Mr. Branchaud is a civil engineer with a Masters degree in transport from Imperial College, London and an MBA from Strathclyde, Scotland. From 1973 to 1992, he held various positions, as project manager and president of subsidiaries within the Lavalin Group, the largest engineering and construction group in Canada. He joined the Société Générale de Financement du Québec in 1992 and, for 5 years, acted as Vice President, Metals and Minerals. From 1996 to 2000, he was the General Partner for an international infrastructure fund with, as Limited Partners, the Caisse de Dépôt du Québec and other key institutions such as Manulife, the Royal Bank of Canada and Hydro-Québec. Since 2001, Michel Branchaud is the President of Groupe Montaigne, a private business advisor group with North American and European principals whose mission consists in the identification, conception, negotiation, financial engineering, and syndication of real estate and other investment programs in Europe, Asia and North and South America.

Jeremy is a financial services executive with over 35 years of experience in capital markets and wealth management. He is currently Managing Partner, FFS Consulting, a firm specializing in financial services expertise. Prior to this, he spent the bulk of his career at TD Securities as Managing Director, where he was responsible for managing the firm’s relationship with TD Wealth. Jeremy has a BA in Economics from Queen’s University and holds numerous professional designations including that of a Chartered Investment Manager. He is also a Past Chair of the Toronto Bond Traders Association. Jeremy is married with three children and lives in Toronto.

Trevor Krahn is a tenured community investment professional, with experience providing strategic direction and executing national, regional and local community investment programs. He has over 20 years’ experience within the financial services and healthcare industries in various marketing and community related roles. He is currently the Executive Director of the Seven Oaks General Hospital Foundation which is the philanthropic arm of Seven Oaks General Hospital and its affiliated entities – The Wellness Institute and the Chronic Disease Innovation Centre. Trevor has also served on a number of national thought and practice leadership councils, including the Conference Board of Canada’s Corporate Community Investment Council and Volunteer Canada’s Corporate Community Engagement Council. In addition, he is an Advisory Council member for the Manitoba Financial Literacy Forum which works to improve financial literacy within the province. He is an Honours graduate from Red River College and has also obtained his Marketing Management Certification and his Certificate in Corporate Community Involvement Management through Boston College.

Denis Leclerc was present since the early days of the Solidarity Fund QFL in 1985. The Fund is a development capital company that is offering and solidarity of all Quebecers. Its main mission is to help create and maintain jobs in Québec by investing in small and medium enterprises. Denis Leclerc has held since 1997 as Senior Vice President of the Fund and the shareholders registered as such, the steering committee. Upon his arrival in office, the Fund counted 328,338 shareholders. It now has over 615,000. Since 2002, Mr. Leclerc is also president and CEO of the Foundation for economic education. union activist for many years, Denis Leclerc was, in 1980, president of the Association of Workers Central Quebec. He was also part of the union bargaining committee at CIP group inc., Trois-Rivières. He also served on the boards of directors of the Association of Certified Human Resources and Industrial Relations, House Casks and institutions Dulong, in Bordeaux, France. Denis Leclerc studied communications, administration and marketing. He holds a diploma in corporate governance, the College of Corporate Directors of the University Laval. Mr. Leclerc is on the Board of Directors Kruger Wines and Spirits. He is also a member of the Federation of Workers of Quebec, the Directors College, Advertising Club of Montreal, the American Marketing Association and the Association of Financial and tax planning.

EDUCATION

• BCL, 1985, McGill University LLB, 1981, McGill University
• BA, (Honours), 1977, Concordia University

• British Columbia, 2013, Québec, 1986. Ontario, 1983

• William (Bill) McNamara’s practice involves a broad range of commercial litigation matters, with emphasis on the defence of product liability class actions, anti-trust law (price fixing, bid-rigging, misleading advertising, illegal trade practices and deceptive marketing practices), infrastructure and construction claims, banking law, insolvency, restructuring and corporate disputes.
• Bill has appeared before the courts in Ontario, Quebec, British Columbia and Alberta; the Competition Tribunal; the Federal Court of Canada and the Federal Court of Appeal; and numerous private arbitral panels. He is fluently bilingual in English and French, and completely at ease conducting trials or appellate advocacy in either language.

