Lianne has been guiding clients in the investment industry for over 25 years, the last 23 of which have been at BMO Nesbitt Burns. In the pursuit of continuous learning, over the years Lianne has acquired the Personal Financial Planner (PFP), Certified International Wealth Manager(CIWM), the Partners Directors, and Senior Offices designation and the Chartered Investment Manager (CIM). She is also a Fellow of the Canadian Securities Institute (FCSI).

Lianne is recognized within her community as one of the top female advisors in the field of financial planning. Lianne truly enjoys sharing her years of human and financial insight with her clients. Areas of expertise are Canadian and US income strategies including cash flow optimization for large corporations, P3 projects and foundations, professional portfolio management, financial, estate and tax planning, retirement & estate accounts, foundations and philanthropy, insurance and annuities.

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.

It is Gillian’s earliest memory of money. And she felt guilty about it for years. As a child, she and her family were on vacation in Florida. Her great-grandmother gave her a $20 bill. It was an absolute fortune. Gillian put it in her little red purse and then lost it. She forgot it in the rental car when the family had to exchange it. Two very early lessons were learned. First, it’s not fun to lose something. Second, money has emotion tied to it. Gillian is very tuned-in to what other people are feeling about money, and she sees every day as an opportunity to learn from and build on the day before. A daily practitioner of CrossFit, she is described as famously nice by her friends and also, owing to her ever-tougher training, as “a machine.” “What gets me out of bed is the pursuit of being a well-adjusted, healthy, efficient, perceptive, responsive, joy-based machine. And the better I operate the machine, the better parent, sister, daughter, coach and advisor I become. As I like to say, ‘This is how I wealth'."
 

Jenny Zhou is a senior wealth advisor and portfolio manager at the Vancouver Bentall branch of CIBC Wood Gundy. She began her financial career in 2000 with the insurance industry. Jenny went on to spend more than 10 years with competitor banks before joining CIBC Wood Gundy as a wealth advisor.

In addition to being a top performer in the firm and leader in the industry, Jenny holds a Bachelor of Arts degree and the CIM designation (discretionary portfolio manager).

Originally from Guangzhou, China, Jenny immigrated to Canada in 1998. She was raised in a family who combined artistic and financial interests. Jenny expressed a keen interest in drawing and painting during her early years, which led her to study at the Guangzhou Academy of Fine Arts, with a major in traditional Chinese painting. In her later years of university, Jenny co-founded an advertising company that turned her interests and artistic talents into a profitable business, breaking the “starving artists” stereotype. She proudly built a highly successful company in China by being creative as an artist and persistent as a businesswoman.

Lara Zink is currently President & CEO of Women in Capital Markets. WCM is the largest network of female professionals in Canadian finance, with initiatives that impact the careers of countless female students and professionals across the country.

Prior to joining WCM, Lara spent 18 months in venture capital. She is an angel investor and a mentor at a startup accelerator called NEXT Canada. NEXT accelerates the growth trajectory of aspiring and scaling entrepreneurs with education, mentorship, funding, and access to Canada’s strongest entrepreneurial network.

From 1995 to 2019 Lara worked at RBC Capital Markets. She sold North American and European equity research and investment banking products to many of Canada’s largest institutional investors, including pension funds, bank owned mutual funds, and independent fund managers. A lead partner in RBC Women’s Leadership ETF, she has been a strong advocate for ED&I throughout her career and has extensive volunteer experience for social impact.

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.

Clare O’Hara is a business reporter at The Globe and Mail. Prior to that, Clare was a staff writer at Investment Executive, a national newspaper for financial service industry professionals. She has an undergraduate degree in media information from University of Western Ontario and a journalism degree from the University of King’s College in Halifax.

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.

A wealth advisor since 1991 and an FP Canada™ Fellow, Tina has been referred to as an ‘expert’ and ‘veteran’ financial advisor by the likes of The Globe and Mail, The Toronto Star, and BNN Bloomberg, and is regularly consulted by these and a host of other acclaimed publications and media outlets such as The Wall Street Journal, The National Post, and the CBC, amongst many others. She has also been granted awards by such authorities as the International Association of Top Professionals (IAOTP), Women in Finance Canada, and the Women’s Executive Network (WXN), which listed her as one of Canada’s ‘top 100 most powerful women’ in 2020. More recently, Tina was listed as one of the best wealth advisors in Ontario in a nationwide report published by The Globe and Mail and Shook Research in 2022.

Tina is also an expert in devising charitable tax planning strategies and helping philanthropic Canadians multiply their bequests to charities while reducing their taxes and leaving greater inheritances for their beneficiaries.

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.

SPEAKER BIO COMING SOON...

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.

Jenni McIsaac is Chief Experience Officer, Wealth Management at Canaccord Genuity Corp..

Mrs. McIsaac brings more than 15 years of experience to her role, where she is responsible for enhancing advisor marketing and driving brand strategy for the company’s corporate, Wealth Management and Capital Markets divisions.

Over the course of her career, Mrs. McIsaac has built a reputation as a collaborative and growth-focused marketing executive. Prior to joining Canaccord Genuity, she held leadership positions at Tim Hortons, Visa and Mars.

Mrs. McIsaac holds an Honours Bachelor of Economics from Queen’s University, where she was assistant captain of the Varsity Hockey Team. She is a member of the Canadian Marketing Association and is based in Toronto.

