Fardan Ali

Vice President, Wealth Strategy & Advisor Enablement

Designed Wealth Management

Fardan is Vice President, Wealth Strategy & Advisor Enablement, where he works closely with advisors and leadership to develop platform strategy, investment solutions, and practice management initiatives that help advisory teams grow and serve clients more effectively. In his role, Fardan focuses on helping bridge the gap between investment managers, dealers, and advisory teams. His work includes evaluating investment solutions, supporting advisor education, and building initiatives that improve the advisor and client experience across the firm. Throughout his career, Fardan has conducted more than 200 branch audits, interviewed over 80 asset managers, and played a key role in hiring and developing talent. He is known for his practical approach to navigating regulation, product innovation, and advisor growth.

Joseph Bakish

Senior Wealth Advisor, Portfolio Manager

Manulife Wealth Inc.

Joseph Bakish is a Senior Wealth Advisor, Portfolio Manager at Manulife Wealth Inc. with over 20 years of experience in the field. Named Canada’s Top Under 40 Investment Advisors in 2020 by the Investment Industry Association of Canada (IIAC), Joseph Bakish has built his career by putting the best interests of his clients at the forefront of his objectives.  

Joseph recently joined Manulife Wealth to help expand their universe of alternative assets available for sale and to encourage the use and access of their capital markets team for retail investors. His experience at his previous firm, marked by an early adoption of alternative investments in portfolio construction,enables him to provide insight to the MW investment committee.

Bakish Wealth primarily deals with researchers and physicians as highlighted by the recent partnershipwith Heritage MD, a specialized advisory firm co-created with physician leadership to help physicians with their financial planning and asset allocation.

Ida Khajadourian

Senior Portfolio Manager, Senior Investment Advisor

Richardson Wealth

For over 20 years, Ida has worked closely with Institutions, Family Offices, wealthy entrepreneurs, and high net worth families building trusted relationships and delivering a high level of holistic Wealth Management services.

Ida’s beliefs include the importance of estate planning, tax minimization, capital preservation and evolutionary portfolio construction using alternative strategies to achieve consistent absolute returns with a risk reward-oriented approach.

Ida obtained a Bachelor of Commerce Degree from the University of Toronto with specialization in Finance and major in Economics. Ida is a multi award winning Portfolio Manager and obtained her Chartered Alternative Investment Advisor (CAIA®) designation in 2005.

Rodrigo Gordillo

President

ReSolve Asset Management

Rodrigo is President of ReSolve Global* as well as Co-Founder and portfolio manager of the Return Stacked® ETF suite. Rodrigo brings nearly two decades of investment industry experience, specializing in developing innovative and diversified systematic investment strategies to a global clientele.

His expertise has been focused on the advancement of Return Stacking, All-Terrain portfolio construction, Managed Futures, and Systematic Global Macro strategies. Rodrigo has made significant contributions to the investment community through a series of insightful whitepapers, the book Adaptive Asset Allocation, the ReSolve Riffs Investment Podcast and The Get Stacked Investment Podcast.

Rodrigo’s investment philosophy and approach are shaped by a journey that underscores the importance of resilience, adaptability, and a global perspective in mastering the complexities of dynamic markets.

Tom Johnston

Managing Director, Business Head Canada

iCapital Network

Tom joined iCapital in 2020 as Managing Director and Business Head for Canada, based in Toronto. In this role, he is responsible for iCapital’s expansion into the Canadian market, partnering with leading General Partners, alternative asset managers, and Canadian wealth channels, in addition to overall management of the Firm’s business in Canada.

Prior to joining iCapital, Tom was previously the President of CI Institutional and CEO of UBS Global Asset Management (Canada) and has had prior roles in the past with Invesco and RBC. He has extensive experience business strategy, sales and servicing (both wealth and institutional) and new product development including a wide range of asset classes including alternatives. In addition to these roles Tom has also been a Chief Operating Officer, Chief Compliance Officer and General Counsel.

