Learn from Outstanding Faculty and Industry Experts

Jon Aikman is the founder of an artificial intelligence consulting firm, and the owner of a law firm. He also holds academic appointments as an adjunct faculty member at Queen’s University and Cornell University, where he teaches courses on fintech, finance, and investments. His academic portfolio includes instruction on alternative investments, artificial intelligence and finance, global financial management, advanced portfolio management, crypto economics, impact investments, and fintech for graduate students and executives.

Jon’s professional career spans leadership roles in finance, investment management, and corporate law. He previously served as Chief Investment Officer and Portfolio Manager for an exempt market dealer and alternative investment firm, where he managed a private debt fund that earned the Portfolio Management Association of Canada award for exceptional investment fund performance. He also held the role of Managing Director at a publicly listed alternative investment firm with a global focus on hedge funds, private equity, and private debt. In this capacity, he led the research, acquisition, and management of alternative investment portfolios across jurisdictions in North America, Europe, and Asia.

Earlier in his career, Jon served as Vice President and Counsel a bulge bracket investment bank in London, U.K. He also practiced corporate finance law at a prestigious "silver circle" law firm in London, where he specialized in structuring, capital raising, and transactions for hedge funds and private equity.

Jon holds a Juris Doctor from Queen’s University and an MBA from the University of Oxford (Brasenose College). He has also completed advanced certifications in artificial intelligence and fintech from MIT and holds the Chartered Investment Manager (CIM) designation. Additionally, he is a licensed lawyer in Ontario and England & Wales and has earned an advanced certification in ESG Investments from the Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) Institute in the U.K.

Jon is a dedicated contributor to the academic and financial communities. He serves on the investment committee of the Victoria University Endowment and Pension Fund at the University of Toronto and is a member of the advisory board for the Master of Financial Innovation & Technology program and Master of Finance programs at Queen’s University. His expertise in financial regulation and risk management has been recognized through his participation in a Federal Reserve of Chicago think tank focused on systemic risk and market stability.

In 2006, Jon was appointed a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts (RSA), recognizing his contributions to industry and society. He is also the author of When Prime Brokers Fail (Bloomberg Press, 2010), a widely regarded book that examines the 2008 global financial crisis and is completing another book on Alternative Investments.

One of the architects of Smith School of Business' innovative MBA for Science and Technology - Canada's first specialized MBA - Mr. Anger is an authority on business curriculum development.

In 1997 he was appointed Chair of the School's Undergraduate Program where he is responsible for the curriculum review and ongoing improvement of the School's BCom program.

Mr. Anger also teaches Finance and Accounting for Smith's Executive MBA program. He integrates financial accounting with the finance courses in the program, and he plays a leading role in advising Executive MBA participants on their projects, and in integrating financial considerations into the curriculum.

In the private sector, Mr. Anger is a leader in the application of learning technologies for bankers and other professionals. He earned both a Bachelor of Science (Honours) and an MBA degree at Queen's University.

Tim provides strategic leadership and operational oversight to the training business within Canada. This includes managing relationships with clients, developing new instructors and ensuring best in class training seminars are delivered. Tim remains very active as an instructor and has taught thousands of business professionals and university students. Since 2012, he has been an Adjunct Lecturer at the Smith School of Business at Queen’s University and is a past recipient of the "Instructor of the Year" award in the Master of Finance program.

Prior to joining The Marquee Group in 2009, Tim had experience in Investment Banking, Equity Research, Corporate Finance and Investor Relations. He was part of the senior management team at Retirement Residences REIT, a publicly traded real estate investment trust, with responsibility for business strategy, corporate finance and investor relations.

Previously, Tim worked in the capital markets for over 10 years. While at Penfund he made private equity and mezzanine debt investments. At UBS Securities he was a sell side equity research analyst covering the Canadian oil & gas sector. As a member of the Investment Banking group at BMO Capital Markets, Tim was involved in a number of financings, mergers & acquisitions and securities valuations with clients in the oil & gas, utility and agriculture sectors.

Tim received his Master of Business Administration degree from the Ivey Business School and a Bachelor of Commerce degree from the Haskayne School of Business. While at the Ivey Business School he taught business and entrepreneurial skills in Nizhny-Novgorord, Russia and Minsk, Belarus as part of the LEADER Project. He has also attained the Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) designation.

**Training The Street acquired The Marquee Group in 2023.**

Karine Benzacar has been teaching for the Smith School of Business at Queens university since 2010. She is also Managing Director of Knowledge Plus Corp., an organization which specializes both in business training and in providing financial, accounting, and management information services. As a professional accountant, certified both in Canada and in the U.S., Karine’s practice has involved organizations all across North America. Her clients include many companies - large companies, such as the Bank of Nova Scotia, Magna, and IBM, start-up firms and the public sector, such as various departments of the Government of Canada.

