Nancy Hoi Bertrand

Private Banker

Citi Private Bank

Nancy joined Citi Private Bank in 2006 and has over 20 years of capital markets experience. She advises ultra high net-worth families, foundations and single family offices on wealth preservation and creation, with a particular focus on alternative and international investments.

Previously, Nancy practiced U.S. securities law at the global law firm, Shearman & Sterling LLP specializing in cross-border corporate finance and mergers and acquisitions.

Nancy sits on the board of the Golf Association of Ontario. She is a Past President of the Toronto CFA Society and the former Chair of the Governance and Nominations Committee. She was a member of the CFA Institute’s Capital Markets Policy Committee and a member of CFA Institute’s Global Corporate Governance Task Force. She received her Chartered Financial Analyst designation in 2002.

Nancy sat on the cabinet of the Royal Ontario Museum’s Young Patrons’ Circle. Nancy graduated with an Honours in Business Administration (Dean’s List) from the Richard Ivey School of Business of the University of Western Ontario and a Bachelor of Laws (great distinction) from McGill University. She has been called to the Bars of the State of New York, the Commonwealth of Massachusetts and the Province of Ontario.

She speaks Mandarin, Cantonese and French. She is married and raising a teenage daughter.

Yasir Khushi

Chief Financial Officer

ARMS Group

Yasir Khushi is the Chief Financial Officer at Arms Group, a Dubai based Emirati single family office with a diversified portfolio of assets across various industries including energy & environment, engineering & manufacturing, services & trading, real estate, landscaping and auctioneering. Reporting directly to the Chairman, he is very active in managing the firm and its investment strategy.

Yasir received an MBA from London Business School in UK and holds a CPA qualification from CPA Canada.

Daniel Stow

Chief Investment Officer

Zen Capital and Mergers

Daniel Stow is the Chief Investment Officer at Zen Capital & Mergers. His primary job functions include looking for new investments and opportunities while managing the balance of the portfolio. Zen Capital & Merger’s mission is to seek investments that meet their return requirements in conjunction with looking for quality management and integrity. As the Chief Investment Officer, Daniel is responsible for monitoring, managing, and developing investments in alternative assets.

Daniel proactively keeps up to date with market developments and regulation changes. He has confidence in dealing with board members, committees, and external fund managers. As a consequence of his 7 years’ experience with the company, Daniel has a seasoned perspective on how to manage an international portfolio with investments in both public and private companies. He has a Bachelor of Business Administration Honours with Distinction in International Business and Finance. In addition, Daniel also holds the CSC accreditation from the Canadian Securities Institute. When he is not keeping busy at Zen Capital & Mergers he enjoys getting outside and enjoying the beautiful nature British Columbia has to offer

John D’Agostino

Head of Strategic Partnership

Coinbase

John oversees strategic partnerships for the business bringing deep experience with sophisticated private investment vehicles characterized by complex strategies and asset classes, notably derivatives, structured credit, direct lending, high frequency/quant, and similar strategies. 

Prior to joining Coinbase, John was a Managing Director and part of the Governance leadership group at DMS Governance, serving on the Board of Directors of several of the world’s largest asset managers. Previously, he was a Managing Director of Alkeon Capital, focused on fundamental investment research across industry sectors, global compliance, and regulatory management. John also worked with KPMG Consulting, where he was part of the firm’s global leadership for the Finance and Hedge Fund consulting groups, and led advisory on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange acquisition of London Metals Exchange. 

He began his career as Vice President and Head of Strategy with the New York Mercantile Exchange, where he helped transition the floor to electronic trading and was part of the leadership team building out the core systems to accommodate co-location, quant, and HFT volumes. He also led the effort to develop the first Middle East energy derivatives exchange in partnership with the Dubai Government. 

John is the subject of two NY Times bestselling business books (Rigged and the Start-Up Of You).  John has lectured at INSEAD University, guest lectures at MIT Sloan Business School, and is a lecturer at Columbia University. In 2019, he was named Chair of the UK Consulate Financial Services Working Group. John co-founded and leads the AIMA Digital Asset Working Group. In 2022 he was named Fellow of the AIF Financial Innovation Institute. He lives in New York City with his wife and two daughters.

Barton Wallace

Portfolio Manager

Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec (CDPQ)

Barton Wallace joined CDPQ in 2019, he acts as head of portfolio construction and engineering within the quantitative equity team. His focus is on strategy design, portfolio construction and alpha prediction. Prior to joining CDPQ, he was managing systematic portfolios in the alternative risk premia space, managed futures and tail risk protection. He holds a doctorate in nuclear physics from Laval University, where he developed modern statistical techniques for low-signal high-noise spectrum analysis.

Sean Davatgar

Chairman & Chief Investment Officer

Dava Capital (SFO)

Chairman & CIO DAVA 2009 – Present Dava capitalizes on investment opportunities across the global capital markets & industries on I.P, providing alternative finance through a PE structure to emerging or growth stage companies Majority

Investments
Health Care : Cancer R&D institute, Hospitals management company, NicQ System

Technology : Biofuel company, Fuel Cell Batteries, Wi-Fi, Toy Charities, 3D Digital Hologram for Retail Media, Lithium-ion Battery, IOT Energy Controller

Construction : Solar contractor, Elder care housing, Prison developer, County office

Government : Air Force network security, Marines IT, Navy Satellite Tech, Logistics