Tom is a trusted industry leader and has was the Vice Chair and board member of the Portfolio Management Association of Canada (PMAC) and previously (3 years) was also Chair of its Industry Regulations and Tax Working Committee. Tom earned a BA in History and Political Science from the University of Western Ontario and a Bachelor of Laws (LLB) from the University of Windsor. He remains a member of the Ontario Bar in good standing.

Jesse Kaufman

The Founder and CEO of Honest Advice Inc., Jesse Kaufman started his company with the goal of providing the truthful, professional, unconflicted advice investors have always wanted but were unable to get. He helps people sort through the noise that masquerades as advice, and shares exactly what they need to know and do to be successful in reaching their goals.

Jesse has over two decades of experience in wealth management as an investment advisor and portfolio manager for 13 years, an independent auditor of investment advisors’ work, the Chief Investment Analyst at an independent wealth management firm, and a consultant at a major Canadian bank where he taught investment advisors how to do better work for their clients.

Holding a B.A. from York University, Jesse is a Chartered Alternative Investment Analyst, Chartered Investment Manager, Accredited Investment Fiduciary, and a Fellow of the Canadian Securities Institute. Known for his expertise in portfolio construction and alternative investments, he was named Best Advisor in the Country for Alternative Investment Expertise at the Canadian Wealth Professional Awards in 2016 and again in 2017.

A long-time advocate for investor rights, protection, and education, Jesse’s life’s work and purpose is empowering people with everything they need to make sound investment decisions and live more meaningful, purposeful lives for the benefit of their families and communities.

Guillaume Lavoie

Partner

Torys

Guillaume regularly represents fund managers and institutional investors on private fund formation matters, especially in connection with structuring open-ended and closed-ended private equity, infrastructure, debt, royalty and venture capital funds. His expertise on funds covers both institutional and retail products. He is notably one of leading experts in the country on access funds and other retail funds investing in alternative illiquid asset classes and with respect to rated-note feeder structures. He further has developed significant experience with the structuring of impact funds and other types of funds with an ESG focus or investment strategy. He also has significant experience representing nationally and internationally recognized private equity and institutional firms in private M&A transactions and equity deals across many sectors.

Craig Machel

Portfolio Manager, Investment Advisor

Richardson Wealth

Craig encourages his clients to think differently about investing in order to ensure a positive impact in his clients’ financial circumstances.  He works beyond traditional portfolio management in the equity and bond markets alone and which includes alternative assets, offering more effective diversification and a benchmark that offers protection and peace of mind regardless of market conditions.  Craig is a frequent commentator on wealth management practices for various media outlets, and a panelist and speaker at industry events.

Allan Seychuk

Vice President & Senior Investment Director, Alternatives

Mackenzie Investments

Allan Seychuk is Vice President and Senior Investment Director and leads Mackenzie’s AlternativesTeam. In this role, Allan is responsible for product strategy and investment communications for Mackenzie’s suite of Alternative Products. Prior to the launch Mackenzie’s Alts business in 2019, Allan was the Senior Investment Director responsible for Mackenzie’s Multi-Asset Solutions.

Allan joined Mackenzie in June 2015 from Mercer Global Investments, Mercer’s multi-asset, multi-manager outsourced investments business, where Allan was the Head of Client Service for Mercer’s Institutional clients across Canada.

Prior to Mercer, Allan spent seven years with Phillips, Hager & North Investment Management, where he was an Institutional Client Portfolio Manager and was responsible for macroeconomic research, asset allocation and investment strategy. Allan began his investment career as an Economist with RBC, where he conducted research and gave presentations on global macro and financial market developments.

Allan has undergraduate and graduate degrees in Economics from Queen’s University and the University of Toronto respectively, and is a CFA Charterholder.

Mark Shore

Director and Economist

CME Group

Dr. Mark Shore, Director, and Economist at the CME Group. He is responsible for generating economic analysis on global financial markets by identifying emerging trends, evaluating economic factors, and forecasting their potential impact on CME Group’s various asset classes. He is a well-known alternative investment expert with over 30 years of experience in capital markets. He is also an adjunct professor at DePaul University.

