Challenges are nothing new to Christine Laliberte of Insightful Wealth Group. She pretty much has them nailed. She attributes much of her 23-year career success to identifying a great team of people around her and creating a sense of ownership in the work they do. She loves feeling as though she is part of something meaningful and supporting other people in their decisions around money. In fact, her business has less to do with investing money, and more to do with relationship-building. First and foremost, she cares about people - she's a financial advocate with lots of heart.

Christine also knows that nothing happens without a strong head for business. Her team works with affluent individuals and business owners and believes firmly in structures and processes that serve their clients, allowing her to do what she does best - building community. Christine's charismatic leadership and training skills have also placed her at the front of many audiences including other leading advisors. She's developed a talent for focusing on storytelling, rather than the financial products, which creates a much more meaningful narrative and a much more memorable experience for both her audience and her clients.

Thane Stenner, CIM®, FCSI® is based in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, and is a Senior Portfolio Manager and Senior Wealth Advisor of Stenner Wealth Partners+ at CG Wealth Management Canada and CG Wealth Management USA. He has spent more than three decades understanding and managing the unique financial complexities facing wealthy investors, family offices, and institutional fiduciaries in North America. He is cross border licensed with FINRA in the USA and with IIROC in Canada. Thane is a Fellow of the Canadian Securities Institute (FCSI®), the highest Canadian Securities Institute designation and Chartered Investment Manager (CIM®), the recognized standard for portfolio management.

As a prior member of the Morgan Stanley/Graystone Consulting Advisory Board, he continually raises the bar for customized and strategic investment solutions. Throughout his career, he and his team have achieved numerous national and international awards and recognition for their work as Wealth Advisors serving ultra-high net worth entrepreneurs/families, C-Suite executives, family offices, and charitable organizations. He was recently recognized in Wealth Professional 2022 Awards for the following: National Rank #6 Top Advisor in Canada; 5-Star Top Investment Advisor in Western Canada; 5-Star Advisory Teams 2022 and an Excellence Awardee in the ICM Asset Management Award for Advisor of the Year - Alternative Investments category. Thane's team also received the 2022 Top National Philanthropic Wealth Advisor Team of the Year from Charitable Impact Foundation Awards for facilitating over 90 donations totaling over $80M for donors across Canada in 2021 alone.

An-Lap has more than 20 years’ experience in the wealth management and portfolio management industry. He graduated from HEC Montreal (University of MTL business school) in finance in 1996 and started his career at the Bank of Montreal. He then joined National Bank financial in 1998 where he founded the VP Wealth Management Group that now has in excess of $2 billion under management and is comprised of 12 finance professionals. The VP Group won several awards within NBF recognition of excellence program over the years, notably, the inaugural prestigious prize of Best team in Canada and one that is especially dear to An-Lap, the Social Responsibility award.
Incorporating ESG factors in their portfolio management is of utmost importance to the VP Group. An-Lap was instrumental in recruiting an ESG analyst from the “Caisse de depot” to add to the VP Group’s expertise in that field. On top of having his CIM title, it was important for An-Lap to get his Responsible Investment Specialist title and also a certificate from Harvard Business School Online in Sustainable Business Strategy. All these efforts were recognized when the VP Group won the Wealth Professionals NEI Advisor of the Year Responsible Investments award in 2021. Finally, An-Lap was one of the people that helped for the creation of an ESG Committee at National Bank and he now represents the VP Group on the board.

Callie Almes is Senior AVP, Project Leader at SHOOK Research. As a senior member of the SHOOK team, Callie leads major initiatives, including: Forbes Top RIA Firms and Globe & Mail’s Canada’s Top Advisor rankings. Callie is a graduate of Kent State University with a degree in Managerial Marketing, Professional Sales Certificate, and minor in Entrepreneurship.

As program manager, Fiona is responsible for the research and project management of Report on Business magazine’s ranking programs, including Canada’s Top Growing Companies, Women Lead Here and CEO of the Year. Fiona has more than a decade of experience in journalism and reporting on the wealth management industry.

