Solutions Finance Accelerator

Occupation
Head,Government Sustainable Finance, Scotiabank

Expertise
Fixed Income Derivatives & Sustainable Finance

Jason Taylor leads the Government Sustainable Finance team at Scotiabank, working with public sector clients domestically and abroad. With 13 years of derivatives experience, he collaborates with various teams developing strategic sustainable finance and ESG solutions. Jason holds a bachelor’s degree from Dalhousie University, and an MBA focused on sustainability from McGill-HEC Montreal. His thesis provided 36 recommendations to facilitate the flow of capital towards the Paris Agreement & 2030 Agenda. Nominated to the Poets and Quants top 100 list, he holds the CFA and CAIA designations. He is a volunteer advisor to a non-profit on the integration of social finance, ESG, and microfinance. He is also a mentor at the University of Montreal’s Parcours Leadership program for student-athletes.

Occupation
Special Assistant to the Group Head and Chief Risk Officer, TD Bank

Expertise
Risk management, corporate and commercial lending

Daniel Retzlaff has worked with TD Bank Group in various roles and responsibilities across multiple segments, including retail banking, wealth management, commercial banking, and risk department. Daniel currently holds the position of Special

Occupation
Managing Partner, FMA – Frontier Markets Advisors

Expertise
Investment structuring, risk/investment management, investment banking

Christian Novak is Managing Partner of FMA – Frontier Markets Advisors and a Professor of Practice at McGill University – Institute for the Study of International Development, where his practice is focused on development financing and private impact investing. He is also Co-Chair of the Sustainability Committee of CAFIID – Canada Forum for Impact Investment and Development. His previous experience includes senior emerging markets and global responsibilities in commercial/investment banks and in a leading regional development financial institution, in the areas of risk management, debt capital markets and investment management. With extensive expertise in innovative financing, past transactions involved were awarded by Ashoka (“Most Creative Ideas of the Year”) and the Financial Times (“Sustainability Deal of the Year”).

Occupation
Board Member, Royal Bank of Canada
Member, Expert Panel on Sustainable Finance

Expertise
Investment Banking

Andy Chisholm spent most of his career at Goldman Sachs & Co, in New York. Mr. Chisholm served as head and co-head of the Global Financial Institutions Group, in London and New York, and globally as senior strategy officer of the firm. He also served as co-chair of the Firmwide Commitments Committee, primarily overseeing the firm’s equity underwriting activities.

Mr. Chisholm holds a Master of Business Administration degree from the Ivey Business School at the University of Western Ontario and a Bachelor of Commerce degree from Queen’s University. He serves as the chair of the advisory board of the Ivey Business School; a board member of Evergreen Brick Works, in Toronto; and he sits on the advisory board of ArcTern Ventures, an early-stage clean-technology venture-capital firm.

Occupation

Independant Consultant, Sustainable Finance Expert

Expertise

Sustainable investment, responsible investment

Rosalie Vendette is a sustainable finance expert with more than 15 years of experience. Rosalie has developed a breath of knowledge from the various positions she held and initiatives she managed within the responsible investment community. From 2009 to 2019, she was the leading responsible investment figure at Caisse Desjardins and coordinated the implementation of the Group’s decisions when it comes to environmental, social and governance (ESG) criteria within Caisse Desjardins’ guidelines, business practices and disclosures.  Rosalie holds a bachelor degree in business administration from HEC-Montreal and a master in applied ethics at Sherbrooke’s University. She has successfully completed the Sustainable Investment Professional Certification (SIPC) offered by the John Molson School of Business at Concordia’s University and the second level of Fundamentals of Sustainability Accounting credential, a SASB certification.

Occupation
Deputy Chief Investment Officer, Fondaction

Expertise
Impact related to fund of funds, real estate, natural capital

Marc-André Binette is Deputy Chief Investment Officer at Fondaction, an investment fund dedicated to sustainable development that invests in companies and funds generating social, environmental, territorial and financial impacts. In this role, he manages the team responsible for investments related to real estate projects, funds of funds and structuring investments. Before joining Fondaction, he was Senior Investment Director for a large Canadian institutional fund from 2006 to 2012 where he was responsible for investments, asset management and strategic partnerships. Previously, he worked in development and acquisition for a private company related to real estate and infrastructure. He holds a law degree (LL.B) and a master’s degree in business administration (MBA) from the University of Sherbrooke.

Occupation
Senior Director, Optimisation and business intelligence, Ivanhoe Cambridge

Expertise
Finance, Real Estate, Sustainability, Climate change

Vincent Felteau is Senior Director, Optimization and Business Intelligence at Ivanhoe Cambridge. Reporting to the Chief Financial and Business Performance Officer, Vincent leads a diverse group of professionals developing new data analytics frameworks to facilitate decision making through descriptive analytics, prescriptive analytics and predictive analytics.

