Our Boards

Mr. Flood joined RBC Capital Markets in 1995 as part of the Corporate Finance group within Investment Banking. In May 2000 he joined the Institutional Equity group and was given the responsibility to build the firms income trust sector. In 2005, Mr. Flood was appointed Co-Head of Liability Trading covering all industry sectors. As of May of 2011, Mr. Flood has been Head of Canadian Equities, managing RBC’s equity sales and trading platform comprised of 70 professionals that are responsible for the distribution of Canadian equities to the firm’s global institutional client base. Mr. Flood is a co-chair of the RBC Capital Markets, Canadian Diversity Leadership Council, a member of the RBC Capital Markets Donation Committee and a MIG Cabinet Member for the United Way Toronto & York Region.
Mr. Flood graduated from Queen’s University in 1995 with a Bachelor of Arts (Honours Economics) degree and from the Richard Ivey School of Business in 2000 with a Masters of Business Administration degree.

Robert Mah is a Senior Advisor to The Boston Consulting Group. Her was previously an Executive Vice President, Private Investments at AIMco. Mr. Mah led a team of investment professionals responsible for Private Investments, which includes Real Estate, Private Equity, Infrastructure & Timber.
He holds a Bachelors Degree specializing in Finance and Economics from McGill University and a Masters Degree in Business Administration from the University of Toronto.

Kyle Co-Founded Capitalize for Kids alongside Jeff Gallant in 2013. Kyle’s also established a wealth management partnership with Jeff that serves as their primary responsibility. He previously led the Financial Services practice at Veritas Investment Research, an independent equity research firm headquartered in Toronto. In the 2014 Thomson Reuters StarMine analyst awards, Kyle ranked 1st for Banks and Insurance coverage in the country and 2nd for stock picking across all sectors. Prior to Veritas, Kyle began his career at Ernst and Young where he was awarded National Honor Roll status for his performance on the 2012 Uniform Final Exam (UFE). Kyle has obtained the Chartered Profession Accountant (CPA, CA) designation, and is also a Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA). Kyle received an Honours Bachelor of Commerce degree from Queen’s University where he concurrently played for the Varsity Football team. He was also a member of the 2009 Vanier Cup winning program.

Kyle was recognized as one of Canada’s Top 40 Under 40 in 2019 for his business and philanthropic achievements. Beyond Capitalize for Kids, Kyle sits on the Board and Finance & Investment committee for the IWK Foundation, as well as the Board of the Ontario Brain Institute. He was recognized as a Global Shaper by the World Economic Forum in 2013.

Deb Shime joined the Capitalize for Kids board in February 2021. She is the Vice President of Community Initiatives at United Way Centraide Canada where she oversees projects and programs that drive impact in communities including but not limited to government relations, data strategy development and implementation, diversity equity and inclusion work and scaling of national programs and services.

Deb had the opportunity to serve on the staff team at Capitalize for Kids as a Consultant for over a year before leaving to focus on COVID-19 response with United Way. Prior to that, Deb had the opportunity to serve in a number of senior leadership positions in social service organizations.  She was the CEO at East Metro Youth services, the lead agency for children and youth mental health transformation in Toronto where she led a variety of change management exercises and worked to advance sector transformation with over thirty agency partners and other key stakeholders in education, health, City of Toronto and with children, youth and their families. From 2012-2017, she was the Senior Vice President, Community Impact at United Way Greater Toronto and has a long history, and proven track-record, of delivering transformative social programs to improve the lives of people in the community. Working with a staff of 40 and dozens of volunteers to allocate and oversee United Way’s $88 million annual investment in the community.  Before United Way, Deb spent five years as Executive Director at University Settlement and spent more than fifteen years in New York City working in a variety of positions across the social services sector. This included working for Safe Horizon, the largest crime victim assistance organization in the United States, where she led the organization’s response to the events of September 11.

Deb holds a Master of Social Work from New York University and has trained as community mediator and executive coach. She has also served on boards in a volunteer capacity for both Victim Services Program and Sistering in Toronto.

J. R. Kingsley Ward has over 25 years of experience in initiating, structuring, and monetizing private equity investments. He began his career in 1991 at the head office of his family’s group of companies, the Vimy Ridge Group Ltd, a Toronto based holding company with a portfolio of investments primarily in the healthcare industry. In 1992, VRG Capital, a division of the Vimy Ridge Group Ltd, was formed to develop merchant banking initiatives for the Group. From 1992 to 2011, Mr. Ward was President of VRG Capital. In 2011, VRG Capital Corp. was formed to expand these merchant banking activities in partnership with other family offices and Mr. Ward is currently a Managing Partner.
Mr. Ward’s business career includes being a founder and Director of Clarus Securities, an institutional investment dealer, Chairman of Nucro Technics, a pharmaceutical contract support organization, and a Director of Wheels Group Inc, a leading North American third party logistics management company. He was a founder and former Director of IPEC (now Flint Energy Services) and was a founder and former Chairman of Pareto Corporation, a marketing services company until its sale in 2011. He is a past Director of PLM Group, a commercial printing and direct marketing company. Mr. Ward has served as Director of a number of other private and public companies.
Mr. Ward’s commitment to community involvement includes 25 years of executive committee work with Polo for Heart (a Heart & Stroke Foundation charity event) and the Polo for Health series of charity events. He serves as a Co-Chair of the Capitalize for Kids Board, an investor conference in support of SickKids Hospital. Mr. Ward is a past Director of the Special Olympics Canada Foundation.
Mr. Ward has been actively involved in the Young President’s Organization (YPO) since 1999 and has held a number of positions including Chairman of the Ontario Chapter, member of the Canadian Regional Council, member of the Canadian Regional Executive Committee as well as Canadian Regional Educational Officer.
Mr. Ward is a board member of Polo Canada, a national sports organization committed to the promotion of polo. He is a member, former director and treasurer of the Toronto Polo Club. Mr. Ward is a member of the Canadian Owners and Pilots Association (COPA) and is also a member of the Toronto Club.