Ross Ferrier is a Branch Manager of the York Region branch of CIBC Wood Gundy, originally joining the firm in 1999. He leads the Commerce Valley Financial Group, a team of experienced professionals dedicated to a very detailed and thorough investment approach for business owners and families.
Since 1999, Ross has been a part of CIBC Wood Gundy and its predecessor companies exclusively. A Portfolio Manager and Investment Advisor, he holds multiple industry accreditations including Certified Investment Manager (CIM) and Fellow of the Canadian Securities Institute (FCSI).

Ryan Fortsch is a Principal in Blackstone’s Private Wealth Solutions Group where he focuses on Product Strategy.

Since joining Blackstone in 2016, Ryan has been involved in the development of new products as well as business development and client service for Blackstone’s active offerings. He works closely with Blackstone Real Estate as a Product Specialist focused on Core and Opportunistic investment strategies. Ryan has over 10 years’ experience working in wealth and asset management.

Ryan graduated from DePaul University with a B.S. in Finance and is a CFA Charterholder.

R.J. Shook is Founder and President of SHOOK, and Senior Contributor to Forbes. As the world’s only Advisor research organization that focuses on the quality of the Advisor and extensive due diligence, rankings are published in multiple feature stories in Forbes and other publications. He founded Winner’s Circle in 2000 and provided Wealth Advisor rankings to Barron’s (News Corp. acquired Winner’s Circle in 2008).

SHOOK Research’s philanthropy includes a ranking of America’s Top Givers in Forbes magazine; the rankings helped raise over $300 million. SHOOK’s national events have broken fundraising records by raising over $3 million for: Susan G. Komen, Children’s Cancer Research Fund and Make-A-Wish. After graduating Babson College, Shook spent his Wall Street career with Prudential Securities as a financial advisor, then research. He’s written 10 books, including six of his popular Winner’s Circle series. He lives in Boca Raton, FL with his wife and three kids.

Kate Flanagan has been an Executive Financial Consultant with IG Wealth Management for 26 years. Kate's insatiable curiosity about clients allows her to really tune in to their needs, and respond accordingly with consistent and workable financial planning solutions. She believes that one's conduct is how people come to know you and has demonstrated that through her community involvement. Her mantra is to try to do better every day, at what we do for clients. This core value has meant she listens and hears what clients are really saying, allowing her to find opportunities and create their best plans.

Kate has a work ethic honed from single parenthood while establishing her career at IG. She is a self-professed word-nerd and unabashed trivia-fiend. In a game of trivial pursuit, Kate is your go-to.

David Scandiffio is the President and CEO of CIBC Asset Management, responsible for the overall retail and institutional asset management business, as well as the portfolio management team. He is also a key member of CIBC’s Operating Committee and Commercial Banking & Wealth Management Leadership Team.

Prior to joining CIBC, David was President of IA Clarington Funds where he was responsible for setting the strategic direction for growing the business. He took on expanded responsibilities within IA Clarington’s parent company, Industrial Alliance Life Insurance Company, as Executive Vice-President, Wealth Management where he was responsible for the wealth distribution business, including high-net-worth segments. He has also held various product and marketing roles during his 10 year tenure at Mackenzie Financial Corporation.

David is a member of the Investment Funds Institute of Canada’s (IFIC) Board of Directors. He is also the honorary Co-Chair of the Princess Margaret Road Hockey to Conquer Cancer.

He holds a Bachelor of Science in Actuarial Science and Economics. He is also a CFA charterholder and a member of the CFA Society of Toronto.

Pablo Fuchs is editor of Globe Advisor at The Globe and Mail, a position he has held since January 2019. He oversees the editorial direction and manages the production of daily content for the Globe’s direct-to-advisor offering. Prior to this position, he spent more than 13 years immersed in the financial services industry and focusing on issues relevant to financial advisors as senior editor, then managing editor at Investment Executive. In those roles, Pablo was in charge of IE’s annual Report Card series and news coverage. He graduated from Carleton University’s School of Journalism in 2001.

Deanne Gage is a reporter for Globe Advisor. She has specialized in issues pertaining to financial advisors for more than two decades.

She is the former editor of FORUM and Advisor’s Edge magazines and has been the recipient of several journalism awards during her tenure. Her work has also appeared in the Toronto Star, Morningstar.ca, Chatelaine, MoneySense, and Today’s Parent.