Energy : Oil & Gas E&S, Refinery, Co-Gen, CNG Engine, Windfarm, Li-on Storage

Media : Producer(CBS, NBC, CNN, ESPN), Commercials, Retail Pharma Ads

JV Partner Fortress Investment Group 2014 – 2020

Senior Business Adviser Houlihan Smith & Company 2007 – 2009

Equity Desk Chimera Securities 2008 – 2009

Associate Banker Xnergy LLC 2006 – 2007

CEO & Founder ELITE MEDICAL SUPPLY 2004 – 2005

CEO & Founder Mobile Accessories 1999 – 2004

Song Ann Lim

Head of Investments, Chief Compliance Officer

Enoch Wealth Canada

An entrepreneurial investment professional with extensive expertise and business experience honed over 2 decades, Song oversees Enoch Wealth’s strategic and investment matters. His experience spans across various specialist and management roles within the Investment Banking divisions of Singaporean Banks, dealing in equities, fixed-income, foreign exchange, futures, options and other derivatives and structured products. After his banking days, Song was the founder and leading partner of a boutique investment firm focusing on Pre-IPO/RTO investing/listing, capital markets advisory and M&A. On the side, he is an avid reader and a classical music fanatic who enjoys co-managing his family’s investments and advising businesses.

Drew Colaiezzi

Private Investments

McPike Global Family Office

Drew Colaiezzi is a private equity/venture capital specialist & investment manager with a background in capital markets focused on securitizations, specialty credit products, fixed income asset-back warehouses, financing consultancy, investment strategies & management, investment relationship structures, and early-stage venture.

After working in NYC and Miami for various private equity firms, he moved internationally and currently sits on the investment committee for MGFO, a single-family office based out of the Bahamas with a large venture portfolio containing exposure to various industries with a strong focus on early stage opportunities in financials, tech, fintech, life sciences, the carbon economy, venture funds, co investment opportunities, and web3/crypto based assets.

Kenndal McArdle

Principal

Pender Ventures

Kenndal joined Pender in 2014, and has extensive investing experience across private and public markets. As a Principal at Pender Ventures, Kenndal is an instrumental member of the team across all aspects of the investment process and portfolio support. His expertise resides in strategy and scaling go to market efforts in hyper growth businesses.

His work as a public market analyst was primarily attributable to the award winning Pender Small Cap Opportunities Fund and Pender Value Fund, where he was responsible for sourcing, evaluating, and providing recommendations on investments across Information Technology and Health.

Current board roles include Clarius Mobile Health, Checkfront, Swift Medical and Spark RE. He is also a strategic advisor to numerous start-up companies, providing guidance on capital raising and governance.

Previously, he was a professional athlete and enjoyed a successful career in the NHL, most notably on the left wing for the Jets and Panthers. He earned his CFA Charter in 2018 and is actively involved with the CFA Vancouver Society and is currently a board member with Science World Vancouver (ASTC Science World Society).

Hyewon Kong

Vice President, Responsible Investing

IMCO

Hyewon Kong is a vice president and Head of Responsible Investing at the Investment Management Corporation of Ontario (IMCO), which manages over $70bn of Ontario public-sector pension funds, where she leads environmental, social and governance (ESG) and sustainable investing strategies across all asset classes. With over 20 years of experience in both corporate and investment management in Asia, Europe and North America, Hyewon has been an ambassador of sustainable investing as an experienced portfolio manager and a subject matter expert on ESG.

Hyewon serves on the Board of Directors of the University of British Columbia (UBC) Investment Management Trust and on the Environmental Finance Advisory Committee at the University of Toronto. She also lectures on environmental finance and sustainable and impact investment courses. She co-founded and chairs Canadian Responsible Investment Working Group and has been named as Canada’s 2020 Clean 50 leaders for creating broad collaborations in the Canadian financial industry to drive a sustainability agenda.

Phil Pothier

Partner and Senior Investment Due Diligence Analyst

Albourne

Phil Pothier joined Albourne in August 2011 and is an Partner and Senior Investment Due Diligence Analyst on the Real Assets team based out of the Toronto office. Phil focuses on commodity, oil & gas, energy transition, and infrastructure strategies across both liquid and illiquid alternative investments, providing research to a wide range of clients including family offices, foundations, endowments, and public/private pension plans. Prior to Albourne, Phil previously held roles at Moody’s Analytics AXIS, Keel Capital, and John Hancock/Manulife. He has 21 years of investment and financial services experience and holds an undergraduate degree in economics and mathematics from Dalhousie University. Phil is a CFA Charterholder and an Associate of the Society of Actuaries.

Matt Goldklang

Climate Scientist

Man Numeric

Matt joined Man Numeric in 2021. Prior to Man Numeric, he worked in climate risk analytics at Rhodium Group, where he gained experience working with climate impact modeling.
Matt received a bachelor’s degree in geology and geophysics and a certificate in energy studies from Yale University. He later received a master’s degree in climate change from the University of Copenhagen, where he worked on climate change impacts and machine learning research.

Les Marton

Managing Director, Client Consulting

bfinance Canada Inc.

Les is the Managing Director and Lead Client Consultant in bfinance’s Canadian institutional investment consultancy practice.

He has worked in financial services for more than 35 years, with more than two decades of experience in asset management. He has extensive experience on the buy-side, having managed the Scotia Alternative Asset Fund from 2001-2003, launched the Scotiabank Canadian Hedge Fund Index and was Head of Operational Due Diligence for Scotia Capital’s alternative assets business.  Les has also worked extensively with institutional allocators in a range of advisory roles throughout his long and varied career.   Prior to joining bfinance in 2017 he held senior roles at Scotiabank including Managing Director, Head of Hedge Fund Consulting & Capital Introduction and Head of the Global Alternative Asset Group. He began his career at Royal Bank of Canada and RBC Capital Markets.

