Speakers 2022

Graham Banks, Senior Vice President, Morrison Financial Services Limited

Graham joined Morrison Financial in 2009 and has over 35 years’ experience in structured finance and private lending. With a primary focus on lending for construction projects in Ontario, Graham currently has oversight responsibility for new mortgage origination, loan underwriting and relations with investors in the limited partnership mortgage funds where Morrison Financial is manager. He also oversees the CondoCorp Term Financing program, one that provides term debt to condominium corporations across Canada to fund major repairs, replacements, additions, and alterations to their common elements.
Graham is a member of the CFA Society Toronto where he spent four years as a volunteer in their mentorship program, is a past director on the board of the Building Industry and Land Development Association (BILD GTA), and currently serves on the committee of adjustment for Severn Township.
He holds a Bachelor of Commerce degree from McGill University and is a Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA).

Manny DaSilva, President, Canfin Wealth Management

Manny has over 30 years experience in the financial services industry and the last 27 years has been with Canfin Financial Group/Canfin Wealth Management. In his 30 plus years Manny has experienced a wide range of roles from being a representative to manager, and then Compliance Officer and Vice President of Marketing, Chief Compliance Officer and now President of Canfin Wealth Management. This wide range of experience allows Manny the unique opportunity to make decisions with the first hand understanding on how it will impact the representative, management and the corporation as a whole.
Manny is also the Chair of the Association of Compliance Professionals. Founded in 2000, the Association of Canadian Compliance Professionals (“ACCP”) is an organization representing individuals who have chosen compliance as their career and who are dedicated to improving compliance operations within the mutual fund dealer community.

Rachel Kirkwood, Associate Portfolio Manager, 3iQ Asset Management

Rachel is an Associate Portfolio Manager and Sales Executive at 3iQ assisting in overseeing firm products and client relationships. Acting as a liaison she helps educate and advise on the Digital Asset space and the 3iQ product suite.
Rachel has prior experience working at an independent wealth management firm as an Associate Investment advisor where she carved out a niche for herself in this frontier asset class.

Dayna Kleinman, Head of Business Development – High Net Worth Portfolios, Monroe Capital

Ms. Kleinman is a Managing Director, Head of Business Development – HNW Funds of Monroe Capital.. She primarily focuses on the retail channel marketing to registered investment advisors, high net worth individuals and family offices, and institutional limited partners. Ms. Kleinman has over 25 years of experience in the investment industry, including the alternative investment business. Prior to Monroe, Ms. Kleinman spent 18 years at Robert W. Baird & Co., where she most recently served as Director managing the Alternative Investment platform for over 1,300 financial advisors. She also served as the Key Account Relationship Manager working with external business partners, coordinating key firm initiatives and sponsorships. Prior to Baird, Ms. Kleinman was a Regional Marketing Manager for Merrill Lynch in the Municipal Bonds group. Ms. Kleinman earned her M.B.A. from DePaul University and her B.S. in Marketing, cum laude, from Ithaca College. She serves on the CAIS Advisory Council where she was a recipient of the Game Changer Award in 2019.

Lavelle Lindo, VP, National & Strategic Relationships, Equiton

Lavelle has spent his 20+ year career developing, building and growing strategic relationships within the financial service industry. He is a charismatic leader with a proven track record of onboarding and partnering with Advisors and creating lasting relationships. Lavelle’s deep experience with asset managers, independent wealth managers, and some of Canada’s biggest banks extends from front line client facing roles to senior management. Trust, Integrity and giving back to the community are cornerstones of Partnership development for Lavelle.
At Equiton, Lavelle is responsible for actively growing and maintaining strategic corporate relationships. Lavelle holds his Honours Bachelor of Arts Communications and Public Relations from Andrews University.

Charles-Lucien Myssie, Director, Portfolio Manager, Exchange Traded Funds, BMO Asset Management

Charles has more than 20 years of experience in the investment industry and serves as portfolio manager for derivative and equity-based portfolios. Prior to joining BMO, Charles served as Portfolio manager-Trader at the Canadian Pension Plan Investment Board where he managed equity derivatives value-added strategies and helped build the equity derivatives book. More recently, he played a key role as a derivatives strategist-sales with CIBC capital markets covering institutional clients such as pension plans, asset managers and real money accounts for the Quebec market. Prior to these experiences, Charles worked in various capacities with RBC-Corporate Treasury as a senior quant managing the bank’s balance sheet and on the cross-assets derivatives desk with Fortis bank France. Charles holds a master degree in Econometrics from the University Paris X, France.

Dennis Mitchell, CEO & CIO - Starlight Capital

Dennis Mitchell joined Starlight Capital in March 2018 as Chief Executive Officer and Chief Investment Officer. Dennis has over 20 years of experience in the investment industry and has held executive positions with Sprott Asset Management, serving as Senior Vice-President and Senior Portfolio Manager, and Sentry Investments, serving as Executive Vice-President and Chief Investment Officer.
Mr. Mitchell received the Brendan Wood International Canadian TopGun Award in 2009, 2010, and 2011 and the Brendan Wood International 2012 Canadian TopGun Team Leader Award. He holds the Chartered Financial Analyst designation and earned a Master of Business Administration from the Schulich School of Business at York University in 2002 and an Honors Bachelor of Business Administration degree from Wilfrid Laurier University in 1998.

