Our Boards

Bernadette Corpuz is General Counsel and a member of the executive team at OYA Solar. Bernadette is a seasoned business lawyer with roughly 20 years of experience in the power sector with particular focus on renewables. She has acted in over 1000 MW of renewable power transactions and has advised clients in all aspects of power projects, including power purchase and development agreements, government renewable procurements, mergers and acquisitions, financings and joint ventures.

Bernadette has considerable experience advising stakeholders in the power industry including distributors, generators, commercial users and municipal shareholders. She has also extensive experience in the ancillary industries of district energy, energy efficiency and climate change/carbon.

Bernadette practised for over 15 years in the Electricity Market Groups of 2 national law firms, Borden Ladner Gervais LLP and Gowling WLG. She was also previously general counsel, a member of the executive team and corporate secretary at a major electricity distributor. Immediately prior to joining OYA Solar, Bernadette practised in the Business Law, Mergers Acquisitions and Private Equity Groups at Torkin Manes LLP.

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 firm’s 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.

Ted Garrard, C.M., is the former CEO of SickKids Foundation, a position he held from 2009-2023. The Foundation supports one of the world’s leading centres for pediatric care, research and learning – the Hospital for Sick Children. Under Ted’s leadership, the Foundation increased annual revenues from $80 million per annum to more than $200 million per annum, saw its endowment grow from $480 million to $1.2 billion, became one of the top brands in Canada and set a new standard for charity branding, grew the donor base by more than 100,000 to 330,000 annually, assembled a 37-member Board of Directors that became the “destination” Board for community leaders, became a digital leader in fundraising, doubled the number of staff from 120 to 250 employees, increased the Foundation operating budget from $26 million to $60 million, and oversaw the process that resulted in SickKids becoming the first hospital foundation in Canada to be accredited by Imagine Canada under their Standards program.

Prior to joining the Foundation Ted served as Vice-President, External at The University of Western Ontario from 1996-2009, where he led campaigns that raised more than $600 million. At Western he was also responsible for alumni relations, communications and public affairs and community relations. He also spent 13 years at United Way of Toronto in a variety of roles including Research Director, Marketing and Communications Director, and Director of Fundraising.

Ted is Past Chair of the Canadian Children’s Hospital Foundation Executives, Past Chair of the Woodmark Group (the group represents 25 of the largest children’s hospitals in North America), past Chair of Imagine Canada, Past Chair of United Way of London-Middlesex, a past Director of United Way/Centraide Canada, and a past Director of the Canadian Council for Advancement in Education. He received the Association of Fundraising Professional’s Outstanding Fundraising Executive Award in 1997, was named one of Canada’s Top 40 Under 40 in 1998, and in 2014 was named Outstanding Communicator by the International Association of Business Communicators (IABC). In June 2018, Ted was honoured with the Order of Canada, Canada’s highest civilian honour, and in 2022 Ted was awarded the Lifetime Achievement Award by the Association of Fundraising Professionals.

Ted founded West Shore Consulting to increase the capacity of charities in strategic planning, governance, fundraising, human resource management, brand management, and capital campaigns.

John Hughes, MBA, CPA, CA, is the National Leader for MNP’s Private Enterprise Practice. With more than 35 years of experience, John has spent his career helping Canadian business families, entrepreneurs and management teams create value and grow their businesses through a diverse range of services and customized strategies. Formerly national leader of a big-four private enterprise practice, he is also the former national leader of Canada’s Best Managed Companies program, which recognizes excellence in Canadian-owned and managed companies with revenues over $10 million.

John’s expertise and passion for Canadian private companies led him to co-author two Canadian best-selling books: Building the Best (Penguin 2006) and Power of the Best (2012). His consulting experience and work has included everything from audits, strategic tax planning and strategy and operational consulting to corporate finance, due diligence, mergers and acquisitions and IPOs.

MNP is a leading national accounting, tax and business consulting firm in Canada. We proudly serve and respond to the needs of our clients in the public, private and not-for-profit sectors. Through partner-led engagements, we provide a collaborative, cost-effective approach to doing business and personalized strategies to help organizations succeed across the country and around the world.

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 is a Managing Director at VRG Capital and prior to this was appointed to the Board of Directors of Euromoney Institutional Investor PLC (EII) in November of 2009 and 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.