Bashar AL-Rehany was appointed to the Board of Directors of Euromoney Institutional Investor PLC (EII) in November of 2009 and has held the position of Chief Executive Officer of BCA Research Inc. (BCA) since joining BCA in January of 2003. BCA, a subsidiary of EII since 2006, is one of the world’s leading independent global investment research providers.
Prior to joining BCA, Mr. AL-Rehany was President & Chief Executive Officer of Bridge Information Systems Canada Inc. an information, news and technology group that acquired Dow Jones Markets Inc. From October of 1996, Mr. AL-Rehany was President & Chief Executive Officer at Dow Jones Markets Canada Inc. Mr. AL-Rehany spent 13 years at Reuters Holdings PLC in various sales & marketing roles until 1993 when he was made the Director of Sales and Customer Service in Canada.
He holds a degree in Mathematics & Computer Science from Teesside Polytechnic, England.

Michelle Bashir is the Senior Director of Business and Product Enablement with the Mutual Fund Distribution team in the Personal Savings and Investments division within RBC.

Over the past 15 years, Michelle has been involved with the leadership and delivery of cross-enterprise transformation and integration programs. In her 5 year tenure with RBC’s internal consulting division, Michelle had accountability for sourcing and managing the delivery of consulting services across multiple platforms. Her specialization focused on driving enterprise wide efficiencies, which included developing, incubating and scaling the zero-based budgeting capability across RBC.

Prior to joining RBC in 2015, Michelle spent 10 years with IBM Canada in a variety of roles and business units, with the majority of her time being spent with IBM’s consulting practice where she led and managed cross-functional teams across varying projects and industries. She was also selected to take part in IBM’s Global Corporate Service Corps program where she was responsible for developing an Information & Communication Technology Strategy for the Ministry of Education in Tanzania.

Michelle is constantly recognized for her strong set of people management and team leadership skills. She is known to be a compassionate leader that is focused on employee development and well-being. She puts a significant focus on coaching and feedback, always ensuring that she creates stretch opportunities for her team members and mentees in order to foster continuous growth.

Outside of her day-to-day role, Michelle is an active contributor to the RBC and GTA community. Within RBC, she was recognized for her leadership on the 2018 International Women’s Day campaigns, was appointed National Cabinet CAO co-Chair for the 2017-2019 RBC Employee Giving Campaigns, and also created and led the RBC Pro-Bono Consulting Program to bring free consulting services to not-for-profit organizations. Within the GTA, she is an Executive Board Member at Neighbourhood Legal Services and an Advisory Board Member at Capitalize for Kids. She is also a member of the RBC Women in Leadership cohort and was also sponsored by RBC to complete the Rotman Initiative for Emerging Leaders in 2018. 

Sarah Chapman is the VP, Global Head of Sustainability at Manulife. She was previously a Director within Deloitte’s Sustainability and Social Impact advisory practice. She led the National Corporate Responsibility & Sustainability team within Deloitte Canada. With extensive experience across the US and the Asia-Pacific region, Sarah specializes in building innovative purpose-driven, social impact strategies and programs that create shared economic and societal value. Sarah has a PhD in Corporate Responsibility, Social Impact and Shared Value. She is on the Board of Volunteer Canada and serves as the Co-Chair of the Canadian Council of Volunteering. Sarah also chairs the Toronto Impact 2030 Council.

Greg Cochrane has been a Managing Partner of VRG Capital Corp. since 2011. He has been a lead investor in several private companies from real estate to financial services. Prior to his involvement with VRG, Mr. Cochrane was co-owner of Mariposa Communications and Promotions Inc., which was sold to the Mosaic Group in 1997.
Mr. Cochrane currently serves as a Director of Wheels Group Inc., a publicly listed North American leader in third party logistics and distribution. He also serves on the Boards of a number of private companies.
Mr. Cochrane is a founding donor of the Centre for Business Venturing at Queen’s University and is a member of the Business School’s Advisory Board. Mr. Cochrane has also been involved in and led numerous not-for profit organizations including Junior Achievement, The Down Syndrome Association of Toronto and St. Joseph’s Hospital.
In 1992, Mr. Cochrane received the Commemorative Medal for the 125th Anniversary of the Confederation of Canada recognizing his significant contribution to the community and Canada.

Zak is a leader in the Capital Projects & Infrastructure Practice in Canada. Based in Toronto, he serves a range of investors and operators in the infrastructure and utilities space on operational, strategic, and financial topics, including conducting due diligences on potential investments, developing strategies, and improving the performance and value from assets in investors’ portfolios.

Zak also helps lead the Public Sector Practice in Canada and has worked extensively with public sector clients across North America, primarily in strategic asset management, public-private partnerships, public finance, and infrastructure. He has managed complex engagements across a number of government and private sector stakeholders to deliver substantial transformations of public sector organizations and assets.

