Member Profiles

Below are profiles of some of our members. This page is updated regularly, so please check back.

Nicolas Dang

Nicolas is an Investment Officer at CN Investment Division – Pension Fund, where he helps manage the Absolute Return portfolio (~ CAD 1 billion). Prior to joining CN, he was a Partner at Majestic Asset Management LCC, a Commodity Trading Advisor (CTA) based in Montreal. Nicolas previously held the position of Principal Investment Analyst / Assistant Portfolio Manager at Landry Morin in Montreal, a quantitative hedge fund, where he assisted in the management of 4 funds including an equity market neutral global fund.  He was responsible for the full investment process. Before joining Landry Morin, Nicolas was an energy derivatives analyst/trader at a Montreal based hedge fund where he established a risk model using systematic position sizing algorithms. He served on the Board of Directors at Caisse Desjardins for 2 years and was President of the Bouthillier-Dubord Foundation. Nicolas was awarded the Finance Gold Medal for most outstanding graduating student upon the completion of his Bachelor of Commerce degree at Concordia University in Montreal. He earned his CFA charter and the Financial Risk Manager (FRM) as well as the Chartered Alternative Investment Analyst (CAIA) designations.

Nicolas is a co-founder of the Montreal Junto.

Travis Chalmers

Travis practices tax law in Montreal at Barsalou Lawson with a focus on distpute resolution, transfer pricing, and R&D tax credits.

A co-founder of the Montreal Junto, he enjoys being active in his community and is a member of the executive committee of the Garnet Key Society’s Alumni Chapter. He also sits on the Pediatric Research Ethics Board at the Montreal Children’s Hospital.

Travis received a B.Sc. in biochemistry with honours and great distinction from Concordia University. While attending Concordia, Travis was president of the Garnet Key Society and the Science College Students’ Association and did scientific research in fields such as ecology, organic chemistry, biochemistry, molecular biology and neuropharmacology. Most of his laboratory research experience at Concordia was under the guidance and mentorship of Dr. Luc Varin (Concordia) and Prof. Paul B. S. Clarke (McGill).

After a brief stint as a graduate student in pharmacology at McGill and serving as co-president of the department’s students’ association, he transferred to law at McGill. While there he served as co-founding treasurer of the McGill Business Law Association and worked half-time at his present workplace. He is now licensed to practise as a lawyer in Ontario, and in Quebec as a Canadian Legal Advisor.

Chester Ntonifor

Chester completed his BA degree in the Honors Economics Program at Concordia University with a minor in Finance and now works with the Bank Credit Analyst on the Commodities and Foreign Exchange teams. While in school, he was a member of the Kenneth Woods Portfolio Management Program that allows a select group of undergraduate students to manage an endowment fund of $1.4 million. In the KWPMP program, Chester covered the IT, Media and Telecom sectors and also co-managed the Fixed Income portfolio. Chester received two undergraduate scholarships while in school and was on the Dean’s List, as well as was a member of the Golden Key Honor Society and treasurer of the Garnet Key Society.

While working towards his degree, Chester completed two internships; at one of them, covering equities in the materials sector at Standard Life Investments, the other at Presima, the Real Estate arm of the Caisse de Dépot et Placement du Québec, preparing pitch books and doing data analysis. Outside of work, Chester enjoys tennis, swimming and graphic design.

Adam Neale

Adam is a native of Montreal and a graduate from Concordia University with a Bachelor and a Masters of Applied Science in Building Engineering. During his first degree, Adam was a student in Concordia’s cooperative education program where he participated in three building-related work terms. His Masters thesis was focused on Computational Fluid Dynamics for heat and moisture transfer in building applications, which resulted in numerous international conference paper publications. In addition, he was a participant in the International Energy Agency Annex 41 collaboration, which involved research groups in over 20 countries focused on whole building simulation and sustainable development. During his research, Adam has presented at conferences and research meetings in Belgium, Denmark, Germany, France, Portugal, Japan and Brazil. He has taught at the undergraduate level at Concordia University and also taught in graduate level seminars in Belgium and in Denmark. However, in the end Adam got sick of the academic environment and decided to work in the building industry.