Sabrina Sareen has 10 years of experience in the Financial Services industry with a strong focus on experience in ESG and Responsible Investing, including obtaining her Responsible Investment Specialist designation from the RIA. Over the years Sabrina has also served on various committees dedicated to efforts to promote Diversity and Inclusion in the realm of Finance.

Jeanette’s interest in finance started in 1999 while working in a leadership role at WestJet Airlines as they transitioned from a private to public company with less than 1300 employees. This early experience of being part of an IPO process equipped her with an applied background that has supported her career in the investment industry.

Post-graduation, she was placed with the Alberta Municipal Affairs Internship Program and was groomed to run a small town with exposure to the Federal Confederation of Municipal Government (FCM), Municipal Affairs and The Town of Canmore. During this time, she was certified as a Municipal Health & Safety Auditor with AMHSA where she developed a foundational understanding of personal risk assessment and recommendations to lower risk and minimize impact from unplanned events.

Prior to becoming an Assante advisor – Jeanette worked in a leadership role with The Expatriate Group where she gained experience in personal income taxation with a focus on cross border issues. She has a strong understanding of the workings of the Indian, Australian, US, UK and Middle East tax administration methodology to mention a few. In addition, she is intimately familiar with the tax treaties and how they pertain to Canadian Citizens. Jeanette currently specializes in managing the financial affairs of high net worth families, and focuses on working with a team of professionals to provide innovative and customized solutions to preserve and enhance their personal wealth.

Starting from modest means and with a fierce passion for the stock market, Jacques Maurice joined Scotia Wealth Management (then McLeod Young Weir) in 1975 when he graduated from Université de Montreal. He was quickly recognized as a leader in the firm. Over 45 years later, he is still passionate about and actively involved with his clients, and oversees a team of 25 professionals. 

Jacques is known for his unwavering dedication to the well-being of his clients and his team. His integrity, honesty, humility and clear focus have earned him the trust and loyalty of investors. Although he may work with some extremely successful individuals in Canada, he remains humble and has kept the human touch that he is known for.

Outside of the office, Jacques is a proud father to three successful children –  Louis-Philippe Maurice, Guillaume Maurice and Rosemarie Bertrand – and is a proud grandfather of six. He passed on his passion for investment management to Guillaume, who is now a Portfolio Manager, and to Rosemarie, who recently joined the group. Jacques is also an active humanitarian who has been recognized numerous times for his generosity and contributions to the community.

Marvin is the Founder and Principal of The Schmidt Investment Group, an award-winning multi-family office and wealth management practice in Canada, and a Senior Wealth Advisor at CIBC Private Wealth.

Growing up with a father who was a pastor and a mother who was a teacher, Marvin learned that passion and the desire to serve could be shaped into a purposeful profession that created a positive impact. With a mission to simplify the wealth of its clients, The Schmidt Investment Group is the culmination of Marvin’s passion for finance and his deep desire to positively impact the lives of his clients, his team, and some of the most vulnerable people in the world.

Marvin has over 30 years of comprehensive knowledge and experience across several areas, including portfolio management, risk management, alternative asset class strategies, business sales, taxation, succession planning, insurance, family legacy and continuity planning, private and public foundations, philanthropic consulting and institutional consulting. Marvin is often spearheading many best-in-class initiatives for the wealth management industry.

Marvin is the founder of Expand Hope, a unique social impact organization connected to the wealth management practice of The Schmidt Investment Group. Through Expand Hope, the community of The Schmidt Investment Group is changing lives, one school at a time!

BIO COMING SOON...

 Christina is the VP, Practice Growth & Execution at Richardson Wealth Limited. She is a 25 year “student of the game” helping high performing Advisory Teams create more efficient and profitable businesses. Her career has spanned both the Independent and Bank owned full-service brokerage firms: Investors Group, RBC Dominion Securities & BMO Nesbitt Burns. Christina is genuinely curious and always looking for best practices to learn and share with Teams.