Christian Exshaw is responsible for capital markets sales, trading, research and related activities globally across asset classes. He is a member of CIBC’s Operating Committee and the Capital Markets Management Committee.

Mr. Exshaw joined CIBC in 2008 and previously led the bank’s Capital Markets Trading business. Prior to CIBC, he was Managing Director at Merrill Lynch in London responsible for sales and structuring. Before joining Merrill Lynch, Mr. Exshaw was Managing Director at Dresdner Kleinwort in London where he held a number of senior positions across Global Markets. He began his career in capital markets as an options trader and structurer.

Mr. Exshaw currently serves on the Board of Directors for the TMX Group and is a member of the Children’s Aid Foundation’s fundraising committee. From 2012 to 2014, Mr. Exshaw acted as Chair of the Capital Markets United Way Campaign. He holds a Masters of Science in Risk Management and Financial Instruments, and a Masters in Finance from the Institut d’Administration des Entreprises in France.

Carrie is the SVP, Head of Global Trading at Mackenzie Investments and has over 25 years of global trading experience. She has worked on both sides of the street, spending most of her career at global bulge bracket brokers before moving to the Asset Management side of the business 6 years ago. She has traded equity is all global markets, has managed a program trading desk and is an expert in the current landscape of Asset Management given the regulatory, technological and management fee pressure. Carrie has an MBA from the Richard Ivey School of Business at The University of Western Ontario.

Ira Gluskin is the former President & Chief Investment Officer of Gluskin Sheff + Associates. He has been appointed as a lifetime honourary director of the Firm. Prior to co-founding Gluskin Sheff, Mr. Gluskin had worked in the investment industry for 20 years. Mr. Gluskin received a Bachelor of Commerce degree from the University of Toronto. Mr. Gluskin is a well-known industry commentator. He is a member of the Mount Sinai Hospital Foundation Investment Committee, as well as being a member of the Hospital’s Board of Directors. Mr. Gluskin is the former Chair of the Investment Advisory Committee for the Jewish Foundation of Greater Toronto and is currently a member of its Investment Committee. Mr. Gluskin is also a member of the Toronto Symphony Foundation, is on the Board of the Canadian Jewish News and is the former Chair of the University of Toronto Asset Management Corporation.

John leads Sia Partners’s Cross Business Strategy and Transformation Practice in North America and has responsibility for the Toronto Office. He provides financial services firms capabilities across business and operational strategy, transformation, product strategy and execution, large-scale program management, middle and back office outsourcing, process and efficiency improvement, financial analysis and modeling.

John’s financial services experience spans asset management, brokerage, mutual funds, private banking, trust, capital markets and regulatory compliance.

John has over 25 years of experience in the financial services industry after receiving his Masters in Business Administration and Bachelors of Business administration from the University of Southern California. He also holds the Chartered Financial Analyst Designation.

Jonathan Hausman is the Managing Director and Head of Global Strategic Relationships at the Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan (Teachers’), where he is responsible for the Fund’s global hedge fund portfolio and its investing strategies in emerging markets credit and rates. Prior to joining Teachers’, Mr. Hausman was Executive Director at Goldman Sachs, where he held positions in its New York, London and Hong Kong offices managing sovereign risk strategy and advising government clients on their external financings and international credit ratings. His clients included the Republic of South Africa, the People’s Republic of China, and the Republic of Korea, which in 1999 conferred on him a National Award of Merit in recognition of his advisory work for the Korean government through the Asia Crisis.
He is a member of the Board of Directors of Banco BTG Pactual SA in Brazil and Maple Bank. Mr. Hausman also serves as Chairman of the Board of the Canadian Council for the Americas, and as Co-Chair of the Advisory Board of the Munk School of Global Affairs at the University of Toronto, where he is a Senior Fellow and lectures on Global Markets and International Political Economy. In 2010, Mr. Hausman received an Arbor Award for his service to the university. In 2009, Mr. Hausman was selected by the Canadian International Council to be an expert panelist for its Global Positioning Strategy, a major non-partisan initiative to design and recommend to the Canadian government a new approach to international affairs in the changing global environment.
Before beginning his career in international finance, Mr. Hausman worked as Special Assistant to the Premier of the Province of Ontario. He holds a BA (Hons.) from McGill University, an MSc. (Econ.) from the London School of Economics, and an MPA from the School of International and Public Affairs at Columbia University. He also has ICD.D certification from the Institute of Corporate Directors.
Mr. Hausman is a native of Toronto and lives in the city with his wife and two daughters.

Art Mannarn is currently the Managing Partner of MBR Advisory.

In his previous role as an Executive Vice-President at CIBC, Art Mannarn was responsible for ensuring that CIBC’s retail banking processes were effective, efficient and client focused and for the successful execution of strategic initiatives. Since joining CIBC in 1989, Mr. Mannarn held progressively more senior executive roles in both operations and sales.
Prior to leading Business Support & Strategic Initiatives, Mr. Mannarn was Executive Vice-President, CIBC Global Operations and INTRIA, and Senior Vice- President, CIBC Corporate Services. He has also held the positions of Deputy Head of CIBC Wood Gundy and President and Chief Operating Officer of CIBC Investor Services Inc.
He is past President of Ronald McDonald House Toronto, has led a team of 26 climbers up the slopes of Mount Kilimanjaro on the inaugural CIBC Wood Gundy Climb for the Cure and has been instrumental in the launch of the Minor Hockey Fights Cancer charitable initiative. Mr. Mannarn is a proud coach of minor hockey in Toronto.
Mr. Mannarn has over 25 years of experience in the financial services industry, which he pursued after graduating from the University of Toronto, with a Bachelor of Arts, Major in Commerce and Economics.