Les has been a frequent speaker at pension investment conferences on a wide range of topics.  He has eclectic tastes in literature and music, is an avid sports enthusiast as well as a keen (though unaccomplished) golfer.  In the dim mists of time he received an MBA from York University and a Bachelor of Arts in Philosophy and English from the University of Toronto, Trinity College.

Wendy Diamond

Chief Executive Officer

Women’s Entrepreneurship Day Organization (WEDO)

Wendy Diamond is the CEO / Founder of Women’s Entrepreneurship Day Organization

(WEDO) / #ChooseWOMEN, a non-governmental volunteer organization and global initiative celebrated in 144 countries, and universities/ colleges worldwide with the mission to economically empower WOMEN in business to alleviate poverty.

She is the founder of LDP Ventures (SFO) investing in social impact disruptive technologies and funds making a positive imprint on this world including: Perceptive Capital, Bidversity, OpenGrants, Light Line Medical, Sensorium, EFF Ventures, ASALP, Pocket Network, Producers Market, CoinFund, Basepaws, OP Crypto, Crescent Capital, Valt Fund, Gaingels, Waggit, QuantumRock Technologies, Tooth and Tailz, LOOK Lateral Art, IPWE, Trust Circle, Blocktower Capital, Infinigon Group, SAFE Health, Farma Trust, Breathometer, IGP Energy, Snakt and many more!

Wendy has authored ten widely celebrated books, garnered three Guinness World Records, and has appeared in media outlets including CNBC, Oprah, NBC’s Today Show, Bloomberg, The New York Times and Forbes. She has also been a featured keynote speaker at the United Nations, Davos, and Harvard University.

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Wendy sits on the Boards of Ellis Island Honors Society, Global Alliance For a Sustainable Planet (GASP), Girls Club Capital, Global Women in Blockchain, Humane Society of New York, and Grey Muzzle Foundation.

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Prior to WEDO, after learning 12 million animals were euthanized annually, Wendy founded Animal Fair Media, Inc the premiere pet lifestyle media platform bridging celebrity and pop culture to support animal rescue/welfare.

Andrew James Labbad

Portfolio Manager

Wealhouse Capital Management

Andrew James Labbad, CFA is the portfolio manager of Amplus Credit Income Fund. Mr. Labbad joins Wealhouse after almost a decade at TD Securities, where he was a Director of Credit Trading. A native of Montreal, Mr. Labbad is fluent in both French and English. Mr. Labbad received his Master of Business Administration from John Molson School of Business at Concordia University and Bachelor of Engineering from McGill University.

Brandon K. Laughren

Co-Founder and CIO

Laughren Group

Brandon K. Laughren, Managing Director, Co-Founder and CIO of the Laughren Group, a single family office with investments private equity, private debt, venture capital and real estate. In addition, he serves as a mentor for two startup accelerators. Prior to co-founding the Laughren Group, Mr. Laughren founded and managed Stone Laughren LLC, a private equity and venture capital advisory firm. Mr. Laughren has acted as a transaction advisor and an investor for 30+ years. He has been involved in M&A transactions totaling more than $50 billion in value and debt and equity raises in excess of $10 billion

Kunal Soni

Managing Director

Morgan Stanley Investment Management

Kunal Soni is a Managing Director of Morgan Stanley and a member of the Private Credit Platform of Morgan Stanley Investment Management (MSIM). Mr. Soni joined Morgan Stanley in 2019 and is a member of the Private Credit Investment Committee.

Prior to Morgan Stanley, Mr. Soni was Head of the Western Region for the Direct Lending Platform of The Carlyle Group from 2015 to 2019. Prior to Carlyle, Mr. Soni was a senior investment professional in the asset management industry focusing on credit since 2007. From 2005 to 2007, Mr. Soni was a Principal at Bison Capital Asset Management focusing on growth investments in middle market companies.

Prior to Bison, Mr. Soni worked at J.P. Morgan and KPMG LLP.

Mr. Soni graduated from Emory University in 1998.

Travis Dowle

President

Maxam Capital Management

Travis Dowle is the President of Maxam Capital Management Ltd., an alternative investment management firm. Travis began his career in 1996 with MK Wong & Associates, which was later acquired by HSBC Asset Management. Travis left HSBC in 2007 to lead public market investments for a family office and private investment group, before he founded Maxam in 2009. Travis is a graduate of the University of Western Ontario and holds the Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) designation.

Oren Shiran

Managing Director, Portfolio Manager/Analyst

Lazard Asset Management LLC

Oren Shiran is a Portfolio Manager/Analyst on the Lazard Systematic Equity team. Oren began working in the investment field in 2005. Prior to joining Lazard in 2019, Oren was a co-founder and managing partner with Baylight Capital. Prior to Baylight, Oren was a founding principal and portfolio manager at QM Capital, a firm founded in 2005 that developed quantitative trading strategies. Prior to QM, Oren was a PhD candidate in Computational Mathematics at Stanford University. Oren has a Master’s Degree in Computational Mathematics from Stanford University and a Bachelor’s Degree in Electrical Engineering & Computer Science from University of California, Berkeley

Harris Lambouris

Founding Partner CEO

Laertes Health

Founding Partner and CEO of Laertes Health LLP, a private investment company aiming to develop healthcare projects in the MENA region. Sets standards of excellence and alignment of the company’s vision and strategy. Collaborates with family offices to develop the business, creating opportunities and maintaining professional excellence.