Adam is currently a junior member in the Ordre des Ingénieurs du Québec and is working full-time as a project manager at Patenaude-Trempe inc., a building engineering consulting firm that specializes in building envelope deficiencies. In particular, Adam specializes in numerical simulations and also in glass deficiencies in buildings (spontaneous breakage, etc.).

Kahlil Baker

An Economist with a distinct focus on Latin American Forestry, Kahlil is a passionate networker focused on bringing together the necessary elements to match economic success with reforestation. Kahlil’s work experience includes five seasons in the Canadian reforestation business and over 5 years in Central America as a land systems designer and educator, networking with community projects in Costa Rica and Nicaragua.

He is the Founder and Executive Director of Taking Root Nicaragua, a non-profit organization focused on reforestation and Sustainable Forest Solutions, a for profit corporation focused on creating timberland investments that fuel tropical forest regeneration. Kahlil speaks 3 languages and has an extensive knowledge of the cultivation practices of tropical hardwood timber species.

With an Economics Degree from Concordia University in Montreal, Kahlil is dedicated to pursuing his dream of creating a system where economic development goes hand in hand with environmental sustainability. Kahlil is working toward his vision of encouraging global participation in reforestation, gearing the timber market toward a future of environmental forestry, focused on economic success mixed with atmospheric carbon management in relation to climate change issues.

Charles Azrak

Charles is originally from Aleppo, Syria. He was born in Montreal, lived 4 years in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia and 11 years in Dubai, UAE. He is the founder of MEHope Association, which promotes computer literacy to underprivileged children of the Middle East. (www.mehope.org). His interests lie within Alternative Investments & Green and Innovative Technologies.

Charles holds a Bachelor of Commerce in Finance from Concordia University, is a Chartered Alternative Investment Analyst and passed the Financial Risk Management exam. He is currently working towards completing the ‘Chartered Financial Analyst’ designation. Charles did his first internship as a Test Analyst at CIBC Wealth Management Technologies in Toronto and his second internship at Merrill Lynch as a Financial Analyst in Dubai. Charles also worked as a Financial Markets and Treasury Auditor at National Bank of Canada. He is now working as a Performance Measurement and Risk Analyst at Fiera YMG Capital.

Nicholas D’Urbano

Nicholas is a native Montrealer from Italian descent. He studied finance and accounting at the John Molson School of Business at Concordia University, graduating with Valedictorian honors in April of 2009. He is currently pursuing both a ‘Chartered Alternative Investment Analyst’ (CAIA) designation as well as a ‘Chartered Financial Analyst’ (CFA) designation. Nick currently works at Deloitte & Touche Corporate Finance, specializing in mergers and acquisitions.

Despite his education, Nick’s passions are focused on entrepreneurship, technology, western philosophy, history and physics. He is a co-founder at DLG Ventures, a web-based incubator focused on improving the human condition through the use of internet-based businesses. Nick is also a student of piano and a black belt in Tae Kwon Do.

Nick runs his own blog over here.

Qing Ji

Qing is an Investment Analyst at Global Alpha Capital Management, responsible for the Asia-Pacific region, as well as the Consumer Discretionary, Non-Bank Financials, Telecom and Utility sectors globally. Qing is also a Partner in the Global Alpha Capital Management Partnership. Before joining Global Alpha, she worked in the financial industry in Canada, Singapore and Switzerland. Most recently, she was Senior Analyst – Financial Markets for the Bank of Canada. Prior to that, she held various analyst and wealth management positions with Laurentian Bank Securities, ING Private Bank Asia (Singapore), Credit Lyonnais (Singapore) and Temenos Systems SA (Switzerland).

Qing was born and raised in China. She has a Bachelor of Economics from Xiamen University (China), a Master of Economics from Shanghai University of Finance and Economics (China) and a MBA from McGill University. She is fluent in English, French and Mandarin.