• Law Business Research's Who’s Who Legal: Canada—Leading Canadian lawyer in in life sciences (2014)
• Law Business Research's Who’s Who Legal: International Who’s Who of Life Sciences Lawyers—Leading lawyer in life sciences (2011–2013)
• Practical Law Company's Cross-border Life Sciences Handbook (2007-2011)

• a manufacturer of construction materials in connection with product liability and recall issues relating to asbestos-containing products
• various construction sector clients in the defence of infrastructure and construction claims relating to the timeliness of project completion, design, building envelope integrity, heating and ventilation systems, tendering fairness and project costs
• Bayer and related entities in the defence of product liability class actions and single-plaintiff claims relating to prescription combined oral contraceptives
• Bayer and related entities in the defence of product liability class actions in multiple Canadian provinces relating to an intraunterine contraceptive device
• Tecumseh Products and related entities in the defence of class actions relating to allegations of price-fixing and anti-competitive behaviour in the compressor and small-engine industries
• LAN Airlines in the defence of class actions and criminal proceedings relating to allegations of price-fixing and anti-competitive behaviour in the air cargo industry
• GlaxoSmithKline in the defence of product liability class actions relating Paxil (anti-depressant; allegations of birth defects and depression in adolescents).
• Merck Frost Canada in the defence single-plaintiff claims for economic and equitable damages relating to allegations of patent manipulation in respect of prescription medications Cosopt and Trusopt
• Merck Frost Canada in the defence of class actions and single-plaintiff claims relating to Fosamax (bone mineral density; allegations of necrosis of the jaw)
• Wyeth Canada and related entities in the defence of class actions relating to Cough and Cold medications (allegations of consumer misrepresentations in the labelling)
• Wyeth Canada and related entities in class actions relating to Premarin and PremPlus (hormone therapy; allegations of breast cancer in women)
• Pfizer and Pfizer Canada Inc. in the defence of class action and single-plaintiff claims for economic and equitable damages relating to allegations of patent manipulation relating to Viagra (ED)
• Pfizer and Pfizer Canada Inc. in the defence of product liability class actions and single-plaintiff claims relating to Depo-Provera (injectable contraceptive; allegations of Bone Mineral Density loss); Champix (smoking cessation treatment; allegations of neuropsychiataric events); Lipitor (cholesterol; allegations of adverse cardiac and related events) in Ontario, British Columbia, and Quebec
• SGL Canada and related entities in the defence of class actions relating to allegations of price-fixing and anti- competitive behaviour in the graphite electrodes and carbon electrode industries
• Sears Canada in the defence of criminal and quasi-criminal proceedings before the Competition Tribunal relating to ordinary price claims
• Clarke Transport Canada in the defence of anti-trust criminal proceedings relating to allegations of price- fixing in freight forwarding
• Les Laboratoires Servier, Servier Canada and related entities in the defence of product liability class actions and single-plaintiff claims relating to Pondimin and Ponderal (appetite suppressant; allegations of PH and cardiac valvular disease)

• Bill served as counsel to the Royal Commission of Inquiry into the Presence of War Criminals in Canada between 1985 and 1987. The commission’s report led to the adoption of amendments to various Canadian laws, including the Criminal Code. These amendments have facilitated the prosecution of war criminals in Canada and, in at least two cases, led to the deportation of war criminals who gained entry into Canada illegally.