He is also a partner with hhm-consult, an advisory practice. As a trusted partner of choice continuously looks for innovations and improvements. Builds senior level networks and relationships with clients and partners. Engages and advises startup companies and green field projects helping them achieve their goals and objectives during the business cycle.

He has many years of international experience in management consulting/strategy. He combines the financial rigor of a Big 4 firm with the analytical skills and people leadership experience. Led healthcare strategy and directed projects during their planning, design and development stage. Served as a member of Deloitte (LSHC) Team for almost 10 years in MENA region. During his tenure he led the operational and commercial advisory and led large scale pre & post transaction projects.

Education:
Corporate Financial Strategy at INSEAD Business School, France
MSc in Management Research – Cardiff, UK
MBA in Finance Adelphi University, New York
BA in Accounting and Economics, (Queens) City University, New York

Zack Ellison

Managing General Partner

Applied Real Intelligence (“A.R.I.”)

Zack Ellison, CFA, CAIA, is the Founder, Managing General Partner, and Chief Investment Officer of Applied Real Intelligence (“A.R.I.”).  A.R.I. is a Los Angeles-based venture debt investment manager focused on providing financing solutions to innovative, high-growth, VC-backed companies in recession-resistant sectors and underserved regions.  A.R.I. has dual missions of: (1) democratizing the availability of capital for all types of founders, including women and minorities; (2) providing the fund’s investors with unique access to “innovation” as an asset class, superior risk-adjusted returns, security of capital, and strong portfolio diversification benefits.  Mr. Ellison leads A.R.I.’s investment activities, including sourcing, due diligence, structuring, execution, and portfolio management.

Previously, Mr. Ellison was Director of U.S. Public Fixed Income at Sun Life Financial, where he was responsible for corporate credit investing.  Prior to Sun Life Financial, he was a corporate bond and credit default swap trader at Deutsche Bank. During the Global Financial Crisis, he was a banker focused on leveraged loans within the media and telecom sectors at Scotiabank.

Mr. Ellison is a frequent speaker at financial industry conferences, where he has presented his views on how companies and the financial markets need to innovate, adapt, and evolve to optimize risk and return.  He has been a featured speaker at events hosted by CFA, CAIA, AIMA, Risk Magazine, Euromoney, Bloomberg, TABB Forum, 100 Women in Hedge Funds, Women in Fund Finance, WBR’s Fixed Income Leaders Summit, and Private Equity Wire, among others.

Mr. Ellison holds an MBA from The University of Chicago Booth School of Business and an MS in Risk Management from New York University’s Stern School of Business. He has earned the Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) and Chartered Alternative Investment Analyst (CAIA) designations and currently serves as a Board Member of the CFA Society of Los Angeles, a Board Member of the Southern California Chapter of the CAIA Association, and the West Coast Regional Director of the Hedge Fund Association.  Additionally, he is the Chair of the CIO Advisory Council and Chair of the University Relations Committee with CFA Society Los Angeles.  He sits on various leadership sub-committees of Tech Coast Angels (TCA), the largest angel investing group in the United States.

Christian Skogen

Chief Risk Office

Trez Capital

As the Chief Risk Officer, Christian is accountable for the management and oversight of all credit and investment risk exposures undertaken by Trez Capital on behalf of its sponsored investment programs.  Christian’s oversight and leadership ensures our organization builds and maintains strong, sustainable, and balanced investment portfolios that optimize risk adjusted returns.

Christian has 20 years of diverse commercial lending experience, with in-depth knowledge in credit structuring, risk and portfolio management.  He has spent the last 15 years at Bank of Montreal (BMO) in a variety of progressively senior commercial banking and credit risk management roles, including Head of Credit Structuring and Portfolio Management, Commercial Banking where he had credit risk oversight and defined the risk appetite for an $80-billion commercial portfolio, including $20-billion in commercial real estate.  Other notable posts at BMO include: Head of Syndications, Head of Commercial Credit Western Canada and National Director for Special Account Management Unit.

Christian holds an Honors B.A. in Economics from the University of Toronto, and an MBA from the Richard Ivey School of Business

Jordan Brooks

Principal

AQR Capital Management

Jordan Brooks is a Principal at AQR Capital Management, where he is the Co-Head of the Macro Strategies Group. In this role, he oversees equity index, fixed income, currency, and risk parity research, and is a portfolio manager for the firm’s risk parity, global macro, and multi-strategy portfolios. Jordan is also a Lecturer in Management at Yale University and an Adjunct Professor of Finance at New York University. He has published numerous articles on fixed income, global macro, and the intersection of asset pricing and macroeconomics. Prior to joining AQR, Jordan was a teaching fellow in the economics department at New York University, and a dissertation intern in the division of monetary affairs at the Federal Reserve Board of Governors and in the capital markets group at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York. Jordan earned a B.A. in economics and mathematics from Boston College, and an M.A. and Ph.D., both in economics, from New York University.

Deniz Cicek

Lead Portfolio Manager

Axonic

Deniz Cicek joined Axonic in 2017. He is the Lead Portfolio Manager of Axonic Systematic Arbitrage Fund responsible for portfolio management, research and trading activities. Between 2010 and 2017, he was employed at Barclays Bank PLC where he started in the Quantitative Analytics Department as a desk quant. In 2012 he moved internally to one of the propriety trading desks where he traded interest rate derivatives systematically. During his last year at Barclays he was part of the Quantitative Investment Strategies group, responsible for building and trading systematic strategies and alternative beta indices for institutional clients. He holds a BS in Industrial Engineering with a Minor in Mathematics from Sabanci University in Istanbul and was in the PhD program in Decision, Risk & Operations Department at Columbia Business School.

