For any awards, carrying out fair, consistent, and accurate judging is key to ensuring the true winners are recognized. To deliver this, we have assembled a diverse and unbiased judging panel of experts. The judges are assigned categories which reflect their expertise and are asked to recuse themselves from voting in any category in which there is a conflict of interest
All Judges are required to sign a non-disclosure agreement for the purpose of preventing the unauthorized disclosure of confidential information. This includes the sharing of the information contained within the submission forms with any third parties and communicating with shortlisted nominees in any way.
Daniel Collison is the Managing Partner with financial education firm Advice2Advisors, which trains, mentors, and coach’s financial advisors of all tenures. Dan has over 35 years in the industry and spent the first 10 years of his career as a financial planner, ultimately, moving into increasingly senior managerial roles, before co-founding A2A.
Dan has degrees in history and political science from York University, has the Certified Financial Planner designation (CFP) and is a Member of the Society of Trust and Estate Practitioners (TEP).
Dan regularly presents keynotes, seminars, webinars, and workshops – throughout North and South America – on all things growth-oriented for financial advisors, with specific focus on “the three confidences” of top-producers: a confident mindset, a confident business structure, and a confident growth plan.
Dan is a Board Member of the FP Foundation and past Chair of its Research Committee. He taught Personal Financial Management, in the MBA Program, at Schulich School of Business, York University, from 1998 to 2020, and has been a judge for the WP Awards since 2019.
Dan is the author of The Financial Advisor’s Guide to Excellence, Thomson Reuters (rated one of the “10 Books Financial Advisors Need to Read in 2020”, by ReminderMedia), and newly released Building Bigger & Better: Growth Strategies of Top-Producing Financial Advisors, FriesenPress, 2023. He is also a regular columnist with Nasdaq.com.
Grant Hicks, CIM, is a Practice Management expert and Co-author of “Guerrilla Marketing For Financial Advisors” series 1 and 2. As President of Advisor Practice Management, he has 36 years in financial services, coaching top advisors and teams on practice growth for ideal client families. He helps financial professionals increase their capacity, build equity and revenue through his” Financial Advisor Ideal Capacity Program”. His firm’s advisors manage over $8 billion AUM and earn over $100 million combined.
Dr. Ranjan Bhaduri is the Founder & CEO of Bodhi Research Group. Bodhi Research Group assists pensions, endowments, sovereign wealth funds, family offices, and institutional investors with regards to alternative investments.
Dr. Bhaduri is recognized globally as an authority in alternative investments. Dr. Bhaduri has worked closely with many pensions, sovereign wealth funds, and family offices on a variety of portfolio matters.
Dr. Bhaduri had previously been part of an investment committee at Morgan Stanley, where he had conducted investment due diligence and helped design customized portfolios of alternatives. Dr. Bhaduri also has extensive experience with managed account platforms, including structuring and negotiations.
Dr. Bhaduri has is also a gifted educator who has guest lectured at many top universities and published several papers in industry and academic journals. Dr. Bhaduri has lectured for the Montreal Exchange on Derivatives. Dr. Bhaduri was invited by the CME to be part of a special delegation that met with regulators in Beijing and Taipei to discuss hedge fund issues. Dr. Bhaduri has held an advisory role at the East-West Center, a leading think tank on the Asia-Pacific region. He has been invited to speak in conferences internationally on advanced techniques in portfolio and risk management. Dr. Bhaduri holds both the CFA and CAIA designations.
Vice President, Head of Responsible Investing at Investment Management Corporation of Ontario (IMCO)
Board Director of the University of British Columbia (UBC) Investment Management Trust
About Hyewon Kong
Hyewon Kong is a vice president and Head of Responsible Investing at the Investment Management Corporation of Ontario (IMCO), which manages over $70bn of Ontario public-sector pension funds, where she leads environmental, social and governance (ESG) and sustainable investing strategies across all asset classes. With over 20 years of experience in both corporate and investment management in Asia, Europe and North America, Hyewon has been an ambassador of sustainable investing as an experienced portfolio manager and a subject matter expert on ESG. Hyewon serves on the Board of Directors of the University of British Columbia (UBC) Investment Management Trust and on the Environmental Finance Advisory Committee at the University of Toronto. She also lectures on environmental finance and sustainable and impact investment courses. She co-founded and co-chairs Canadian Responsible Investment Working Group and has been named as Canada’s 2020 Clean 50 leaders for creating broad collaborations in the Canadian financial industry to drive a sustainability agenda.
Pat has her own consulting business and she has spent over 35 years in the Financial Services industry as a client and relationship-focused executive with an in-depth background in all aspects of the industry.
She has been and continues to be an active member on many industry committees including those at CCMA, IFIC and Fundserv and Women in ETFs.
Pat is also actively involved in her community as the Immediate past Board Chair at Community Living Dufferin, Board Member at Prosper Canada and Board member at QCC. She is also advisor for Exemplar Companies and ConvergX.
Tashia Batstone is President and CEO of FP Canada, the leading body for the financial planning profession. Previously, Ms. Batstone held senior leadership positions within the CPA profession and played a significant role in the unification of the accounting profession. She serves on multiple not-for-profit boards.
Alternative Investment Management Association (AIMA)
About Claire Van Wyk-Allan
Claire Van Wyk-Allan joined AIMA in 2018 as Director, Head of Canada with over 10 years of professional experience in the retail advisor channel in both territory sales and team management.