Satish Rai was appointed Chief Investment Officer, OMERS Public Markets in January 2015. In this role, he is responsible for all publicly-traded asset classes in OMERS pension fund portfolio. He is also accountable for the strategy to ensure the OMERS Capital Markets business consistently delivers the required investment returns, while effectively managing investment risk.
A 30-year veteran of the investment sector, Mr. Rai’s career includes extensive experience in active equity and fixed income portfolio management. Prior to joining OMERS, he served as Chief Investment Officer at TD Asset Management, overseeing $250 billion in assets under management. At TDAM Mr. Rai also acted as Chair of the Committee of the Advancement of Visible Minorities in Leadership Roles and member of the Diversity Leadership Council.
Mr. Rai holds a Bachelor of Mathematics from the University of Waterloo, and is a Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA). He has previously been recognized as one of Canada’s Top 40 Industry Leaders Under 40, and in 2006 he received the Alumni Achievement Medal from the University of Waterloo Faculty of Mathematics.
Mr. Rai is actively involved in the community, including through service on the Board of Governors, Finance Committee and Investment Committee of the University of Waterloo and as a member of the Young Presidents’ Organization/World Presidents’ Organization. He is also a past member of the boards of the Toronto East General Hospital Foundation and Women in Capital Markets.

Tony is a partner with Bain & Company in Toronto. He leads the firm’s Canada Financial Services practice as well as the Americas Asset and Wealth Management vertical. Tony’s practice focuses on corporate and business unit strategy, customer strategy, and performance improvement in Insurance, Banking, and Asset and Wealth Management.
Tony is also a leader of Bain Toronto’s social impact activities.
Tony received his BComm from Queen’s University and his MBA from INSEAD.

Vinay Shandal is a Partner and Managing Director at the Boston Consulting Group in Toronto, where he co-leads the shareholder activism topic and is a core member of the asset management and financial services practice areas. Prior to joining in 2009, Vinay practiced commercial law at Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz and Cravath, Swaine & Moore LLP in New York City and clerked at the Supreme Court of Canada.
Vinay received his LL.B. and B.C.L. degrees from McGill University and his LL.M. degree from Cambridge University.
Vinay oversees the social impact portfolio at BCG and co-founded the Career Mentorship Program in partnership with Pathways to Education.

In 2017, Michael joined Breakwater Investments Inc., a newly-formed family office, and currently serves as Chief Investment Officer. In this role, he leads Breakwater’s capital deployment strategy across a range of public and private asset classes and industries. Prior to joining Breakwater, Michael worked for Deloitte Corporate Finance for six years where he was focused primarily on advising mid-market companies on M&A and capital raising matters. He has been a longtime supporter of Capitalize for Kids and was on the executive committee for the inaugural conference event in 2014. Michael holds a Bachelor of Commerce degree from Queen’s University, is a CFA Charterholder and has also obtained his CPA, CA designation.

Nick Bates joined Morgan Stanley in 2010 and is an Executive Director in the Equity Sales Group. Based in Toronto, he covers a collection of hedge funds, pension funds and institutional asset managers across Canada. Prior to Morgan Stanley, Nick worked at Thomson Reuters in their Markets division. He attained his CFA designation in 2013.

Nick is a summa cum laude graduate from McMaster University with an Honours Bachelor of Commerce degree.

Brad Black joined CIBC in 2001. Mr. Black is Managing Director and Global Head, Financial Solutions Group (FSG) with CIBC Capital Markets, and is responsible for FSG’s Global Institutional Sales franchise. FSG is a global cross-asset sales team that provides capital markets products and services to institutional clients with office representation in Vancouver, Toronto, Montreal, New York, London, Hong Kong and Tokyo. The client base of the group is comprised of Asset Managers, Pension Plans, Life Insurance Companies, Hedge Funds, Banks, and Central Banks & Sovereign Wealth Funds. The product and services scope includes foreign exchange, foreign exchange options, fixed income, interest rate derivatives, commodities, equity derivatives, financing solutions, macro strategy and bespoke structured investment solutions including QIS and custom indices.

Mr. Black is also a member of CIBC’s Global Leadership Team, the Global Markets Operating Committee and Managing Direction Selection Committee. He remains devoted to the Inclusion & Diversity journey through CIBC’s I&D Advisory Council and is on the Board of Directors of Women in Capital Markets (WCM). His community involvement includes the United Way Major Individual Giving (MIG) Cabinet, Capitalize for Kids Leadership Council, 3to6 Foundation Board (part of MLSE Foundation), Committee Member for the Hold ‘Em for Life Charity Challenge (Sinai Health Foundation / The Princess Margaret Cancer Foundation) and past Chair of CIBC Miracle Day.

Mr. Black graduated from McMaster University with an Honors Bachelor of Commerce.

Robert Cancelli joined CIBC Capital Markets in 2007 and is currently responsible for leading and managing CIBC’S Prime Services business, including Electronic Access, Prime Brokerage, and Securities Lending.   Mr. Cancelli is responsible for developing and implementing strategy and overseeing core business functions for Prime Services in Toronto, New York, and London with an overall Global Markets perspective. He began his career at CIBC in electronic trading sales and eventually worked up to managing the sales and marketing for all of Prime Services’ products. He assumed leadership of the Prime Services Group in 2016.

