is aware of Mark understands that they will rely upon him,” says Cecilia Ramos, Principal Dealer and CEO of Mortgageville. “He has been instrumental in pushing for a a lot bigger market in assist of entrepreneurship.”
“Mark has been a terrific accomplice to the dealer group, serving to brokers succeed,” says Jim Tourloukis, president of Verico Introduction Mortgage Companies. “Personally, Mark has additionally been a great buddy keen to hear and assist us navigate this market through the years.”
What comes subsequent
Squire, for his half, says it’s these relationships he’ll miss most.
“I miss the folks,” he says. “I miss the licensees, the chief crew. I like Verico, I like every little thing it represents, and I already miss it.”
Although he’s not precisely certain what comes subsequent, Squire says it received’t be retirement.
“I’m in all probability sufficiently old,” he jokes. “However I benefit from the trade, I benefit from the folks and I wish to proceed in that in some form or type.”
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Cecilia Ramos Interview jared Lindzon Jim Tourloukis Patrick Soy profile VERICO
Final modified: October 24, 2025