Prior to joining AIMA, Claire was a Business Development Manager, Advisor Channel Sales at RBC Global Asset Management (RBC GAM), where she covered GTA West and was awarded for Top BDM activity in 2016.
Previously, she was the Manager, Sales Support at RBC GAM, where she managed a team of Sales Coordinators across Canada. Claire began her career at Arrow Capital, where she spent almost four years as Regional Manager, covering advisors across Ontario.
Having served on the AIMA Canada Executive Committee for almost four years, Claire has also served as Executive Liaison for the Sales Practices Committee and previously, as Co-Chair for the Events Committee.
She has also been a two-time Co-Chair for Help for Children’s Hedge Funds Care (Help For Children) Canada Gala. Claire graduated from the University of Western Ontario with a Bachelor of Management and Organizational Studies, specialising in Finance, and is a CAIA Charterholder.
Gerry Fields is the President and General Counsel of CORNERSTONE GROUP FAMILY OFFICE. Gerry is a member of the Law Society of Ontario where he has contributed as a guest lecturer and a mentor. He was formerly appointed as General Counsel for Canada and the United States for the FIDINAM GROUP of Companies headquartered in Switzerland. Gerry received his Partners, Directors and Senior Officers Qualifying Certificate from the Canadian Securities Institute. He was the President and Chief Compliance Officer of a Securities Dealer on the Montreal Exchange and subsequently was the President and Chief Compliance Officer of a Canadian Exempt Market Dealer. Gerry formerly served as the Senior Securities Counsel for a downtown Toronto law firm. Gerry graduated with distinction from Concordia University and earned a Bachelor of Laws Degree and Juris Doctor Degree from Osgoode Hall Law School.
Gerry has chaired domestic and international programs on family offices, private equity, corporate finance, investment and wealth management topics. Gerry also serves as a Mediator and an Arbitrator. He has authored numerous publications and is active in many industry, trade and professional associations including the Toronto Lawyers Association (TLA)(Life Member); American Bar Association (ABA); CFA Society Toronto (CFA Private Wealth Management Committee); Managed Funds Association (MFA); Hedge Fund Association (HFA) (New York) Family Office Subcommittee; Alternative & Direct Investment Securities Association (ADISA)(Indianapolis); Alternative Investment Management Association (AIMA) – Legal, Finance and Compliance Committee, Institutional Investor Engagement Committee, Global Investment Peer Group (IPG), AIMA Global Customer Due Diligence Guide, U.S. SEC Private Fund Rules Peer Group; United Nations Principles for Responsible Investment Working Group for Private Credit ESG Due Diligence Questionnaire; Alternative Credit Council (ACC); Wealth Professional Judge, Key Media Annual Wealth Professional Awards; Co-Chair, U.S. Department of Commerce Certified Trade Missions for Alternative Investments; Deputy Chair and Strategic Counsel, International Family Office Association (IFOA) (Not-for-Profit); Director, Pro Bono Services, Canadian Family Office Association (CFOA) (Not-for-Profit); Pro Bono Advisor, NEURODIVERSITY CANADA™; Federal DEI Task Group on Neurodiversity for Neuroinclusive Corporate Workplaces; and Chartered Professional Accountants of Canada (CPA Canada) where Gerry has served as a Judge and as a Lead Judge for twenty-two years. Gerry is currently an active Committee Member of a preeminent global investment management firm. Gerry’s continuing contributions to financial, investment and social responsibility programs exemplifies his dedication to the Power to Make a Difference™.
Greg Pollock is the President and CEO of Advocis, The Financial Advisors Association of Canada. He is responsible for providing effective strategic leadership and direction and oversees all aspects of Advocis’s day-to-day activities. Greg is also the Chief Operating Officer of The Institute, the leading designation body in Canada for financial services practitioners in the areas of wealth transfer, estate planning and living benefits.
Greg was recognized by Wealth Professional Canada Magazine as one of the top 50 leaders of 2021 who helped the wealth management industry navigate a challenging year and was recently appointed to the Financial Services Regulatory Authority of Ontario (FSRA)’s Stakeholder Advisory Committee for Financial Planners and Financial Advisors.
Canadian Association of Alternative Strategies & Assets (CAASA)
About James Burron
James co-founded CAASA in response to industry support for a Canadian alternatives association to serve all aspects including: hedge / alternative strategies; liquid alternatives; private lending; private real estate; private equity; plus emerging areas where Canada is a leader such as digital assets / blockchain and robo-advisors.
Prior to CAASA, James was the Chief Operating Officer of AIMA Canada where his team of three worked with 12 committees to produce 50-60 events per annum across Canada, organized 100+ committee meetings, and increase member numbers over his 7-year tenue from 66 to 164 corporate entities. CAASA currently has more than 350 members.
James currently sits on the Canadian Investment Funds Standards Committee (CIFSC), which categorizes mutual funds and alternative mutual funds (aka liquid alternatives) for the retail space in Canada. He is also called upon by membership and industry groups to speak to risk ratings and portfolio placement of all types of alternative investments.
James also has experience in research and writing for the CAIA Association (holding the designation since 2006) as well as serving on CAIA’s exam council and as a well as other duties. He had roles in institutional sales and FoHF structuring in Seoul, South Korea, as a Product Manager at ICICI Wealth Management, and as an Investment Advisor at RBC Dominion Securities. James graduated from Simon Fraser University with a BBA (Finance).