Peter leads the Canadian business development and capital introduction initiatives for TD Securities Prime Brokerage. With over twenty years’ capital markets experience, he began his career in TD Wealth taking on increasingly senior positions until assuming Head of National Sales for TD’s Institutional Services Correspondent Clearing division. Since joining TD Securities in 2006, he has helped build a client focused, service driven franchise for alternative funds, asset managers, pension plans and family offices.

A graduate of McMaster University, Peter is active in TD Securities’ Global Markets student recruitment efforts.

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.

Dan Dreyfus serves as the Founder and Chief Investment Officer at Bornite Capital. Dan founded the firm in January of 2019. He has 19 years of investing experience including fundamentally-driven long/short, capital structure arbitrage, distressed investing, merger arbitrage, and broader portfolio management. Dan joined 3G Capital in 2013 to manage a commodities and industrials specialized equity and credit hedge fund. Prior to 3G, Dan was hired into the Goldman Sachs Principal Strategies Group in the Equities Division (formerly the Risk Arbitrage Department) in the year 2000 as an investor in the firm’s North American business. In 2008, Daniel and a team of investors in Principal Strategies launched Goldman Sachs Investment Partners, the Asset Management Division’s flagship long/short hedge fund. He began his career in 1998 at Donaldson, Lufkin & Jenrette as an analyst in the Investment Banking Division covering the Natural Resources sector and was an intern at BMO Nesbitt Burns in the Equity Research department covering the gold mining stocks in 1997. Daniel graduated from McGill University in 1998 with a Bachelor of Commerce.

Vincent Fernandez is the Chief Investment Officer for Canada Overseas Asset Management Limited, a single-family office based in Toronto. His mandate covers all aspects of investing for three generations of the family. As CIO, he is responsible for the establishing the investment policy for the investment corporations, the foundations and the trusts and he implements the asset allocation across all mandates. He leads the selection of external fund managers across long equity and fixed income, equity and fixed income hedge funds, and illiquid investments in private equity, venture capital and real estate. Moreover, he manages of a book of North American large and mid cap equities. He also serves as the Chief Compliance Officer of the firm, ensuring the integrity of reporting and operational conduct of the organization. Prior to assuming this role in 2008, he spent thirteen years as an analyst and portfolio manager with two of the leading mutual fund platforms in Canada, investing in Global, US and Emerging Market equities, with sector specializations in financial services and utilities. He started his investment career as a sell-side analyst working for a US bank in Buenos Aires, Argentina covering electric utilities. Prior to this, he worked as an analyst at Global Affairs Canada in the division that led the NAFTA negotiations. He earned an Honours bachelor’s in political science and Economics from the University of Toronto, holds International MBA from the Schulich School of Business at York University and is a CFA charter holder. He completed the IFSE Officers, Partners and Directors in 2017. For the past eight years, he has served as a volunteer on the Investment Sub-Committee for the Heart and Stroke Foundation, helping to guide the asset allocation and manager selection for the foundation as well as the defined benefit and defined contribution pension plans. Prior to that, he was a volunteer and co-Head of a fundraising event for a decade with Renascent Foundation, an alcohol and drug treatment organization based in Toronto. In his spare time, he is a writer of fiction, painter, woodworker, and golfer. He is the proud father of two wonderful adult children.

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 Senior Managing Director, Global Investment Strategy 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.

Ulrike Hoffman-Burchardi

Dr. Ulrike Hoffmann-Burchardi is a Senior Portfolio Manager and Partner at Tudor Investment Corporation, overseeing a global equity portfolio inside Tudor’s flagship client strategy fund. Focused on innovation from digital, data, and AI, Ulrike invests in companies benefitting from these trends, making substantial use of new data sources to understand technology adoption and market dynamics. Prior, Ulrike was instrumental in building Tudor’s global quantitative equity business in London and New York from 1999-2009. Ulrike was recognized in 2022 as one of the “100 Most Influential Women in US Finance” by Barron’s magazine. She is the recipient of the 2023 Women’s Investment Leadership Award presented by the Managed Futures Association (MFA). Ulrike serves on the board of 100 Women in Finance, a global 15,000-member not-for-profit organization to empower women in the finance and alternative investment industries. An advocate for STEM education in grades K-12, she serves as a member of the advisory board of NYC FIRST, a global youth-serving robotics community. She holds a Ph.D. in Finance from the London School of Economics and Political Science, and a Master’s degree in Finance from the University of St. Gallen in Switzerland. Ulrike is a Fellow of the 2021 class of the Finance Leaders Fellowship and a member of the Aspen Global Leadership Network.

