Heather Cooke
CIO, The Audra Group Family Office
Prior to joining The Audra Group in 2019, Heather was Fiera Capital’s Deputy Chief Investment Officer & Senior Vice President of Private Alternatives, Chaired their Global ESG Committee and expanded their Multi-Asset Class Solutions business as Senior Vice President, Investment Solutions. Over her 25+ investment management career, she has worked in senior leadership roles at leading global investment management and consulting firms such as Unigestion Asset Management, Mercer Global Investments, Rogerscasey and Northern Trust Global Investments primarily in OCIO Solutions. Heather earned her Bachelor of Commerce degree from the Smith School of Business at Queen's University and holds the CFA Charterholder designation. She also volunteers as a Senior Advisor to the CFA Society Toronto's Institutional Asset Management Committee and is a member of The Ticker Club.
Brandon Gill
Director and Co-Head, Multi-Strategy Investing and Digital Assets, OPTrust
In her role, Brandon provides strategic direction and oversight over a number of strategies within the plan’s portfolio of C$6B externally managed public-markets funds. Prior to joining OPTrust in early 2018, Brandon was a Director at BMO Capital Partners, a proprietary private debt and equity fund at Bank of Montreal. She also spent a decade at Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan. There, she served as a Portfolio Manager in the Alternative Investments Division managing a portfolio of global hedge funds and esoteric investment funds, and as an Assistant Portfolio Manager in the Public Equities Division covering Emerging Markets equities. Brandon holds an MBA from London Business School and a B.A. in International Economics from Middlebury College in Vermont. She is also a CFA Charterholder.
Janet Rabovsky
CIO, Fairwater Capital Corporation
Janet Rabovsky recently joined a family office as Chief Investment Officer. Prior to this, Janet spent 20 years in investment consulting, assisting pension funds, endowments and foundations with investment strategy, implementation and oversight activities, as well as providing education to committees and boards. Janet has been actively researching alternative managers since 2001, is a regular speaker at conferences and regularly publishes articles for Benefits Canada. In addition, Janet is a member of the Board of the Teachers’ Pension Plan (Newfoundland) and Chairs its Investment Committee, is a member of the Baycrest Investment Committee and advises the Board Investment Committee of OPTrus
Rachael Volynsky
CIO, Mercer Delegated Solutions
Rachel Volynsky joined Mercer Canada as Chief Investment Officer in September 2019, leading the OCIO Investment Team in Canada. She is based in the Toronto office. She is a global chair of equity PM team and a member of the global hedge fund IC. With over 20 years of capital allocation experience, Rachel brings significant expertise in the management of public markets investment and growing assets for industry-leading global asset managers. Prior to joining Mercer, Rachel held several senior roles with major investment firms in Canada and the United States, and with one of the largest pension funds in North America. Her most recent role was Head of Canadian equities, SEI Canada, where she led the restructuring effort of the Canadian funds. Before[IW1] that, Rachel was a senior global portfolio manager and head of research at a leading ESG manager in the US. Rachel is focused on finding solutions for the needs of an underserved client base, including delivering performance in a low return world, demystifying complexity, addressing the adversity of climate transition, building diverse, progressive and inclusive teams and promoting financial literacy. Rachel obtained an International MBA from York University and is a CFA charterholder. She is also fluent in five languages.
Alana Johnston Gould
Director, Prime Services Capital Introduction, Scotiabank Global Banking and Markets
Alana Johnston Gould leads capital introduction at Scotiabank Prime Services. She works with Scotiabank’s global hedge fund clients to support their asset growth and facilitates access to Canadian institutional and retail investors. Alana is a CPA, CA and graduated with accounting and economics degrees from Memorial University of Newfoundland.
