Karen Aboud, KAA Business Solutions
Preet Banerjee, Speaker, Personal Financial Expert
Deepthi Guttikonda, Head of Product & Business Development, Visual Antidote
Hamza Khan, Managing Director, Student Life Network
Keith Kwan, Partner, Private Enterprise, MNP
Brian Madden, Senior Vice President, Portfolio Manager, Goodreid Investment Council
Donnie Persaud, Executive Director, Debt Capital Markets, CIBC Capital Markets, CIBC World Markets Inc.
Victoria Prince, Partner, Borden Ladner Gervais LLP
Georgette Zinaty, Executive Director, Development and Alumni Relations, U of T Scarborough
Karen Aboud (BA, 1968)
KAA Business Solutions
Karen A. Aboud, a senior executive with plus 35 years experience in the retail industry, is the Principal of the company. Her expertise at planning, analytics and training will help businesses optimize profits. Karen’s business acumen and renown as a subject matter expert earns her respect throughout the industry. K.A.A. Business Solutions has been successfully helping clients with their merchandise planning and optimizing their profits since March 2006.
Preet Banerjee (HBSC, 2001)
Speaker, Personal Financial Expert
Originally trained as a neuroscientist followed by a brief foray as an aspiring racecar driver, Preet Banerjee landed in the world of finance, now a consultant to the wealth management industry, with a focus on the commercial application of behavioural finance research and fintech. He is a Fellow of the Canadian Securities Institute (FCSI) and also holds the Derivatives Market Specialist (DMS) and Financial Management Advisor (FMA) designations.
He won the Ultimate W Network Expert Search, a reality show competition, in 2009 and as a result, he was named the host of ‘Million Dollar Neighbourhood’ on The Oprah Winfrey Network. He was a financial panelist on CBC’s The National with Peter Mansbridge for seven years, and appears regularly in the media as a personal finance commentator.
His blog was voted Canada’s best investing blog in 2010 by Globe and Mail readers and Advisor.ca named him one of Canada’s Top 10 Financial Visionaries in 2011. He is a columnist with The Globe and Mail, host of the Mostly Money podcast, and the creator of the Money School YouTube channel with over 89,000 subscribers. He was awarded First Place in the 2012 Portfolio Management Association of Canada’s Excellence in Investment Journalism Awards.
Preet is currently pursuing a doctorate at Henley in the UK.
Deepthi Guttikonda
Head of Product & Business Development
Visual Antidote
Dee Guttikonda is a serial entrepreneur who has been working on creating startups for a decade. Her last startup Fast Forms for Salesforce, a SAAS company was acquired by an American company, Formstack market leader in form technology in 2017. Her passion is to merge technology, usability and social good. She is currently in early stages of working with a team, who are developing a platform that leverages blockchain and crypto currency for that incentivize the poorest families in the developing world to support their children in working towards primary education.
Hamza Khan (HBA, 2010)
Managing Director
Student Life Network
Hamza Khan is a multi-award winning marketer & entrepreneur. He’s the Managing Director of Student Life Network, Canada’s largest and most comprehensive student resource hub. They partner with brands such as Amazon, Spotify, Apple, AirMiles, and AirBnB to help students navigate the journey from high school to post-secondary all the way to a future career. Before Student Life Network, Hamza co-founded both Splash Effect, a boutique marketing & creative agency, as well as SkillsCamp, a soft skills training company. These ventures have empowered brands such as PepsiCo, City of Toronto, Ted Rogers School of Management, Canadian Olympic Foundation, and Maple Leaf Sports & Entertainment. The author of “The Burnout Gamble,” Hamza has spoken around the world at more than 100 events (including 2 TEDx events) spread across 20 cities and 8 countries, to more than 15,000 people. He is a faculty member at Seneca College and Ryerson University, teaching courses on digital marketing and social media. Through his consulting, writing, teaching, and speaking, Hamza empowers people and businesses to transform ideas into action. Learn more at www.hamzakhan.ca.
Keith Kwan (BCOM, 2000)
Partner, Private Enterprise
MNP
Keith Kwan, CPA, CA, is a Business Advisor and Partner with MNP’s Private Enterprises group in Toronto. Keith has more than 15 years of experience in public accounting, providing collaborative assurance and advisory services to clients across a spectrum of sectors including manufacturing and distribution, consumer business and real estate.