Michael Nicks

Deputy CIO

Pepperdine University Endowment

Michael Nicks is the Director of Investments for Pepperdine University’s Endowment. He is responsible for the endowment’s hedge fund investments, including the portable alpha strategy and a diversifying portfolio of market-independent investments. In addition, he is responsible for modelling, quantitative analysis and special investment projects for the overall portfolio. In 2015, he was named one of Trusted Insight’s Top 30 University Endowment Investors in Hedge Funds. He began managing this portfolio in 2005, and has been with the University since 2003. In addition to his investment duties, Mr. Nicks has taught investments at Pepperdine, served on the curriculum committee and as a senior grader for the Chartered Alternative Investments Analyst (CAIA) designation, and is a current member of the Alternative Investment Management Association (AIMA) Investor Steering Committee. Mr. Nicks earned his B.S. and M.B.A. (Finance) from Pepperdine’s Graziadio School of Business, and holds both the CAIA and CFA charters.

Ian Whytock

Co-founder and Managing Partner

Tidal Venture Partners

an is Tidal’s Managing Partner and based in Halifax, Nova Scotia. Tidal is a pre-seed to seed venture fund that focuses on investing in the emerging ecosystem of Atlantic Canada. Prior to co-founding Tidal, Ian was a strategy consultant at a boutique management consultancy. His practice focus was on advising early-stage companies on their go-to-market, scale-up and business development strategies. He is a graduate of the VC Lab programme, the world’s leading VC fund manager accelerator, and the first graduate from Canada. Ian completed his BA in Philosophy at the University of King’s College, and went to do his graduate work at Stellenbosch University in South Africa, where his research focused on emerging market economy transitions.

Justin Yagerman

Executive Director – Head of Business Development

Invesco Private Capital

Justin Yagerman is an Executive Director for Invesco Private Capital and Head of Business Development for the group. In this role, he leads a variety of global functions, including product development and structuring, client and market strategy, business development, investor relations, and fundraising across the private capital business. His focus is on the growth of Invesco’s venture capital, emerging manager, and other private capital activities.

Mr. Yagerman joined Invesco in 2018. Prior to joining the firm, he held the position of senior vice president of investor relations and business strategy at Aegean Marine Petroleum Network Inc., now owned by Mercuria. Before that, he was an executive director and lead client portfolio manager at J.P. Morgan Asset Management, in charge of strategy and business development for transportation and maritime investing. Prior to that, Mr. Yagerman held the position of senior equity research analyst covering the transportation and shipping industries at several firms, including Bear Stearns & Co. Inc., Wachovia Securities (now Wells Fargo), and most recently, Deutsche Bank Securities Inc. Mr. Yagerman has been recognized for his research by Institutional Investor magazine, as well as StarMine, and has made television appearances on both CNBC and Bloomberg. He has been in the industry since 2001.

Mr. Yagerman earned a bachelor’s degree in government from Cornell University and holds the Series 7, 63, 66, 86, and 87 registrations.

Eugene Zhang

Founding Partner

TSV Capital

Eugene Zhang is a Founding Partner of TSVC, a WMBE early-stage venture capital firm founded in 2010. Since inception, TSVC has invested in 188 startups across primarily deep tech, fintech and health tech sectors with 6 unicorns ($1 billion+ valuation), including, Zoom, Carta, Ginkgo Bioworks, Quanergy, Plus and Iterable. Eugene’s investment focus is on emerging technologies and FinTech as he continues keeping his work on gender diverse teams close to heart for coming cohorts. He has led investments in over 70 startups including ZOOM, Quanergy, Lex Machina, Trusper, TrustGo, Carta, Ginkgo Bioworks, Iterable, Gaatu, EquityZen, 17Zuoye and GigaDevice while serving on multiple boards including Gaatu and Tsinghua Entrepreneur & Executive Club (TEEC).

David Mucciardi

Vice President, Institutional Markets

Peakhill Capital

David Mucciardi is Vice President, Institutional Markets at Peakhill Capital. Peakhill Capital is a real estate investment manager and commercial mortgage lender, having originated over $1.2 billion in Canadian commercial mortgages in 2021. David brings over 15 years of investment and relationship management experience and helps run the Peakhill Income Opportunity LP portfolio, Peakhill’s flagship lending vehicle suited for institutional and family office investors.

Prior to joining Peakhill, he served as Vice President, Business Development and Investor Relations at a private farmland manager, helping grow the firm’s capital invested in private Canadian farmland to over $350 million. He also has experience counselling high-net worth investors at a large Canadian financial institution.

David has a Bachelor of Commerce degree in Finance from Concordia University and is fluent in English and French. He is a CIM (Chartered Investment Manager) as well as CMT (Chartered Market Technician) charterholder.

Mark Breakspear

VP, Fund Operations & Distribution

Western Wealth Capital

Mark’s career has spanned 16 years with senior level roles ranging from Big 6 Banks to boutique wealth management and insurance firms. He has led projects that include compliance, sales strategies and enterprise-wide technology for thousands of registered investment professionals nationally. He was most recently SVP and Chief Compliance Officer for a Vancouver Exempt Market Dealership/Asset Management Corporation where he provided oversight for the operations, sales, and regulatory audits at the firm.