Natalie Bisset is motivated by making a meaningful impact in both her professional life and her community. With over 15 years of professional experience, including leadership roles in wealth management and private equity, she has a proven track record helping entrepreneurial and dynamic organizations build innovative, value-creation strategies.

In her role as Senior Vice President and Head of Corporate Development at Richardson Wealth, she spearheads advisor recruitment initiatives, strategic partnerships and acquisitions, and is a member of the executive team. Previously, she spent six years at BMO in progressively senior roles, including Director, Innovation & Strategic Initiatives, and Senior Partner, Business Acquisition in Private Wealth. During her tenure at the bank, Natalie’s responsibilities included acquiring wealth management practices and creating growth opportunities. Natalie has also fostered her entrepreneurial passion, co-founding a startup in the mobile health space. Earlier in her career, she was engaged with a high-profile Board of Directors engaged in taking private equity acquisition platform public, managing a debt portfolio and raising institutional capital.

Natalie is actively involved in the community in many ways, including mentoring young entrepreneurs, supporting various social impact organizations and championing initiatives that enhance wellness and education, and support diversity, equity and inclusion. During her nine years on the Executive Committee for the Ivey Alumni Network Board of Directors, she led numerous initiatives including founding the Western Alumni Angels Network. She currently sits on the Morrissette Entrepreneurship Advisory Board at Western University.

Diana Matheson is a two-time Olympic bronze medalist who was a member of Canada’s Women’s National Soccer Team from 2003-2021. During her career Diana represented Canada over 200 times, played in four FIFA World Cups and three Olympic Games, and earned a bronze medal in both London 2012 and Rio 2016. Diana is perhaps best known for scoring the game-winning goal in the bronze medal against France in the London Olympic Games in 2012.

Following her playing career Diana pursued an EMBA from the Smith School of Business and a UEFA Master for International Players, and as co-founder of Project 8 Sports Inc. is leading the creation of Canada’s first and only women’s professional soccer league, set to kick-off in 2025.

Elizabeth Petticrew is the founder and lead Portfolio Manager of The Petticrew Group at BMO Nesbitt Burns’ Vancouver Skyline branch. Her six-person, multi-generational and holistic team advises a diverse clientele. She specializes in individual and corporate discretionary portfolio management, and has earned a reputation as a trusted committed and respected advisor.

With extensive market knowledge, and backed by the comprehensive BMO Private Wealth resources, Elizabeth views her clients’ challenges as opportunities. She makes the investment process less time-consuming and emotionally draining. Elizabeth designs personalized plans to help clients fulfill their goals and dreams, acts as their key resource, and forges long-term, valuable relationships founded on excellence and expertise.

Elizabeth’s greatest reward is knowing she has won clients’ confidence when they entrust their children or parents to her guidance. She grows assets to the highest potential and protects corporate and family assets from overtaxation and estate fees, thereby maximizing her clients’ wealth and legacies. Examining every facet of a plan, Elizabeth brings well-rounded, insightful perspectives that deliver real results.

She has built wealth for clients on a global scale since 1988. Elizabeth is BC lead for BMO for Women, and serves on the 12-person National Advisory Council that helps management to improve the firm’s offering and business model.

Elizabeth is active in supporting education and community initiatives. She has been co-president of the Western Businesswomen’s Association, and a participant in the YWCA mentorship program and the Women’s Hospital Ethics Committee. To foster financial literacy, she has conducted educational seminars for the University of British Columbia Law Society, BC Women’s Hospital, British Columbia Institute of Technology, Simon Fraser University, local companies, associations and investment clubs. Elizabeth served on the Pacific District Council of the Investment Industry Regulatory Organization of Canada for almost a decade, including two terms as chair.

With more than 35 years as trusted family advisor to a growing base of over 180 families, Corrine Spiegel brings a distinctive and highly personal approach to the world of wealth management. She is Team Lead, Portfolio Manager, and Senior Wealth Advisor at the Forest Hill Group and has brought together five exceptional individuals with backgrounds in law, tax, accounting, planning, financial analysis and music.

Corrine focuses on planning to deeply understand the dynamics and family issues as well as financial goals. Each relationship begins with a deep dive to uncover the individual’s needs, dreams and fears. Corrine documents the data as well as the “soft” issues into a personalized plan, which is then stress-tested by a team of professionals. Drawing from the strength of professionals and services of Scotiabank, along with the clients’ own team of advisors, the team brings forward ideas for optimization and enhancement. The plan is presented to clients for confirmation and adjustment, resulting in a roadmap to document their personal and multi-generational goals. Corrine’s team then adopts the position of the “GPS” on the roadmap to guide and adjust in real-time to the twists and turns of life. They use a strong service model to deliver high-level advice “on the go”.

The team has a different approach to investment management. Instead of a “buy and hope” strategy, the Forest Hill Group employs a tactical asset allocation process to guide the asset weightings of traditional models.

Over many years of research and rigorous testing, the team has developed a strategy that inverts the traditional assumption that increasing risk creates a greater return. Instead, by down-risking in “bear” markets, capital preservation becomes paramount. Meanwhile, deploying reserved capital on “bull” market indicators causes a return to full exposure when risk is low.

Guided by data-driven proprietary indicators with a 22-year history of early warning before every major bear market, the methodology underlying the investment strategies is unique and powerful. Based on the risk/return considerations of each client, the approach is supported by regular reviews designed to track performance, accommodate market fluctuations and monitor the plan’s progress.