Zach Vaughan is a Managing Partner in Brookfield’s Real Estate Group, the Global Head of Core Plus and Perpetual Real Estate Funds, responsible for oversight of Brookfield’s open-ended real estate activities globally. He is also CEO of Brookfield Real Estate Income Trust (Brookfield REIT). Previously, he was the Head of European Real Estate, responsible for Brookfield’s real estate activities in the region, and oversaw Brookfield’s North American multifamily investments and its operating company, Fairfield Residential.

Prior to joining Brookfield in 2012, Mr. Vaughan worked at Canada Pension Plan Investment Board (CPPIB) and Reichmann International as Director of Acquisitions.
Mr. Vaughan received a Bachelor of Arts degree from The University of Western Ontario. Mr. Vaughan is a director of Canary Wharf Group, CenterParcs, Student Roost and SACO.

Rajeshni Naidu-Ghelani is a Toronto-based Assistant Editor for Globe Advisor at The Globe and Mail. She has international business news experience covering regions from North America to the Asia-Pacific. Her work has appeared on news websites such as CNBC, Yahoo Finance, Business Insider, BBC, BNNBloomberg and the CBC.

Erica Alini covers personal finance for Report on Business. Previously, she worked for nearly five years at Global News, where she created and wrote Money123, a popular weekly newsletter on money matters. Between 2018 and 2020, she also hosted Money123 as a TV series on personal finance that aired Saturday evenings on Global National. Erica also worked as an economics reporter at Maclean’s and Canadian Business magazine, among others. She got her start in journalism at The Wall Street Journal, where she spent the summer of 2009 reporting on the ripple effects of the 2007/2008 financial crisis from New York.

Erica is the author of the bestselling book Money Like You Mean It, Personal Finance Tactics for the Real World, where she argues that economic, social and technological changes have complicated personal finance and provides practical tips on how millennials and Gen Z can achieve middle-class financial goals despite the challenges they face."

Charles E. Martin bought his first bond at age 13, earned 20% and instantly knew that investing was his calling. After earning a Bachelor of Commerce in Finance
at Concordia University in 1993, he became an Investment Advisor a year later and joined TD Wealth Private Investment Advice (TD Wealth) in 2009. Today, Charles brings investors more than 23 years of experience and has led The Martin Advisory Group to help serve affluent families and institutions with passion, vision and discipline since 1994. He is a Chartered Financial Analyst charterholder (CFA®), the industry's gold-standard designation. As one of the leaders within TD Wealth and the industry, Charles has served on the TD Wealth National Advisor Council to liaise between management and advisors; frequently delivers seminars on economics to TD Bank Group businesses, clients and professional firms; is often featured in the Quebec media as a TD Wealth spokesperson and commentator; mentors many promising young advisors at TD Wealth and externally to help them learn from his mistakes.

Through these roles, Charles hopes to foster better-qualified advisors and betterinformed investors.Charles brings his clients a sound understanding of economics, portfolio management, investment strategies, market fluctuations, and wealth planning. As one of the industry’s first Portfolio Managers, he began offering discretionary services in 2001, helping free his clients from the pressure of making investment decisions and delivering many other benefits. He values the relationships he has built by providing goals-based investing and great service, and his primary measure of success is his clients’ satisfaction.

As one of Canada’s most credentialed and experienced Wealth Planners, for almost twenty five years Kurt Rosentreter has been committed to helping families manage their finances properly. As a Portfolio Manager at Manulife Securities Incorporated, in his Toronto based practice, as an Instructor of Financial Planning in courses he teaches across Canada and as a media spokesperson on money issues for the national press on TV, radio and in print, Kurt provides practical and common-sense financial advice in easy to understand language. Kurt takes the stress out of managing money, while helping Canadians to reach their goals and dreams, in a common-sense easy to understand friendly approach.

Fera Jeraj joined Canaccord Genuity as Chief Technology Officer in May 2022. She is a seasoned technology executive with more than two decades of IT leadership experience and established success aligning business goals with technology capabilities to meet performance, operating, and financial objectives. Fera started her career developing trading systems for a fintech before moving to National Bank Financial as the Head of Equity Trading Technology. She joined BMO in 2010 and was responsible for supporting the build of BMO’s Electronic Trading capabilities in North America and their ETF market making capabilities in Canada. In 2020, she advanced to the role of Chief Information Officer, Global Markets Technology at BMO, where she led a team of 400+ to drive digital transformation and established a stable and cost-efficient IT operation. Fera holds an HBSc in Computer Science and Business Administration from York University.