Working with Canadian private businesses, Keith addresses strategic imperatives such as achieving strong financial performance and sustainable growth, creating progressive stakeholder value and business succession. He is the former Toronto leader of the Canada’s Best Managed Companies program and has coached some of the top Canadian owner managed organizations.
Keith holds the Chartered Professional Accountant (CPA) and Chartered Accountant (CA) designations. He began volunteering at a young age and is recognized as an avid mentor who is often invited by community organizations to advise and speak about leadership development and youth volunteerism.
Senior Vice President, Portfolio Manager
Goodreid Investment Council
Brian began his investment career in 1997 with one of Canada’s foremost independent research firms. Subsequently Brian co-founded a boutique investment counsel firm catering to affluent and high net worth private clients. Immediately prior to joining Goodreid in 2016, Brian spent five years managing a suite of balanced funds, broadening out his established expertise in stock selection into the realms of fixed income, macro-economics, strategy and tactical asset allocation on behalf of one of Canada’s oldest and largest mutual fund companies. Brian has been a CFA charterholder since 2000, and a Certified Financial Planner (CFP) since 2008 and graduated with a Bachelor of Commerce degree at the University of Toronto in 1997.
Donnie Persaud (BCom., 1999)
Executive Director, Debt Capital Markets, CIBC Capital Markets, CIBC World Markets Inc.
Donnie has over 15 years of experience in the Canadian debt capital markets. He manages debt financings for corporate infrastructure issuers in the quasi-public sector. Donnie has led numerous bond transactions and advisory assignments. He has been involved in structuring various debt capital markets solutions with a particular emphasis on assessment of financing options, strategic advice and execution.
Donnie has extensive experience working with issuers in a variety of sectors including universities, airports, utilities, hospitals and power generators. He has raised in aggregate over $20 billion of debt financing for clients that have included SickKids Hospital, Vancouver Airport, the University of Toronto, Alectra, Ontario Power Generation and more. Donnie has spoken at various industry conferences and webinars. He has also presented to numerous boards of directors and finance committees of various corporations.
Donnie is actively involved in the community, having led a youth development program for many years and speaking at various youth empowerment events.
Victoria Prince (HBSC, 1981)
Partner
Borden Ladner Gervais LLP
Victoria Prince is a partner in the Toronto office of Borden Ladner Gervais LLP. She is currently the National Practice Group Leader of the Corporate Commercial Group and the National Leader of the Charities and Not-for-Profit Law Group. Victoria has had several leadership roles, including on the Toronto management committee. Victoria provides general counsel to her clients in the for-profit and not-for-profit and charity sector on a wide range of issues.
Victoria is actively involved in the charity and not-for-profit world. She is a volunteer director of the Kids Up Front (Toronto) Foundation, The Hammer Band: From Violins to Violence and The BLG Foundation. Victoria has also served as a co-chair of the legal community’s Give a Day campaign for several years; this organization raises funds for the work done by Dignitas International and the Stephen Lewis Foundation. She is on the executive of the Charities and Not-for-Profit law section committees for both the Ontario and the Canada Bar Associations; Victoria currently is the Chair of the OBA CNFP section.
Victoria was named one of WXN’s Most Powerful Women in 2015 and has been selected by peers for inclusion in the Best Lawyers in Canada(r) each year since 2013. She is also ranked Band 1 in Chambers in Charities/Non-profits.
Georgette Zinaty (BA, 1989)
Executive Director, Development and Alumni Relations
U of T Scarborough
Georgette Zinaty is the Executive Director of Development and Alumni Relations for the University of Toronto Scarborough (UTSC). An alumna of UTSC, Ms. Zinaty holds a Bachelor degree in English and Political Science, and a Master of Business Administration degree from the University of Liverpool. She is currently working towards her Doctorate in Business Administration at the Henley Business School, University of Reading (a joint program with the Rotman School of Business) with a research focus on business leadership and in particular what leadership will look like in decades to come. Most recently, Georgette is recognized and featured by Canadian Immigrant magazine as one of the “Immigrant Women of Inspiration”.