Prior to this role, Vincent was Senior Director, Investments, Strategy and Portfolio Management for Growth Markets at Ivanhoe Cambridge. As the leader of the Montreal team for growth markets, Vincent coordinated the investment process of the business unit and worked in close collaboration with Ivanhoe Cambridge’s regional teams based in Hong Kong, India, Mexico and Brazil.

Occupation
Director of Impact Investing, Vancity Credit Union

Expertise
Impact investing, venture capital, debt financing, valuations, compliance.

Heather Conradi oversees Impact Investing at Vancity Credit Union where she is responsible for new impact investing initiatives and Vancity Capital, Vancity’s growth capital group. Heather has over 20 years of experience sourcing, structuring and managing complex financings across a wide variety of industry sectors. She has worked with start-up technology and life science companies, social enterprises and environmentally-focused firms, and funds across these sectors, both through the provision of capital and as a Board Director. Heather holds a Bachelor of Commerce from Queen’s University, an MBA from the University of British Columbia and the ICD.D designation from the Institute of Corporate Directors.

Occupation
Director and Investment Specialist for Sustainable Investments, DWS

Expertise
Impact investing, banking, international development

Louise Schneider-Moretto has over 25 years of experience in banking, international development, and impact investing in over 20 countries, promoting financial inclusion, gender equality and clean energy in developing and emerging markets. She is an adjunct professor at Columbia University’s School of International Public Affairs. Louise was a Managing Director of Investments at Grassroots Capital Management, an impact investment firm specialized in global microfinance, small-medium enterprise, affordable housing and sustainable agriculture investments. She was also a Senior Director of the Capital Markets Group at Women’s World Banking, a global microfinance network. Louise has a Masters in International Economics and Latin American Studies from Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies and a B.S. in Business Administration from the University of Vermont.

Occupation
Director, Capital and Investments, Vancity Community Investment Bank
CEO, CoPower Inc.

Expertise
Impact investing, green bonds

Trish leads the team responsible for product and funding strategies for VCIB and its subsidiary, CoPower Inc. She has spent her career working to accelerate impact investing in Canada. As an early member of CoPower’s executive team, Trish was instrumental in the development of the firm’s clean energy investment products, in building a client base of over 800 mission-aligned investors, and in facilitating the acquisition by VCIB. In prior roles at MaRS Discovery District, she provided advisory services to impact investors and intermediaries and founded an impact accelerator and venture fund. Trish is the 2016 Recipient of the Edward Newton Award for Social Innovation and co-recipient of the 2017 Clean50 Award for Environmental Entrepreneurship. She holds a Masters of International Relations from the University of St. Andrews in Scotland.

Occupation
Vice President, Fund Investments,
BDC Capital

Expertise
Fund formation, Fundraising, LPA terms

Alison Nankivell is Vice President, Fund Investments and Global Scaling. Based in Toronto, she leads BDC Capital’s team of indirect investments – Canada’s largest venture fund investor, with investments in close to 80 funds and over $1 billion in assets under management. She is also responsible for BDC Capital’s cross-border venture strategy, helping connect large corporates and investors in Asia with high potential Canadian companies and vice-versa. Prior to her current position, Alison was Vice President, Global Scaling based in Hong Kong, from where she was supporting BDC Capital’s highest potential investee companies to grow their business and investment partners in the Asia region. Alison has also served as Vice President, Funds and Co-Investments and also as Vice President, Venture Capital Action Plan (VCAP), role in which she was responsible for BDC Capital’s efforts as the key execution agent for the Government of Canada’s Venture Capital Action Plan.

Raven Indigenous Capital Partners demonstrates a proven track record in the design, formation and management of funds; they also have proprietary expertise in designing community-driven outcomes contracts as an innovative social finance tool.

Key strengths: 

• Understanding of legal aspects of fund formation, structuring and terms;
• Experienced advice in team composition and foundational skills;
• Consulting for fundraising and investor relations; governance and advisors; deal flow, investment process, investment structuring, and responsible exits;
• Portfolio management;
• Indigenous enterprise and community knowledge;
• Indigenous impact measurement frameworks;
• Community-driven outcomes contracts / pay for performance instruments.

Value proposition:

Raven Indigenous Capital Partners works with fund managers in all phases of market research, fund design, fundraising, portfolio management, and exits. In addition, Raven Indigenous Capital Partners facilitates the design of Social Outcomes Contracts and  engagement with Indigenous enterprise, communities, and investors.

Contact

Jeff Cyr – managing partner

jeffcyr@ravencapitalpartners.ca

Stephen Nairne – Chief Investment Officer

stephennairne@ravencapitalpartners.ca

ravencapitalpartners.ca