Chris McHaney, Director, Portfolio Manager - BMO Exchange Traded Funds
Chris has more than 16 years of experience in the investment industry and currently serves as portfolio manager for equity-based and derivative-based mandates. This includes Canadian, US, international and emerging market equities, and North American derivatives.
He co-manages various cross-asset portfolios, which include Canadian, US and global fixed income and commodities based investments. In addition, Chris trades foreign exchange contracts and equity options for mandates across the firm.
In his previous role, he was responsible for mutual fund manager monitoring and selection, as well as overseeing the currency hedging program across the mutual fund platform. Chris holds an Honours Business Administration degree from York University’s Schulich School of Business and is a CFA charterholder.

Dennis MacPherson, Senior Vice President - SGGG Fund Services

Mr. Dennis MacPherson has diverse experience in investment fund operations. He began his career with TD Bank Financial Group supporting Greenline Investor Services (now TD Waterhouse Canada), then spent time at AGF Management Ltd., and was then a Director for Unisen Inc. (since bought and exited by Citigroup).
He then returned to TD Bank to run the Client Transfer Services area, for all products and business lines of the Wealth Management Division. He then accepted a senior management role in Investment Fund Operations, where he was responsible for transaction processing for all TD brokerage and retail distribution channels, and all TD Mutual Funds products.
He was then recruited by Felcom Data Services Inc. as the Executive Vice President & Chief Operating Officer, responsible for all day-to-day operations, until it was acquired by CIBC Mellon. After ensuring an orderly transition of all Clients, staff and business processes, he made the decision to assume his current role at SGGG.
Mr. MacPherson has been an industry leader in process improvement change as a Member or Chair of several Committees and Working Groups, and is currently an active Member of the FundSERV Standards Steering Committee (SSC). He has also participated in several high-profile speaking engagements for IFIC, the CCMA, PMAC and AIMA.

Tony Mahabir, Chairman and CEO, Canfin Wealth Management

Tony Mahabir is a Professor of Finance & Management Studies within the Faculty of Business at Humber Institute of Technology and Advanced Learning for The Bachelor of Commerce & Finance degree programs. He lectures on Managerial Accounting, Enterprise Resource Planning, and Business Communications. On the Finance side, he teaches the Advanced Certified Financial Planning, Retirement Planning, Risk Management and Estate Planning courses. Concurrently, he is the Chairman and CEO of Canfin Group of Companies – to offer professional wealth management services to businesses, professionals and individuals across Canada.
Outside of work, he is the Chairperson for The Canadian Institute of Financial Planning – a virtual learning institute offering traditional and web-based financial education for the financial services industry. He is also a director of on the board of The Society of Real Wealth Managers. In the past, he has been a director of: the U.S. Based Financial Planning Association and on the Board of Governors for Humber College Institute of Technology & Advanced Learning. He is also the recipient of the FP Canada Fellow distinction, which formally recognizes individuals who have helped advanced the financial planning profession.

Abigail Rayner, Principal, HarbourVest

Abigail Rayner, Principal, joined the HarbourVest team in 2018 as a product specialist focused on global infrastructure and real assets investments.
Abigail joined the Firm from Octopus Investments, a UK focused renewable energy manager. Prior to that, Abigail was with Canada Pension Plan Investment Board in Toronto and London, where she invested in global infrastructure assets.
Abigail received an HBA (Bachelor of Arts in Business Administration) from Ivey Business School at the University of Western Ontario in 2008 and an MBA from the London Business School in 2014.

Neil Ross, Managing Director, National Sales, Ninepoint Partners

As the Managing Director, National Sales at Ninepoint Partners, Neil leads a national team of Product Specialists that consult with Financial Advisors on asset allocation and value added investment strategies.
Prior to joining Ninepoint Partners in September 2018, Neil Ross spent 18 years at a leading Canadian independent asset manager. In progressively senior roles, he helped propel the firm from its inception to $19 billion in assets under management.
Neil brings more than two decades of experience in the financial industry and is a proven leader with an excellent track record of meeting and exceeding sales targets.
Neil graduated with a BA in Political Science from St. Francis Xavier University.

Randy Thompson, Managing Partner, OKR Financial; Chairman, Valhalla Private Capital

Mr. Thompson has been active in the start-up venture space for over 25 years as a builder of companies, angel investor, angel group leader and fund manager. In 2017, Mr. Thompson integrated all these roles into Valhalla Private Capital. In his capacity as Chairman and CEO of Valhalla Private Capital & Managing Partner of Old Kent Road Financial, Mr. Thompson has personally invested in 110 start-up companies and funds. Mr. Thompson oversees direct investing for 125 angel members and 5 funds under management for a total of over $225 million (CDN) in deployed capital. Valhalla Angels has led its 125+ members to collectively fund over 250 companies for over $70 million dollars since 2003. While most of these investments are in Canada, several of the investments including the funds have been placed globally in 8 additional countries to date. For these efforts, Mr. Thompson was named the National Angel Capital Organization (NACO) 2018 Canadian Angel of the Year and was awarded Startup Canada’s investor of the year for 2015. In addition, he has been asked to share his knowledge and first-hand experience of the startup ecosystem through formal speaking and instruction engagements in 28 countries over the last 3 years. Mr. Thompson spends a lot of time in the European ecosystem because of his ownership in an English Football League (EFL) club. Since 2018, Mr. Thompson has been a 25% owner of Peterborough United Football Club (PUFC).