Mr. Cancelli has worked in Capital Markets since 1999. He spent the first six years of his career as a proprietary trader with a U.S. broker dealer. Following his move back to Canada in 2005, Mr. Cancelli spent time in institutional equity sales at two separate broker dealers.

Mr. Cancelli holds a Bachelor of Arts degree from Dartmouth College, and has spent his entire 20-year career in the financial services industry in Toronto and New York.

Federico is the Head of Aon’s Investment Consulting Practice in Toronto and a member of the Canadian Investment Consulting Leadership Group. He regularly consults with DB and DC pension funds, endowment and foundation clients in all aspects of their investments including governance structure, investment objectives and policy development, asset allocation strategy, investment manager structure and selection, performance monitoring, alternative investments and delegated investment solutions.

He was previously a Director at another global consulting firm, and before moving to Toronto in 2009, Federico was the practice leader for Investment Consulting in Mexico City, overseeing among other things, the delivery of investment consulting to institutional investors in Mexico and Latin America. He also was the investment manager for the Savannah College of Art and Design in the US and Director of Institutional Investors for GBM Grupo Bursátil Mexicano in Mexico City.

Federico holds an MBA from the Universidad Anáhuac and a BS degree in Industrial Engineering from the Universidad Panamericana.

Managing Director, Co-Head of Institutional Equity Sales
Jeff brings close to 2 decades of experience in financial markets split between National Bank Financial and Wellington West Capital, covering clients across North America. Jeff is a CFA Charter Holder and holds an HBA from McGill University.

In 2010, Michael joined Pandion Investments Inc., a long-standing family office in Montreal, and currently serves as the Assistant Vice President. In his role, he focuses on Pandion’s diversified, multi-asset class portfolio with a particular emphasis on alternative investments, which range in the form of both public and private investments.

Michael has been part of the Big Brother Big Sisters program of Montreal since 2017 and has served as a mentor to undergrad students since graduating at McGill University.

Michael has a big passion for investing and spends a considerable amount of time reviewing various investment opportunities and talking with leading and emerging hedge fund managers and private equity managers.

Michael holds a Bachelor of Commerce degree from McGill University, is a CFA Charterholder and has also obtained his CAIA designation. Michael is an avid sailor, tennis player, and runner.

Kevin Doyle is the Executive Vice President of Canada Overseas Investments Limited, a single-family office based in Toronto. He was previously responsible for Corporate Strategy at the TMX Group for ten years, having worked as a consultant with McKinsey & Company for the three years prior. Before that, Mr. Doyle spent eight years working for the Electronic Data Systems in business development in Asia, based out of Tokyo and then later Hong Kong.

Mr. Doyle also serves on the boards of Central Wire Industries, the AGO Foundation, the CAMH Foundation, the Social Venture Connection, and reBOOT Canada. He obtained the ICD.D designation from the Institute of Corporate Directors.

Mr. Doyle holds a Bachelor of Commerce in Finance from the Sauder School of Business at UBC, and a Master of Business Administration in Strategic Management from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania.

Mr. Doyle is an avid tennis player, skier and scuba diver. He lives in Toronto with his wife Michelle and their three children.

Clay Khan, CFA, Managing Director, joined the firm in 2012. Clay is a Client Advisor who oversees Institutional Distribution and Client Service for Neuberger Berman in Canada. Prior to joining the firm, Clay worked for J.P. Morgan Asset Management as a Client Advisor in the institutional organization in Canada. He was responsible for business development for pension, insurance, endowment and foundation investors throughout the country. Prior to this role, Clay worked at Xerox Canada Ltd., focusing on business development for large corporations and public entities. Clay earned an HBA from the Richard Ivey School of Business at Western University and has been awarded the Chartered Financial Analyst designation.

Christophe L’Ahelec was a Senior Principal in the Capital Markets department, at Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan Board where he was responsible for the portfolio construction and risk management of the external manager portfolio. He researched generic hedge fund strategies and alternative risk premia and conducted selection, investment due diligence and monitoring of systematic managers (equity and managed futures). On top of these responsibilities, Christophe was also in charge of the risk reporting for the Capital Markets department.

Prior to that, he was a quantitative analyst and assistant portfolio manager at Mignon Genève SA/Alpstar Asset Management, in Switzerland, where he took part in the creation and portfolio management of the Alpstar Equity Quantitative Strategies Fund, a European systematic market neutral fund. Christophe started his career in the Fixed Income trading room of BNP Paribas in Hong Kong where he was responsible for the support and development of front office applications. Christophe is a graduate engineer in Finance and Applied Mathematics from the Ecole Nationale Supérieure d’Informatique et de Mathématiques Appliquées de Grenoble, France and holds the Chartered Financial Analyst® designation.

Brett is a founding partner of HGC and in the role of President manages the business operations of the firm. He brings 25 years of investing experience in Canadian Hedge Funds and a decade of experience in Operations, Business Development and Investor Relations.

Meghan Moore is a member of Burgundy Asset Management’s Private Client Group in Toronto, where she works closely with high net worth families, non-for-profit institutions, and family offices. In her current role, Meghan works alongside a team of relationship and portfolio managers to develop investment strategies for a broad range of clients.