Mark is currently focused on Western Wealth Capital’s mutual fund trust, institutional funds, the associated capital raising efforts. Mark’s experience in the IIROC, MFDA, and EMD regulatory environments as well as his senior sales management experience set him up well to navigate the balance required to bring the company into new channels.

Mee Warren

Chief Portfolio Strategist

Kula Investments

Mee Warren recently joined Kula Investments, LLC as Chief Portfolio Strategist.  Kula is an emerging manager that recently launched Kula Equities Market Neutral Fund with a data driven systematic investment approach.  While her role is multifaceted, she is focused on all aspects of the investment process – from portfolio construction, model evaluation, and trade execution.  She is excited to do what she loves and with a team that is talented as well as dedicated.

Prior to joining Kula, Mee was President of Bodhi Research Group.  She worked with clients such as large pension funds and single-family offices on portfolio diagnostics, best practices in trade execution, and portfolio manager evaluations in the alternative investment space.

Mee started her career at Two Sigma Investments, LLC, joining as its 30th employee in 2003. During her 15 years with Two Sigma, the firm grew from $100 million to over $55 billion in AUM.  Mee served several roles at Two Sigma culminating in her position as Global Equity Regional Manager where she was involved with portfolio construction, trade execution, and developing investment strategies.  Prior to this role, she managed the US and Americas Equities Trading desk, and traded global equities, commodities, currencies, and derivatives instruments

Mee graduated with a Bachelor of Science degree from the University of Minnesota’s Carlson School of Management.   Mee is a member of the National Organization of Investment Professionals (NOIP), CFA Society of New York, 100 Women in Finance, and Women in ETFs. She is also on several non-profit boards.

Matthew O’Hara

Head of Portfolio Management and Research

Unison Investment Management

Matt is responsible for all investments at Unison Investment Management and its associated research. Matt’s most recent engagement has been to run the LifePath series of funds at BlackRock. LifePath is a multi-asset (target date) series of funds with global reach and over $300B in assets. The funds were gold rated by MorningStar and carried morningstar star ratings ranging from 3 to 5 (the highest rating). In addition, they were buy-rated by all major consultants. Matthew also spoke frequently on the subject of retirement savings and retirement spending.

He worked at BGI/BLK starting in 2003 when he graduated as valedictorian from the Masters in Financial Engineering program at UC Berkeley’s Haas School of Business to February 2021. In addition to running the LifePath series of funds, Matt developed the CoRI retirement indexes and the associated analytics and interface surrounding them known as iRetire. Previous to his work in multi-asset portfolio management and retirement innovation Matt worked in the quantitative fixed income group at BGI. His work included researching, assisting in the launch of and running of BGI’s flagship quantitative credit long/short fund. He has also researched and launched funds in the government bond and securitized credit spaces. He has also consulted in the single family residential FinTech space over the years.

He has also served on the board of the CFA Society of San Francisco and served as that board’s president.

John Courtliff

CEO – Partner & Portfolio Manager

ICM Asset Management

John Courtliff is Chief Executive Officer and a Partner of ICM Asset Management and a Portfolio Manager of ICM Investment Management Inc.

Mr. Courtliff joined ICM in 2011 and became CEO in 2022. Mr. Courtliff has over 15 years of investment industry experience, beginning his career in investment banking before transitioning to real estate asset and investment management. His experience includes structuring complex domestic and cross-border transactions and investment vehicles, underwriting and closing investment opportunities in the U.S., Mexico and Canada, and portfolio/fund management.

Mr. Courtliff received a Bachelor of Commerce in Finance from the University of Calgary as an Academic All-Canadian, including studies at the Vienna University of Economics and Business, Wirtschafts Universitat Wien and holds the Chartered Financial Analyst designation. In addition to English, Mr. Courtliff speaks French and conversational Spanish.

Robert Morgan

Managing Director

50 South Capital Advisors

Robert Morgan is the Managing Director of 50 South Capital Advisors, the wholly owned subsidiary of Northern Trust focused on alternatives investments He has management responsibility for the firm and is Chair of the Investment Committee. He had previously been Director of Private Equity at Northern Trust, a position he held since co-founding the Private Equity funds group in 2000 and an area in which he remains heavily involved. Prior to joining Northern Trust, he worked as a Director at Frye Louis Capital Advisors, LLC (“ a Chicago based private equity investment manager, and was responsible for all of the operations of FLCA, including the management of a private equity fund of funds. Prior to joining FLCA, Bob worked for Heller Financial, Inc a middle market commercial finance company which was later acquired by General Electric. Bob was a Senior Vice President at Heller and was responsible for its private equity programs. Within Heller, Bob held several roles, including positions in the Corporate Finance Group, Corporate Credit and Heller Equity Capital Corporation, Heller’s captive private equity fund. While at Heller, Bob also oversaw a direct equity co-investment program. Prior to attending business school, Bob worked for a commercial bank in North Carolina. He has invested in hundreds of private equity funds covering the buyout, venture capital, credit, distressed debt, real estate and international markets. Bob sits on the board of the Illinois Venture Capital Association and several fund advisory boards. He received his BA in Economics from Wake Forest University and an MBA from Emory University.

Jordan Villarreal

Senior Research Associate, Canadian Private Markets

Preqin

Jordan oversees the Canadian fund manager dataset for Preqin. Preqin is a leader in industry data and insights within the alternative assets space. Jordan’s experience includes working with Canada’s market leaders to gather key data and intelligence. He joined Preqin in 2020 and helped spearhead the creation of the dedicated Canadian research team. Jordan studied at the University of Western Ontario and holds a bachelor’s degree in Economics from Indiana University.

