Focura was not built by technologists who studied the estate planning problem from the outside. It was built by practitioners who spent decades inside it.
Tim Eastwood — Co-Founder / Technical Lead
Tim brings over thirty years of experience in Canadian wealth management, with a career that traces the evolution of financial planning from its earliest integration into full-service brokerage through to the management of complex, multi-generational wealth.
He began his career at CIBC Wood Gundy in 1994, joining the team of Christine Timms at a pivotal moment — the period when full-service brokers were first incorporating structured financial planning into client relationships. He left as Senior Associate in charge of financial and estate planning, having developed the foundational methodology that would define the rest of his career.
From there, Tim moved through Merrill Lynch Canada before joining BMO Nesbitt Burns, where he spent twenty-two years. At BMO Nesbitt Burns he partnered with Geoff Newton — formerly co-head of BMO Nesbitt Burns — to build and run a $750 million book of business serving high and ultra-high net worth clients. That practice was built on a discipline of comprehensive planning: understanding the full household picture, anticipating the estate outcomes that advisors typically avoid, and having the conversations that most advisors defer.
What Tim observed over three decades was consistent. The estate planning conversation rarely happened. When it did, it rarely completed. When it completed, it rarely included the executor. The organized, documented, calculated estate — the one that prepared a family for what was coming — was the exception. Focura is the system he wished had existed for every one of those client relationships.
Jeff Fray — Co-Founder / Head of Sales
Jeff brings a complementary combination of insurance expertise, high-net-worth client relationships, and technology company co-founding experience that positions Focura for both channel development and institutional growth.
His career in financial services includes a Vice President role at Richardson Wealth Insurance Services, where he developed insurance strategies for high-net-worth clients and helped build a practice recognized as one of Canada’s Best Workplaces in Financial Services and Insurance. That background gives Jeff direct credibility with the insurance advisor channel — a segment that represents significant distribution upside for Focura, given the natural alignment between insurance planning and estate organization.
Together, the founding team carries the domain expertise, client relationships, and distribution credibility that most estate technology companies have had to acquire slowly and expensively. Tim has spent thirty years on the inside of the problem. Jeff has spent thirty years building the relationships and the commercial infrastructure to bring the solution to market.
A few notes on this section:
The Christine Timms reference is a strong credentialing detail — she is well known in Canadian wealth management circles and the 1994 CIBC Wood Gundy context establishes Tim as someone who was present at the origin of financial planning integration in full-service brokerage. That’s a meaningful signal to advisors and institutional partners who know that history.