• The Advocates’ Society
• Canadian Bar Association (Past President, National Construction Law Section; Former member, National Sections Council Executive)
• DRI - The Voice of the Defense Bar

During the first half of her career at Scotiabank, Susan held progressively senior roles in finance and risk management, culminating with VP & Comptroller International Banking. She then fulfilled a number of special-project assignments, taking leadership roles in mergers and acquisitions, the implementation of an international shared services organization, the development/execution of Scotiabank’s international leadership strategy, promoting diversity and inclusion and creation of a corporate finance function dedicated to supporting HR, Marketing and Communications. Susan develops young leaders by participating in the McMaster MBA and Chartered Professional Accountants (CPA) mentoring programs. She supports her community through board/council leadership roles with CPA, Queen’s University and Theatre Passe Muraille. Susan has held various committee and board chair roles on not for profit boards over the past 9 years. Susan led the Certified Management Accountants of Ontario board during the merger of the accounting bodies in Ontario and was Chair of the merged CPA organization following integration, initiating governance reform. She is now serving CPA on the national board.  

Stephen Petherbridge has been associated with CFEE for more than 20 years. He has long experience as a media executive in Britain, Australia and Canada. He has been managing editor of the Toronto Star, Executive Editor of the Financial Post and publisher of several magazines, including the Globe and Mail’s Report on Business Magazine. As a Vice-President of the Globe, he was a co-founder of Report on Business Television, now the Business News Network. He was also a professor of journalism at Ryerson for five years. He is currently editor of the online Globe and Mail Classroom Edition and a consultant in all aspects of media, providing advice on reshaping business models, including the transition to the digital era.

John Platt joined Manitou in 2016 as Director, Institutional Investment Management. Prior to joining Manitou he was a principal at HighView Financial Group for eight years and prior to that John held a senior management position in BMO Nesbitt Burns’ Private Client Group. John is a graduate of the University of Toronto and Dalhousie University and has been a board member of several charitable organizations including Appleby College, The Oakville Hospital Foundation, The Oakville Community Foundation and Knox Heritage Place, a not-for-profit senior’s residence in north Oakville. He currently serves as a Trustee of the Appleby College Foundation, (serving on its Investment Committee), and is on the Stewardship Committee of the Oakville Hospital Foundation.

Tom Prins lives in Manitoba with his wife and daughter. He has worked in the educational system with teachers and students from Middle Years to Post Secondary for the past three decades. During his career with the Manitoba Department of Education he provided leadership in the areas of Career Development, Business Education and financial literacy. Tom has been the departmental lead in partnering with CFEE to integrate financial literacy into compulsory curricula (Building Futures Project). Tom’s responsibilities included bringing the following programs to Manitoba: The Blueprint for Life/Work Designs, Manitoba’s framework of career development learning outcomes; The Real Game Series, Canada’s most popular career simulation program; Career Cruising, Manitoba’s online career information system; and Take Our Kids to Work. All of these programs are now integrated into the school system. He was also the founder of the Winnipeg and Brandon Career Symposium. As well as providing leadership and professional development regarding the integration of the various programs, Tom also served in various other capacities. He was the Department spokesperson on policies regarding graduation requirements and the evaluation of out-of-province course completions for credit towards Manitoba High School graduation. Tom’s favorite pastime is cruising on the beautiful Lake of the Woods in Kenora, Ontario, with his family on their sailboat.

A journey through print and electronic media. René Vézina has been working in communications for over 40 years. As a journalism and political science graduate from Université Laval, he began his career in 1977 on the radio and on television for Radio-Canada in the Gaspésie region before moving on to the national network in Montreal. He then moved onto scientific journalism, with an interest in economics, which has since became the area he enjoys most. He was editor-in-chief of Les Affaires from 2002 to 2005, and then remained there as a columnist until June 2018. He also hosted the show Finances on the TVA network for three years, and Déficit Zéro on Télé-Québec in 2013. He is still on the radio with daily shows on Radio-Canada in Montreal in the morning and at noon, and frequently collaborates with various radio stations throughout Quebec. In the fall of 2008, he published the guide Comment parler aux médias, through Éditions Transcontinental. The Institut québécois de planification financière awarded him the Prix de journalisme en littératie financière 2014 for his work. His ongoing challenge is to help others understand the movements of the economy, as it is experienced day to day.