James Cowan is editor of Investment and Personal Finance with The Globe and Mail. He was previously editor of Report on Business magazine and prior to that, he worked with Maclean’s, where he oversaw the magazine’s popular university rankings, along with other initiatives.

Prior to joining Maclean’s, he was editor-in-chief of Canadian Business. He joined Canadian Business in 2009 as a senior writer, becoming deputy editor the following year.

He also worked as a reporter with the National Post — where he covered municipal, provincial and federal politics — and as associate editor at Saturday Night magazine.

He began his career as a film critic for eye Weekly.

Jason Pereira MBA CFA CFP (Can & US) RFP TEP FCSI CIWM PFP FMA is a well-known and accomplished financial planner and industry advocate. He holds nine industry designations and has either been a finalist, or a winner of over 40 industry awards, including being the first and only three-time winner of the Global Financial Planning Award. His commentary and writing have appeared in every major media outlet in the country and he currently serves as a columnist and advisory board member of the Globe & Mail's Globe Advisor.

Jason also holds the positions of the founding President of the Financial Planning Association of Canada, a director of the Institute of Advanced Financial Planners and is a director of the Individual Finance and Insurance Decision Centre.

In 2018 Jason combined his passions for Finance and Technology and created the Fintech Impact podcast in order to create a better understanding of technological trends and how they would compete or could be leveraged by advisors in their own practices. Since then he has recorded and aired over 240 episodes where he interviews fintech founders, consultants, venture capitalists and people of interest in the space and has become one of the top podcasts in the world on the subject. He also serves as a fintech consultant and an advisor to multiple fintechs and startups. 

Jason has been working on various special projects with Nicola Wealth Management for over ten years. He has been with the firm on a full-time basis since October 2005.

A “people person” with a passion for analysis and problem solving – a rare combination – Jason prides himself on developing strong relationships with his clients and working with them to achieve their short and long term financial goals with peace of mind. He is a proud Certified Financial Planner, as well as a graduate of UBC’s Theatre program, his experience there giving him insight into how our emotional human nature impacts our most important decisions, financial or otherwise.

Outside the office, Jason likes to spread his time around. Along with his loving wife, Courtney, he enjoys theatre and film, the outdoors, golf, tennis, running, travelling the world, and spending time with friends and family. The invention of the iPod has allowed Jason to quench his thirst for music and feed his delusions of rock stardom on a near-24-hour basis.

Sami Jo is a 3 time Olympian (2 golds, 1 silver) A graduate of Stanford University in Mechanical Engineering, she now works full time as a professional speaker (Certified Speaking Professional) delivering a message on how to build successful teams as well as successful teammates. Her message is about incredible success and facing one’s feelings about failure. She co-founded the Canadian Women's Hockey League and recently become the president of the Toronto Six, a women’s professional hockey team playing in the Premier Hockey Federation. She also recently published her first book, a memoir, The Role I Played – Canada’s Greatest Olympic Hockey Team and launched her new Podcast, “Sami Jo’s Podcast” on the Sport Illustrated/Hockey News platform. Sami Jo is originally from Winnipeg, but now lives in Mississauga with her husband, Billy Bridges, 6-time Paralympic sledge hockey player.

Shelly Appleton-Benko is a Vice President, Director and Portfolio Manager at Odlum Brown, with expertise in strategic wealth management. She has over 25 years of investment experience, working with clients to enhance, preserve and transition wealth. Shelly is committed to providing financial strategies that reflect the best interests of her clients.

Shelly takes the time to understand her client’s priorities, and forms a cohesive and effective wealth management strategy customized for each of her clients’ specific needs. Client investment portfolios are created with a custom blend of individually traded equity and fixed-income securities, using high-quality companies with strong management teams and promising growth potential.

Recognizing that a financial plan is constantly evolving, Shelly provides a full range of financial strategies, relevant to different life stages. Her business focuses on advising families and entrepreneurs in multi-generational wealth planning, as well as not-for-profit organizations and corporations, with personalized financial solutions.