Meghan received a Bachelor of Commerce degree from Queen’s University and spent a semester abroad, studying business at Strathclyde University in Glasgow Scotland. She is also a CFA Charterholder.

Currently, Meghan volunteers at SickKids hospital both in the Ronald McDonald Family Room, and as part of the Women’s Auxiliary “Poster Express” program. In addition, Meghan currently sits on the St. Michael’s Hospital Young Leaders Board.

Jeffrey Olin is a co-founder, CEO and has been a portfolio manager at Vision for 10 years. Mr. Olin brings fifteen years of senior level investment banking experience, as well as ten years of direct corporate real estate experience to Vision Capital Corporation. Between 2003 and 2007, Mr. Olin served as the Managing Partner, Ontario and Head of Investment Banking with Desjardins Securities, a $200 billion financial institution. Mr. Olin was previously a Managing Director with HSBC Securities and a Vice President with Canaccord Capital. As an investment banker, Mr. Olin was the Lead Manager and M&A advisor with direct responsibility for over 70 transactions representing over $5 billion in value. He has served as a key advisor to many of Canada’s leading corporate, institutional, and family-owned real estate enterprises. Prior to his investment banking career, Mr. Olin has ten years of direct real estate industry experience. Between 1985 and 1991, Mr. Olin was Vice President with Bramalea Limited in Dallas, Texas and Toronto, Canada. In addition he worked with Olympia & York Developments Ltd., and the Parking Authority of Toronto. His experience in real estate includes acquisitions and dispositions, development, financing, leasing, operations, and planning and design. Mr. Olin has extensive corporate governance experience and expertise. He has served on the Board of Directors for numerous public companies as well as charitable and community boards. He has also acted as an expert witness on behalf of the Ontario Securities Commission and the Government of Canada Parliamentary Finance Committee. Mr. Olin is a graduate from the Kellogg Graduate School at Northwestern University in Chicago with an MBA. He received his Bachelor of Commerce degree from the University of Toronto.

Todd is a Vice President at Northleaf Capital Partners in Toronto, where he is involved in all aspects of Northleaf’s business development and strategy activities, working closely with investors and investment consultants to design, develop and monitor their private markets portfolios.

Prior to joining Northleaf in 2013, Todd was an investment professional at Goldman, Sachs & Co. in New York where he established and managed strategic Canadian relationships on behalf of the firm, while advising on and directing public and private market investments and portfolio strategy for family offices, foundations and small-to-mid sized institutional clients. Previously, Todd was a Vice President with Citigroup in New York, where he co-founded their Sports Finance & Advisory Group, providing acquisition, sell-side and strategic advice to existing and prospective sports franchise owners and related media clients. Todd began his career in institutional sales with CIBC World Markets in New York.

Todd received a Bachelor of Commerce degree from the Sauder School of Business at the University of British Columbia and an MBA from the Johnson School of Management at Cornell University.

Maggie Rosengarten is a Managing Director in the Capital Formation Group at Fortress Investment Group LLC, a global alternative asset manager headquartered in New York. Maggie raises capital for the firm’s Credit and Private Equity businesses and manages relationships with investors across Canada, the U.S. and Latin America. Prior to joining Fortress in 2008, Maggie was a Vice President at Advent Capital Management in New York where she was responsible for business development activities for the firm’s alternatives products and managing relationships with U.S. institutional investors. She previously held numerous marketing and business development roles at TD Canada Trust, Franklin Templeton Investments and Raymond James Ltd.

Maggie received her Honours B.A. from the University of Toronto in Political Science and History, where she was also a member of the Women’s Varsity soccer team. She currently resides in Toronto with her husband and two young daughters.

Kurankye is the Chief Strategy Officer for Polar Asset Management Partners and a member of the firm’s executive leadership team. He is responsible for the global distribution strategy, and the implementation of the firm’s strategic business initiatives.  Previously, Kurankye led the team responsible for business development and investor relations across institutional and advisory partners globally.  Kurankye began working with Polar in a consulting capacity in 2009, then formally joined the firm in 2010.

Kurankye earned his CFA designation in 2000. He graduated from York University in 1994 with a B.A. (Hons.) in Economics.

Keegan Therrien is a Vice President at Connor, Clark & Lunn Private Capital (part of Connor, Clark & Lunn Financial Group Ltd., one of Canada’s leading investment management firms whose affiliated teams manage over $76 billion in assets). He is responsible for introducing affluent Canadians and their families, as well as foundations and other not for profit organizations, to the firm’s discretionary wealth management services.

Keegan holds a Bachelor of Arts degree from Queen’s University. Keegan is an active member of the Hamilton Golf & Country Club and CFA Society Toronto.

Wendy Thomas spent the last 18 years in the financial data and technology industry with companies, such as Bloomberg, Thomson Reuters and most recently as head of the FactSet office in Canada. Wendy is the Founder of Wendy Thomas Coaching, which helps individuals and teams realize their full potential through the power of mindset transformation. Wendy is a passionate mom of two young boys and cares deeply about creating awareness for kids’ mental health. Wendy holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in International Relations and Marketing from Duke University.

Jordan Banks is Facebook’s Global Head of Vertical Strategy and Managing Director, Canada. Recently named one of the 25 Most Influential People in Canada by Financial Post Magazine, Mr. Banks is a well-respected leader in Canadian business.
Mr. Banks sits on the Board of Directors of Cineplex and the Baycrest Centre, the Board of Governors of the University of Waterloo and the Board of Advisors of the Art Gallery of Ontario and the Tanz Centre for Research in Neurodegenerative Diseases.

