John Wilson

Principal

Wilson Family Office

John Wilson is Principal of his family’s SFO located in Dallas, TX, while he is based in Calgary, where he oversees multi-generational capital with a focus on private equity, multi-family homes, and options trading. He brings more than 20 years of experience in wealth management and family office leadership. Having lived and worked in eight different countries, he speaks multiple languages and is comfortable doing business across North America, Latin America, and Europe. MBA from Thunderbird School of Global Management and BBA from SMU (Dallas, TX).

Doug Laird

Senior Relationship Manager

Sagard Wealth

Doug is a Senior Relationship Manager, Western Canada, for Sagard Wealth. Doug brings over 20 years of experience across the capital markets, developing longstanding and material relationships with institutions, family offices and Western Canadian based entrepreneurs. His finance career began in investment banking at a major Canadian bank moving later into the role of Director, Commodities and Foreign Exchange, dealing in a range of commodities, currencies, option structures and swaps. He then spent close to a decade as a partner and Managing Director, Institutional Equity Sales at a Calgary based investment firm followed by his role as Managing Director, Institutional Sales at an alternative asset management firm.

Doug holds a Bachelor of Arts from Mount Allison University, a Masters of Business Administration from the Ivey Business School at Western University and the CIM designation from the Canadian Securities Institute.

Active in the community, Doug is a long standing volunteer with the Calgary Stampede and other not for profit organizations, past board member, coach and active member of multiple sport and community organizations. Skiing, padel, tennis, rugby (now a fan) are of great interest, depending on the season.

Jerry Koonar

Principal, Portfolio Manager – Head, Private Clients

Leith Wheeler

Based in Calgary, Jerry joined Leith Wheeler in June 2011 to expand the practice in Alberta. He is responsible for providing investment management services for private clients and charitable foundations.

Jerry’s career spans back to 1993, where he initially worked for a major Canadian and global financial institution in brokerage and investment counseling roles. Prior to joining Leith Wheeler, Jerry was a portfolio manager with a national investment counsel firm in Calgary before its acquisition by a major Canadian bank. He holds a Bachelor of Commerce from the University of Calgary and has been a Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA®) charterholder since 2000. Additionally, Jerry holds the Certified Financial Planner (CFP) designation.

Outside of work, Jerry is involved in numerous community organizations and served on the board of CFA Society Calgary for two years.

Craig D’Cruze

Chief Operating Officer

Inverted Ventures

Craig D’Cruze is a multi-faceted entrepreneur with an outstanding track record analyzing and operating large businesses.

Before overseeing conferences and restaurant operations as executive chef of the University of Calgary, Craig was the Executive Sous Chef for Marriott Hotels, where Craig consulted underperforming venues around North America to lead positive changes and growth.
With Marriott, Craig successfully built and maintained teams of over 100 people.

 In 2020, Craig joined Inverted Ventures to lead Inverted Group’s due diligence team, and his outstanding performance led to his establishment of Inverted Group’s early-stage venture capital business, which he leads to this day.

Craig’s exceptional natural skills in mathematics, research, and pattern analysis make him perfect to lead Inverted Ventures as the Chief Operating Officer.

Tim Cestnick

Co-Founder & CEO

Our Family Office

Tim Cestnick enjoys a reputation as one of Canada’s most respected experts and public speakers in the areas of tax and personal finance. Tim is Co-Founder & CEO of Our Family Office Inc., one of Canada’s leading wealth advisory firms to affluent families.

Tim consults and speaks in all areas of personal finance. In addition to his CA designation, he is a Chartered Professional Accountant (CPA), Certified Public Accountant (Illinois), a Certified Financial Planner (CFP), and a Trust and Estate Practitioner (TEP).

Tim’s national speaking profile is confirmed by his position as a personal finance columnist for the Globe & Mail’s Report on Business, Canada’s national newspaper. He has authored 18 best-selling books, and is a regular contributor and on-air personality on radio and television. He appears regularly on CTV, CBC Newsworld, BNN, and the best-known money programs in the country.

Tim and his wife Carolyn have three children and two dogs. All are hockey fanatics – especially the dogs.

Max Fortmuller

CEO

Vesta Wealth Partners Ltd. & Vesta Family Office Ltd.

Max leads Vesta Wealth Partners offering clients across Canada by curating access to high qualityinstitutional investments through building products and portfolios that meet the rigorous standards of risk allocations.  Max has been in various roles at Vesta since 2017 and has been involved in the Family Office industry for greater than 15 years.  Max is also the CEO of Vesta Family Office, in which runs his family’s single family office, which is now is a 6th generation family office.  Max graduated from Eastern New Mexico University with a B.BA, attending university on a Bull-riding Scholarship (since retired!). Max is involved in the Family Enterprise Canada (FEC) community as a Nextgen Ambassador, sits on the FEC Community Council, and the Charitable Foundation for the Family Board and is a founder of Business Fore Calgary Kids.  Max enjoys ranching, camping and skiing in the Winter with his wife and two young children.