Sean is the Chief Executive Officer and Portfolio Manager at XIB Asset Management Inc, a registered investment fund manager and exempt market dealer with approximately $180 million assets under management. Prior to founding XIB, Sean worked at one of Canada’s most successful fund managers, MM Asset Management (MMAM), where he was part of a five-person advisory team responsible for managing a global event-driven investment portfolio. Prior to MMAM, Sean gained experience and insight from roles in both Institutional Equity Sales as well as M&A Investment Banking at Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce (CIBC). Sean is a CFA Charter holder and received a Bachelor of Business Administration, graduating as Valedictorian from the University of New Brunswick. Sean is an active contributor and volunteer in the communities where he lives and works. He is a longstanding director on the board of the Bay Street Children’s Foundation, board member at Holland Bloorview Kids Rehabilitation Hospital Foundation, and is founder and director of the Frontline Foundation; a non-profit supporting first responders, frontline workers, and local businesses in Bermuda.

As Vice Chair and Head of Equities, Robbie Pryde leads the professional teams responsible for Institutional Equities, Research, Global Equity Derivatives, Automated Execution, Prime Brokerage and Energy Trading at TD Securities. He also Co Heads Equity Capital Markets. Robbie is a member of TD Securities Supervisory and Initiative Investment Committees and plays a key role firm-­wide in client relationship management and trading strategies.
Robbie is Co-­Chair of the Women in Leadership Executive Committee for TD Securities and a key champion of the WIL initiative, actively mentoring and promoting a diverse and inclusive culture within the firm for the last several years. Robbie was recognized by Women in Capital Markets (WCM) as the Male recipient of the WCM Award for Leadership in 2014-­15.
Robbie also plays a key role in building the pipeline for future potential leaders, participating in campus recruitment, taking the time to meet talented individuals and encouraging them along their journey. He is a regular participant on internal and external industry panels and networking events and his continued engagement has yielded consistent results over the years.
Robbie joined TD Securities in 2000 when the company purchased Newcrest Capital, where he was a Managing Director and Founding Partner. He started his career at Nesbitt Burns in Institutional Equity sales and Retail branch management. Robbie holds a Bachelor of Arts in Economics from the University of Western Ontario and a Chartered Financial Analyst accreditation.
Robbie values community engagement and is involved with a number of fundraising initiatives, including TD Securities Underwriting Hope Charity Auction, United Way Corporate Fundraising Campaigns, The George Hull Centre and Anaphylaxis Canada. He is a Board Member of the National Ballet of Canada, Sterling Hall School and Grand Cru Culinary Wine Festival Advisory Committee which supports the Toronto General and Western Hospital Foundation.

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.

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.

Federico is the head of Aon’s Investment Consulting Practice in Canada. He regularly consults with defined benefit and defined contribution pension funds, endowment and foundation clients in all aspects of their investments including governance structure, asset allocation and investment strategy, investment manager structure and selection, alternative investments, and delegated investment solutions.

Matthew is responsible for Cidel’s alternative investment mandates and third-party manager research efforts. He oversees the sourcing, due diligence, and selection of third-party managers at the firm. Prior to joining Cidel in 2018, Matthew was Vice President and a core member of the investment team at Optima Fund Management LLC – an NYC-based alternative investment firm specializing in hedge fund multi-manager programs and advisory services. At Optima, Matthew was responsible for manager selection and portfolio management with experience across a range of hedge fund strategies including long/short equity, event driven, global macro, systematic, and credit. He is a graduate of Brown University (Providence, RI) where he received a BA in Economics and holds both the Canadian Securities Course (Hons.) and Investment Management Techniques certificates from the Canadian Securities Institute.

Ms. Anastassia Kobeleva is a Managing Director, External Portfolio Management, at CPP Investments, maintaining a portfolio of externally managed funds and separate accounts. With a focus on a long-term horizon, she invests in established and emerging managers globally. External Portfolio Management has relationships with approximately 60 asset managers whose mandates cover equities, credit, interest rates, currencies and commodities. Prior to joining CPP Investments in 2012, Ms. Kobeleva spent five years in private equity investment banking with Loewen & Partners. She serves on the 100 Women in Finance Toronto Executive committee. Ms. Kobeleva is a CFA charterholder.

Christophe L’Ahelec is an investment professional with more than twenty years of global experience in France, Hong Kong, Switzerland, and Canada. As Managing Director, Public Markets, he is responsible for UPP’s global investment strategy with a particular focus on Public Market activities.