Jeffrey Carney, also known as Jeff, CFA, is the President and Chief Executive Officer of IGM Financial Inc.
Mr. Carney has vast experience in investment management firms and banks across both retail and institutional platforms in Canada and the United States. He served as the President at Fidelity Brokerage Services LLC. Mr. Carney served as the President of Retirement, Global Wealth & Investment Management Client Solutions at Bank of America Corporation and Banc of America Investment Services, Inc., since July 30, 2007. He served as an Executive Officer at Merrill Lynch & Co., Inc. Mr. Carney served as the Executive Vice President of Branch Network at The Charles Schwab Corporation. He has held senior executive positions at some of the most prominent financial organizations in North America. Mr. Carney served as a Senior Managing Director and Head of Global Marketing and Products at Putnam Investment Management, LLC and Head of Global Marketing and Products at Putnam Investments. He worked at The Toronto-Dominion Bank. He serves as a Director of MMLP GP Inc. He has been Director of IGM Financial Inc. since May 6, 2013. Mr. Carney served as a Director of Fidelity Capital Funding Canada Limited. He served as a Director of Fidelity Partnership 1995. Mr. Carney has also served on the corporate boards of The New England Council, Employee Benefit Research Institute and Defined Contribution Institutional Investment Association.
He serves on the board of the Landmark School and the advisory board for Queen’s School of Business. Mr. Carney holds the Chartered Financial Analyst designation.
He is a graduate of the Bachelor of Commerce program at Queen’s University.

Paul joined BMO Capital Markets in 2007 on the institutional Equity Desk. Paul oversees the Relative Value Desk and more recently added Canadian Hedge Fund Relationship Management to his purview. The Relative Value Desk is responsible for structuring comprehensive trading strategies including risk arbitrage, event-driven long/short, and other special situations. Prior to joining BMO Capital Markets, Paul spent 3 years in investment banking at a global and Canadian investment dealer.

As a proud supporter of the Capitalize for Kids Charity in Toronto, Paul joined the Advisory Board in the fall of 2018.

Paul holds a Masters Business Administration degree from the Richard Ivey School of Business, as well as concurrent degrees from the Honors Business Administration (Richard Ivey School of Business) and Bachelor of Mechanical and Manufacturing Engineering Sciences programs the University of Western Ontario.

John Francis serves as the Managing Director at Fraser Kearney Capital Corp. Mr. Francis serves as an Ex-Officio of The Hospital for Sick Children, Inc.
From 1994 to 2006, Mr. Francis served as the President and the Chief Executive Officer at Trader Media Corporation. He led it from 1991 to 2006. He served as an Advisor at Altas Partners LP and serves as a Member of Advisory Board at Altas Partners LP. He was an Advisor at Yellow Media Limited. He served as a Vice President of Trader Media Corporation since 1990. His role was to make three concurrent acquisitions, which materially changed the scale of it by expanding the operation into all major Ontario markets. In 1990, when he rejoined Trader Media, he made three concurrent acquisitions which changed the scope of the company. In 2005, Trader Media was sold to Yellow Pages Income Fund and he served as its Chief Executive Officer until June 2006. He continued to consult Yellow Pages in the area of vertical media.
Prior to Trader Media, Mr. Francis served as an Associate of Mergers and Acquisitions at Castle & Cooke Inc. From 1988 to 1990, he worked in Los Angeles doing merger and acquisition transactions with Mr. David Murdock. He began his career working from 1986 to 1988 as an Analyst in the Mergers and Acquisitions department of Goldman Sachs.
He has been the Chairman of Sickkids Foundation- Fundraising Arm since June 17, 2011 and serves as its Director. He serves as the Chair of the SickKids Foundation Board of Directors and serves on the Board of Governors for Havergal College. He serves as a Director of MacNicol & Associates Asset Management Inc., and Scribble Technologies Inc. He serves as a Member of Advisory Board at Summerhill Venture Partners. He serves on the Board of ScribbleLive, Inc. He served as a Trustee of The Hospital for Sick Children, Inc.
Mr. Francis did his Undergraduate with Honors in Business Administration and cleared with distinction in 1986 from the Ivey School of Business at the University of Western Ontario.

Craig Gilchrist, Managing Director and Co-Head of Global Equity Sales & Trading, is responsible for managing the Global Equity Sales & Trading department at Scotiabank overseeing a team of over 60 people in Canada, U.S., Europe, and Asia. Mr. Gilchrist joined the firm at the beginning of 2009 to head a new sales & trading group focused on global hedge funds in U.S., Europe, and Canada. Mr. Gilchrist was responsible for structuring comprehensive trading strategies which include: risk arbitrage, STUB trades, spin-offs, carve-outs, event-driven long/short, when-issued markets, and other special situations. While at Scotiabank, Craig has had successfully managed a few different groups with roles as Head of the Absolute Return/Arbitrage Group, Head of Canadian Equity Sales, and Head of Canadian Equity Sales & Trading. Prior to Scotia Capital, Craig was a Managing Director at BMO Capital Markets and a Director in the Global Markets & Investment Banking Group at Merrill Lynch Canada where he acted in a similar hedge fund sales & trading role for over 6 years. As well, Mr. Gilchrist worked in the Investment Banking Group at Merrill Lynch Canada and the Investment Banking Division at Goldman, Sachs & Co. for 5 years. In his investment banking capacity, Craig worked on a variety of corporate finance and M&A transactions, including: LBOs, carve-outs, acquisitions, IPOs, and corporate equity/debt offerings. Other work experience include management consulting at A.T. Kearney Ltd. and PricewaterhouseCoopers in the Audit Group. Mr. Gilchrist holds an Honors Business Administration degree from the Richard Ivey School of Business at the University of Western Ontario where he was a member of the Dean’s Honor List.