John Asher

President

Konfidis Inc.

John Asher is the President of Konfidis Inc. with accountability for strategic direction, partnerships and operations.  John brings over 20 years of financial services experience in various senior executive positions. Most recently, John held the role of Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer for RSA Canada, a top 5 national property and casualty insurance company, responsible for the operational success regional investments, pension plans, corporate development and partnerships, actuarial, finance and legal.

Previously, John held senior positions at The Co-operators, a national property and casualty insurance, life insurance and wealth management company as Vice President, Corporate Finance; Vice President Finance, Business Development and Corporate Actuarial including Chairman of The Co-operators Life Insurance Company Pension Committee. John’s mandate included the development of new products and services leading to homeowner fintech innovation, sustainable alternative investment policies and sustainable wealth management products.

Sergei Beliaev

YouFounder

Continuum.Social

Seasoned C-level executive. 30 years leading change across multiple industries.  Deep understanding of enterprise and consumer facing technology.  Highly entrepreneurial. Led adoption of enterprise blockchain with DLTLabs across multiple global markets.  Served as the CIO at Walmart Canada delivering frictionless omni-channel customer experience and efficient operations for eCommerce, bricks-&-mortar and digital.

Tim Burgess

Co-Founder & CEO

WealthAgile

20 years on Bay Street, Institutional Sales and Portfolio Management.  Recently ran the Spartan onTREND Fund, built fully systematic momentum strategy.

Howard Chang

Founder & CEO

Just Boardrooms Inc.

Howard Chang has a long and successful track record as a startup entrepreneur and business builder. From his first venture at the tender age of 20 (which would become a multi-million-dollar enterprise before his 25th birthday) to his most recent start up www.justboardrooms.com Howard has always kept his focus on the problem, not the solution. By falling in love with the problem, Howard has been able to see market challenges and opportunities ahead of others and even help change category norms. His sister company www.theturnlab.com is an example of Howard and his team creating a new model in the marketing and technology space to better serve the big challenges leaders are facing today. The Turn Lab is the incubator and main funder of Just Boardrooms and another example of the kinds of synergies Howard uses to create success for all stakeholders.

Howard is also an active philanthropist and impact investor. He founded a purpose driven cycling club called Les Domestiques in 2009 whose 100 members have collectively raised over $150 million for various causes from health to social equity. His core businesses run successfully on a triple bottom line of People Planet and Prosperity while also operating 100% carbon neutral. The Turn Lab is a certified B Corp (like icons Patagonia and Ben and Jerry’s) and Just Boardrooms is in the process of certification because Howard firmly believes that business can be a force for good.

Frank Chindamo

Founder & CEO

Virtual Film School

Prof. Frank Chindamo, Founder/CEO,: Frank is now running the company and teaching in the Metaverse at www.VirtualFilmSchool.com. He holds multiple award wins for both filmmaking and teaching. 30+ filmmaking awards at http://www.funlittlemovies.com/awards.html.  Started in entertainment on TV’s SNL (Saturday Night Live) and the original Ghostbusters movie. Wrote and produced films for HBO, Showtime, PBS, CBS, ABC, Comedy Central, etc. Crusader for equal opportunity for media makers globally. Created the social media video courses at USC, UCLA, Emerson, Pepperdine and Chapman U, where he was “Adjunct Prof. of the Year” in 2016. BFA, New York University. MFA, and Columbia University.

Bonnie-Lyn de Bartok

Founder & CEO

The S-Factor Co.

Bonnie-Lyn de Bartok, Founder and CEO brings over two decades of Social Impact Measurement and Management, International Business, Finance and Technology background to the leadership of The S Factor Co.

Bonnie Lyn has won several entrepreneurial and technology awards, led the creation of two firms, has worked across 59 countries, leading the creation of exceptional teams, and several proprietary products including the MSPI™ (2010) and the S Factor™ Solutions (2016).

She developed a proprietary taxonomy, algorithm and index that measures corporate social impact against, international standards, public sentiment, and financial performance. She is a widely acknowledged expert and much sought-after speaker on social impact and risk issues.

An Oxford Graduate the Postgraduate, Impact Finance Innovations Executive Program (2021), Honours Undergraduate Program at St. Mary’s University, in International Development Studies (Development Economics) and International Politics (2002), and Marketing, Finance and Micro-computer Technology (1998).

Ian Garmaise

Canadian Marketing & Sales Representative

Virtual Film School

Ian has a broad tech background, and has extensive Edtech experience, in teaching, technical, marketing and recruiting roles.  Career-long involvement with startups, as founder, employee and consultant.  Strong interest in supporting the educational needs of the Canadian Indigenous Community.

Tec Han

Chief Investment Officer

Vibrato Capital

Tec is the Chief Investment Officer of Vibrato Capital LLC, a single family private investment office that oversees both tax-exempt and taxable portfolios. Prior to Vibrato Capital, Tec was a senior analyst for Clark Enterprises, the National Railroad Retirement Investment Trust, and Cambridge Associates. Mr. Han graduated from Vassar College with a B.A. in Economics and earned his M.B.A from the Johnson School of Management at Cornell University and the Smith School of Business at Queen’s University through the combined EMBA Americas Program.

Lakhveer Jajj

Founder & CEO

Moselle

With  a decade of experience in the startup tech community, Lakhveer is the Founder and CEO of Moselle.