Prior to that Christophe was a Senior Principal in the Capital Markets (CM) department, at Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan Board where he was accountable for the top-down management of the external managers portfolio and was part of the investment committee allocating to hedge fund, private credit and long only equity managers. During his 11 years tenure at OTPP, he originated, conducted duediligence, and on-boarded systematic alpha managers in the equity and futures space, along with leading the group’s work in the alternative risk premia space.

Before coming to Canada, Christophe 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 a European systematic market neutral fund.

He spent the first two years of his career working for BNP Paribas in Hong Kong where he provided realtime quantitative support to the fixed-income trading desk.

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. Christophe has been invited to speak globally on advanced portfolio and risk management topics and has published papers on topics regarding portfolio construction and managed futures..

Sara is a Director on the Prime Brokerage team at TD Securities where she is focused on Business Development and Capital Introduction. Prior to joining TD in 2017, Sara worked at Barclays for eight years in various roles including Senior Relationship Management and Equity Research, covering Financial Institutions. Prior to Barclays, Sara worked at Dundee Securities in Equity Research. Sara began her career at Goodman Private Wealth. She holds a Bachelor of Commerce from McGill University and is a CFA Charterholder.

Shane joined Kilmer Capital Partners Limited (KVN) in 2021 as vice president, business development, and is responsible for originating and analyzing suitable acquisition opportunities that align with KVN’s investment philosophy.

Shane came to Kilmer from Capitalize for Kids (C4K), where he was director of business development, leading all revenue-generating activities for the organization. Prior to C4K, Shane was part of a mid-market private equity firm where he led the sourcing and origination of Canadian investment opportunities. Before entering the private equity industry, Shane spent six years in banking, most recently in corporate banking with BMO Capital Markets and, prior to that, at CIBC Capital Markets, primarily in corporate banking, with stints in mid-market investment banking, cash management and risk management.

Shane holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in economics and history from the College of the Holy Cross where he was a member of the men’s ice hockey team. He also holds an MBA from Ivey Business School and is a CFA charterholder. Shane is a member of the Association for Corporate Growth (ACG) Toronto chapter’s membership committee. He is active with several charitable organizations including Movember, where he is a member of the Movember Mavericks hockey team and has opened the TSX on behalf of Movember. Shane also serves on the Leadership Development Advisory Council with C4K.

Lee Minton was an Executive Managing Director and Global Head of the Client Partner Group for Sculptor Capital.  In this role, Mr. Minton oversaw the firm’s partnerships with its clients globally delivering investment solutions, transparency and resources to meet their needs.

Prior to joining Sculptor Capital in 2008, Mr. Minton was the Head of Institutional Business Development at Minton Investment Management, a fixed income asset management firm serving institutional clients. Earlier, he was an Associate in the Investment Management Division at Goldman, Sachs & Co.

Mr. Minton holds a Bachelor of the Arts in Economics from Colby College, and is a Chartered Financial Analyst charterholder.

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 Director 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.

Evan Sequeira joined TorQuest in 2019. Prior to joining Torquest, Mr. Sequeira led the development and fundraising efforts at Capitalize for Kids, a children’s mental health non-profit, and previously worked at BMO Capital Markets where he was an analyst on the Fixed Income, Currencies and Commodities team. Mr. Sequeira serves on the Leadership Council at Capitalize for Kids. Mr. Sequeira holds a BComm. from Queen’s University and has passed all 3 levels of the CFA Program.

Brad Sumarah

Andrew Watts joined Picton Mahoney Asset Management (“PMAM”) in 2015 as a Vice President in the Institutional Business group. Based in Toronto, he is responsible for coverage of the firm’s institutional clientele. These are comprised of other asset managers, pension plans, life insurers, endowments and foundations who hold investments in both the long-only equity and hedge fund space. Prior to PMAM, Andrew held a variety of roles as part of CIBC’s Graduate and Leadership Development program and was an analyst on Manulife Financial’s Private Placement team.

Andrew was previously a mentor for Toronto’s Stepstones for Youth program and has volunteered in a number of patient-based positions at Toronto Western Hospital.

Andrew received a MBA from McMaster University and a Honours Bachelor of Commerce from McMaster University. He is also holds both CFA and CAIA designations.

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.

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.

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.