Kelsey Gunderson was appointed Global Head of Trading Products in January 2017. Mr. Gunderson was co-head of the Equity Products group from 2015 to 2017. He joined BMO in 2007 and rose through increasingly senior positions on the trading floor, including Head of Investor Origination Group in Debt Products and Financial Products, where he had oversight of the global distribution of equity and interest rates derivative products to institutional clients as well as the fixed income origination and government finance teams. Mr. Gunderson is a representative on various leadership committees within BMO Capital Markets. He sits on the Board of Trustees for the Bishop Strachan School and is a member of the United Way of Toronto and York Region Major Individual Giving Cabinet.

Mr. Gunderson’s previous experience includes work at Credit Suisse Group in New York and CIBC in Toronto. He is a graduate of the University of British Columbia and McMaster University.

Paul Hand is a Managing Director at RBC Capital Markets, Asset Management Arm. He joined RBC Capital Markets in 1974. Mr. Hand is responsible for the firm’s equity capital markets group and advises corporate clients in connection with a wide range of financing and merger and acquisition transactions.
He has spent more than 25 years in the investment business with various roles in the private client, equity capital markets, and institutional equity areas. Mr. Hand was previously the Head of Global Equity Trading for 11 years and was directly responsible for the firm’s North American and international equity trading. Previously, he spent eight years in New York, from 1977 to 1985, and, from 1986 to 1990, he was a Senior Equity Trader at Wood Gundy. Mr. Hand was a Director at the Toronto Stock Exchange in 1998.
He earned a B.A. from Queens University in 1969 and an M.B.A. in 1973.

Reza Satchu is Managing Partner and Co-Founder of Alignvest Capital Management. Mr. Satchu has substantial experience as an entrepreneur and investor. He has co-founded, built and managed several operating businesses from inception including: SupplierMarket, a supply chain software company with over 225 employees and investors that included KKR and Sequoia Capital, which was sold to Ariba for $925 million; StorageNow which became Canada’s second largest self-storage company prior to being sold to InStorage REIT for $110 million; and KGS-Alpha Capital Markets, a fixed-income broker dealer with over $155 million in equity capital, 130 employees and 700 customers.
Previously, Mr. Satchu spent 12 years in New York where he was a General Partner at Fenway Partners, a $1.5 billion private equity firm, and a Financial Analyst at Merrill Lynch.
Mr. Satchu has received Canada’s Top 40 Under 40™’ Award and the 2011 Management Achievement Award from McGill University (2011). He is on the Board of Directors of KGS-Alpha Capital Markets, the Hospital for Sick Children Foundation (having served as Vice-Chairman from 2009 to 2011) and is a member of the Canadian Advisory Board to the Harvard Business School. He is the Founding Chairman of The Next 36, an intensive entrepreneurship program for Canada’s most promising undergraduate students, which is funded and supported by many of Canada’s leading CEOs and entrepreneurs and an Adjunct Professor at the University of Toronto, where he has taught the most popular class over the past six years (Economics of Entrepreneurship).
Mr. Satchu holds a Masters of Business Administration from Harvard Business School and a Bachelor of Arts from McGill University.

Ron brings more than twenty years of professional experience providing advisory and assurance based services in the financial services sector, including asset managers, private equity firms, investment banks, commercial banks, broker dealers, commercial finance companies and specialty finance companies.
His transaction experience includes financial services acquisitions and dispositions in Canada, the US, the Caribbean and South America.
Ron is a Canadian Chartered Accountant, a Certified Public Accountant in the U.S. (North Carolina), a member of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Ontario, the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants and the North Carolina Association of Certified Public Accountants.
Ron has been a faculty member of the Directors College since 2007 and served as a strategic advisor to help the College expand across Canada and in Europe. He was the Chair of the EY UW Corporate Campaign from 2010 to 2012 and helped the firm reach the $1m milestone. Through his leadership as the EY Executive Champion for the Hospital for Sick Kids from 2009 to 2015, he has raised $350k in support of the hospital from EY partners.

The Honourable Michael Wilson was the Chairman of Barclays Capital Canada Inc. Based in Toronto, Mr. Wilson joined the firm on June 14, 2010 and was responsible for managing Barclays Capital’s client relationships in Canada.
Previously, Mr. Wilson was Ambassador of Canada to the United States of America from March 13, 2006 to October 9, 2009. Prior to taking up his position as Canada’s 22nd Ambassador to the United States, Mr. Wilson was Chairman of UBS Canada, an operating division of UBS AG..
Mr. Wilson was elected to the House of Commons in 1979. In September 1984, he was appointed Minister of Finance and remained in that position until May 1991. He then became Minister of Industry, Science and Technology and Minister for International Trade. In this latter position he had responsibility for the NAFTA negotiations. During his tenure as a member of the Cabinet, Mr. Wilson represented Canada at the G-7, IMF, World Bank, OECD, GATT and other international Ministers meetings.