After graduating Computer Science at Ryerson University, Lakhveer founded tech startups Sportlete and Sunview Labs. He joined CareGuide as a foundational member of the team, and eventually led the HeartPayroll product as Director of Engineering. Following CareGuide, Lakhveer joined Highline Beta and built up various corporate co-creations, including Relay, a reinsurance startup.

With ample technical and product experience behind him and a strong aptitude for problem solving, Lakhveer is an expert at building technology that can quickly scale and last.

He supports the next generation of technical leaders and entrepreneurs through mentoring at NEXT. 

Michael Kosic

Founding Partner

Loyal VC

Michael is one of the two managing directors of Loyal VC LP, Loyal VC operates a Tech and Impact fund with 225+ investments across 50+ countries. The fund is designed to minimize systemic bias inherent in the investment process, unlocking greater returns.  The fund has delivered strong returns since its launch in 2018, thanks to its collaborative, staged investment process, its network of 650+ advisors, and its global relationships with the Founder Institute, the world’s largest pre-seed accelerator, and INSEAD, rated the #1 non-US business school for unicorn founders by Pitchbook.  The fund’s portfolio is diverse across a number of dimensions: >30% of the portfolio have a woman CEO, >25% are from emerging markets, and around 90% address one or more of the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). 

Michael is a lifelong entrepreneur who has successfully led the conception, ramp-up, and growth of both independent start-ups and internal divisions of existing companies in the internet, mobile, retail banking, and high-tech space in North America and abroad. Before starting Loyal, Michael was an active Angel investor and startup mentor for multiple entrepreneurs and did his “Corporate Tour of Duty” at CIBC as a Senior Director. He is a professional Industrial Engineer and an INSEAD MBA.

Nithin Mummaneri

Co-Founder & CEO

Infinity Loop

Nithin Mummaneni is a finance professional with a passion for procurement. He is the Lead Program Manager on Intelligent Automation and AI at Compass. Most recently, Nithin served as a Senior Consultant for various Private Equity firms and their portfolio companies saving over $100M in procurement negotiations within 3yrs. Nithin holds a Bachelors of Commerce (Honors) in Finance with a Minor in Economics from Carleton University.

Mukul Pal

Founder & CEO

AlphaBlock

Mukul has spent over 20 years in global financial markets, in investment management capacities, working from 2000-2004 for the Bombay Stock Exchange, HDFC, and various financial institutions in India, from 2005-2010 consulting European asset managers and securities divisions of financial institutions like Société Générale, Raiffeisen, Uniqua Insurance, Bucharest Stock Exchange, Bank of Transilvania and starting 2011 building Active Investing solutions for various wealth managers in North America. 

He has published extensively, filed several patents, holds an MBA in Finance, a master’s in applied econometrics and statistics, the CMT and CAIA designations, and has been awarded a top fintech award from MIT in 2016. In his current role, he runs AlphaBlock, a fintech company that in its first application is revolutionizing asset management by offering alpha at zero transaction costs and zero management fees to institutional and individual investors.

Wassim Sakka

Head of CTA and Global Macro

Amundi Asset Management

Wassim Sakka is Head of CTA and Global Macro Research at Lyxor Asset Management Inc., an independent subsidiary of Amundi.  He was previously at Lyxor Asset Management S.A.S. in the same current role since 2013. Prior to this position, he worked within Lyxor’s structured products department focusing on ETFs. Mr. Sakka joined Lyxor Asset Management S.A.S. in 2008 as a Hedge Fund Analyst specializing in CTA and Global Macro strategies. Mr. Sakka relocated to New York in 2017 covering CTA, Global Macro, Risk Premia and Fixed Income strategies. Before joining Lyxor, he worked at Sophis as a Trading and Risk Software Analyst. 

Mr. Sakka holds an Engineering degree in Computer Science and Applied Mathematics from ENSEEIHT and Polytechnique Montreal. He also holds a Master’s in Asset Management from Dauphine University.

Kapil Dev Ramgirwar

Co-Founder & CFO

Rosseau Group

Kapil is the co-founder and CFO at Rosseau Group, a virtual currency mining, high performance computing and energy services company. Rosseau is an engineering-led start-up focussed on optimising energy and compute markets. 

Prior to Rosseau, Kapil worked at big 4 professional services firms (PwC, EY and KPMG) with extensive experience in serving institutional alternative assets management clients in North America and Europe.  Most recently he was senior manager at KPMG Toronto in their financial services assurance practice. He was also a key member  in leading and developing crypto assurance practice for KPMG. 

Kapil also served as a contributing member of CPA Canada’s crypto assurance working group. He is a CPA, CA and a CFA charterholder.

Alik Sokolov

Co-Founder & CEO

SR-AI

Alik brings experience in machine learning and product management from Deloitte Consulting and investing through Mithril Capital (a Peter Thiel company), as well as deep machine learning expertise through his research at the University of Toronto.

Neville Joanes

Managing Partner

Willow

Neville joined the executive team at Willow from CI Direct Investing, where he served as president. He is well known for cofounding WealthBar, one of Canada’s first robo-advisors, where he played a crucial role in their success and ultimate acquisition by CI Investments in 2019.

Neville applied his knowledge and experience of ETFs, capital markets and portfolio construction to manage a platform of diversified portfolios, which delivered a positive performance track record to benefit thousands of Canadians. He is also a CFA charterholder.

Neville has already changed the way Canadians work with their advisor, and now he wants to change the way they invest in real estate.