As Group Head and CEO, Global Banking and Markets, Mike has responsibility for the overall management of Global Banking and Markets’ operations worldwide. He was appointed Co-CEO in 2008 with specific responsibility for the Global Capital Markets business, and assumed full responsibility for the division in 2014.
Mike joined Scotiabank’s Investment Banking division as a Senior Manager, Derivative Products, in 1993, before being promoted to Managing Director in 1996; Co-Head, Capital Markets Group in 2002; and Deputy Head, Global Capital Markets in 2007. During the past 20 years, Mike has been actively involved in the development, execution and management of Global Banking and Markets’ strategy, risk, operations and human capital management. He also represents Global Banking and Markets on key internal Bank committees.
Mike completed a Ph.D. in Finance and Operations Research from Queen’s University and a Bachelor of Commerce in Finance from St. Mary’s University.
Mike is a member of the Advisory Board for Queen’s School of Business and its Master of Management Analytics program.

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.

Wesley Hall is the Chief Executive Officer of Kingsdale Shareholder Services. He is a founding board member of the Canadian Society of Corporate Secretaries (CSCS) and CSCS’ longest serving president.
In 2009, Mr. Hall received the Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year award for Ontario. He is currently chairman of the board of TSX Venture Exchange-listed Difference Capital Financial and serves as director of Prophecy Platinum.
Mr. Hall is a graduate of the directors education program offered by the Institute of Corporate Directors (ICD) in partnership with the Rotman School of Management, University of Toronto.

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.

Ron joined Waratah Advisors in April 2015. Ron brings 30 years of leadership in the North America pension consulting and investment management industries to Waratah. Prior to joining Waratah, Ron was President of Hewitt Associates Canada (now AON Hewitt, a global pension and asset consulting firm) and held senior executive positions at Gluskin Sheff + Associates, Romspen Investment Corporation, and Wescourt Capital.

Ron graduated from Queen’s University with a Bachelor of Commerce (Honours) degree and a Masters of Industrial Relations degree. Ron has also completed executive courses at the Harvard Business School and University of Toronto, as well as completed the Fundamentals of Alternative Investment Certificate Program by the CAIA Association. He received his Chartered Investment Manager designation.

Scott MacNicol is currently a Private Investor, having retired as a Managing Director responsible for Equity Trading at TD Securities. In this capacity, he was also Head of The Hedge Fund Trading Group. Prior to, he was a Founding Partner and Managing Director of Equity Trading for Newcrest Capital, which he started in 1995 with eight other partners and was eventually sold to TD Bank in 2000. Mr. MacNicol began his career at Gordon Capital in 1987 attaining the position of Vice-President and Director in 1993. He is a Founding Member for the Yellow Bus Foundation and earned his Bachelor of Business Management from Ryerson in 1988.

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.

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.

Scott joined the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation in 2018. Prior to joining the Foundation, Scott was a Managing Director at Canada Pension Plan Investment Board (CPPIB). At CPPIB, Scott oversaw the investment process and monitoring of the organization’s public market external manager program. Prior to this, Scott was a senior member of CPPIB’s Private Investments Team, where he focused on private equity fund investments and private equity secondaries. Previously, Scott was a member of the European Corporate Development team at Level 3 Communications. Scott began his career in mergers and acquisitions with BMO Nesbitt Burns. Scott holds a Master in Finance from London Business School and a BBA from Wilfrid Laurier University.

Bill Webb has been an active investor since the age of fourteen with a long history of disciplined investing across a range of assets classes. Until his retirement in December 2015 after 20 years with the Firm, Bill served as Executive Vice-President & Chief Investment Officer of Gluskin Sheff + Associates Inc., an independent Toronto-based wealth management firm that manages multi-asset class investment portfolios for high net worth private clients and select institutional investors.

Bill received an BBA from Wilfrid Laurier University in 1986 and an MBA (East Asian Studies) from McGill University in 1993. He has also earned his Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) designation. Prior to joining Gluskin Sheff in 1995, Bill was based in Beijing, China with the Bank Credit Analyst Research Group. He also held positions as a money market and fixed income trader prior to becoming a manager of proprietary financial futures trading for CS First Boston in London, England. Bill is as an active Director of Rugby Canada, a member of the Investment Committee of the Canadian Rugby Foundation and sits on the Captain’s Council of TIRF – the Toronto Inner-City Rugby Foundation. He serves on the International Faculty Advisory Board of the Desautels Faculty of Management at McGill University and on the President’s Council of Advisors at Wilfrid Laurier University.

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.