Previous positions include full-time finance faculty and executive director of the Arditti Center for Risk Management at DePaul University, director of Coquest Institute at Coquest Advisors, head of risk at Octane Research, and chief operating officer of VK Capital, a wholly owned Morgan Stanley commodity trading advisor (CTA) business unit.

He conducts educational workshops, webinars, and is frequently invited to speak at industry and academic conferences. Mark has contributed research to several global organizations on volatility, macroeconomics, commodities, asset allocation, due diligence, and alternative investments.

Mark received his Doctorate in Business Administration (DBA) from DePaul University with his dissertation topic related to alternative investments. He received his MBA from the University of Chicago

Benjamin Sinclair

Investment Advisor and Associate Portfolio Manager

Designed Wealth Management

Benjamin Sinclair, CFA, CAIA is an Investment Advisor and Associate Portfolio Manager at Designed Securities. Previously he was a research analyst, having spent nine years covering equities in the financial services sector for a mid-sized wealth manager. Ben also runs a newsletter and podcast at www.BeyondTheExchange.ca, both focused on helping investors deepen their understanding of alternative investments.

Ash Tahbazian

Head of Business Development, North America

3iQ Corp.

Scott Starratt

Senior Portfolio Manager

Canaccord Genuity Wealth Management

Scott Starratt is a CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER (CFP®), Chartered Investment Manager (CIM), and Family Enterprise Advisor (FEA). He earned his Bachelor of Commerce from the University of Alberta in 1993, majoring in Finance, Game Theory, and Chemistry, and brings more than 30 years of experience in the financial services industry.

As Senior Portfolio Manager, Scott leads the investment team with a total-portfolio perspective, overseeing portfolio construction, manager selection, and rigorous due diligence across both traditional and alternative investment strategies. He is deeply involved in evaluating private, hedged, and non-correlated investments, with a focus on downside risk management, capital preservation, and improving portfolio resilience across market cycles.

Scott takes a hands-on approach to manager research, regularly engaging directly with investment teams to assess not only performance and process, but also risk controls, alignment of interests, and decision-making under pressure.

In addition, Scott is frequently featured in Wealth Professional and is a regular speaker and panel moderator at industry events, where he shares practical, experience-driven perspectives on alternative portfolio construction, risk management, and long-term investing.

Mark A. Tower

Executive Director, Head of Business Development & Investor Relations

Asset Management One USA Inc.

Mr. Tower is a senior institutional sales and marketing professional with over 25 years of experience in the alternative investment industry. Mr. Tower joined Asset Management One USA Inc. “AMO USA” in September of 2023 to lead the business development and investor relations functions. Prior to joining AMO USA, Mr. Tower was Director of North American Business Development at Lyxor Asset Management Inc. where he was focused on developing and maintaining client relationships across all verticals in the United States and Canada from December 2015 until September 2023. Since 2004 Mr. Tower has also built and grown institutional sales for UBP Asset Management, Rock Maple Funds, and Muirfield Capital Management. Mr. Tower began his career at Orbitex Group of Funds and REFCO Alternative Investments in sales and marketing roles.

Mr. Tower has a Bachelor of Arts from Boston College.

Brian Wong

Executive Director, Investment Product Research

Morgan Stanley Wealth Management Canada Inc.

As part of the product team at Morgan Stanley Wealth Management Canada (MSWC), Brian is responsible for conducting initial and ongoing due diligence on various investment products including mutual funds, ETFs, SMAs and alternatives. He works closely with internal and external partners to build out the MSWC Alternative Investment product shelf and the Managed Account Program at MSWC. Prior to joining Morgan Stanley in 2022, Brian spent over seven years at BMO Nesbitt Burns as a Supervising Portfolio Manager, working closely with discretionary Portfolio Managers. Brian started his career in Singapore as a Futures/FX broker and spent over eight years managing Fund of Hedge Funds portfolios for multi-family office and HNW clients at various firms. Brian holds a Bachelor of Business degree from the Nanyang Technological University (Singapore) and is a Chartered Financial Analyst.