Karine is a seasoned industry professional with over 25 years of solid industry experience. After beginning her career in the finance departments of Kraft Foods and Avon Products, she held senior financial management positions at three major Canadian Banks – Royal Bank of Canada, Bank of Nova Scotia, and Bank of Montreal. Her career has spanned many areas including budgeting, accounting, finance, project management, re-engineering, and strategic management. She is fluently bilingual in English and French.

Karine obtained an MBA from McGill University in Montreal. In addition to her industry experience, Karine has been teaching undergraduate, MBA, and Masters of Finance courses at several leading universities which include University of Toronto, Queens University, Concordia University, and Ryerson University. She is a highly acclaimed industry expert, has presented at national and international industry conferences, and has been facilitating professional development courses for CPAs for over 10 years. She helped develop and marked professional accounting exams. She has also trained hundreds of bankers in Canada, the U.S., and the Caribbean on credit analysis. She has published numerous articles in leading journals such as the National Post, Financial Post, CMA Management Magazine, HR Reporter, HRPA Magazine, Bottom Line and the RMA Journal and has been quoted as an industry expert in industry publications. She was awarded the FCPA designation an honorary designation where she was selected by her industry peers for her outstanding contributions to the industry, profession, and the community; this designation is held by less than 1% of CPAs in Canada. She was also instrumental in training accountants throughout Canada on International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS).

Paul Calluzzo is an associate professor of finance and Toller Family Fellow of Finance in the Smith School of Business at Queen’s University.

He received his PhD in Finance from Rutgers Business School and a B.A. in Economics from Williams College.

His research interests are focused on institutional investors, corporate governance, mutual fund performance, and empirical asset pricing. His research articles have been published in leading journals including the Journal of Financial Economics, Management Science, Journal of International Business Studies, and the Journal of Corporate Finance, and featured in various media such as The Globe and Mail, Bloomberg and Morningstar.

Dr. Sean Cleary is a Professor of Finance at Smith School of Business, Queen’s University. He is the founding Director of the Master of Finance program. He holds a PhD in finance from the University of Toronto, an MBA, and the Institute of Corporate Directors (ICD.D) designation. He is a CFA charter holder, is a current member of the CFA Society Toronto Advisory Council, and is a former member of the Board of Directors for the Toronto CFA Society and the Atlantic Canada CFA Society (where he served as President).

Dr. Cleary has authored 14 finance textbooks and has published more than 30 research articles, including several in top tier finance journals. His publications have been cited over 5,300 times and he has received several major research grants. His most recent research and educational interests focus on the field of sustainable finance. He is an Associate Editor for two finance journals and frequently serves as a reviewer for many of the top finance journals. Dr. Cleary regularly serves as an expert witness on cost of capital and capital markets.

Evan Dudley’s research interests are in corporate finance with a focus on the capital-raising process and firms’ capital structures.

He obtained a PhD in Finance from the University of Rochester and is a former faculty member of the University of Florida, where he taught in the Master’s of Management, MBA and Professional MBA programs.

He has worked for National Bank of Canada and National Bank Financial (formerly Levesque Beaubien Geofffrion) as a risk management analyst and interest-rate derivatives marketer.

His work has been published in the Journal of Banking and Finance, Financial Management, and the Review of Financial Studies, among others.

Louis Gagnon is a Professor of Finance at Queen's University’s Smith School of Business. He holds a PhD in Finance from the University of Toronto and an MSc and a BBA in Finance from the Université de Sherbrooke.

His research is published in leading peer-reviewed finance journals, including the Journal of Financial Economics and the Journal of Financial and Quantitative Analysis, and lies at the intersection of asset pricing, corporate governance, and risk management. He is the recipient of The Financial Review’s 2019 Readers’ Choice Best Paper Award. He is Associate Editor for The Financial Review and Divisional Editor – Finance for the Canadian Journal of Administrative Sciences. He is a past President, Vice-President, and Board member of the Northern Finance Association (NFA) and co-Chair of the NFA 2016 conference.

At Queen’s, he teaches derivatives and risk management. He is a past recipient of the Master of Finance (MFIN) Professor of The Year Award. Previously in senior management at RBC, he oversaw the bank's global interest rate derivatives exposures and developed risk management methodologies and policies. He has been featured extensively in the media and has written opinion editorials in Globe and Mail and the National Post.

Dr. Olena Ivus is an Associate Professor (with tenure) and E. Marie Shantz Fellow of Business Economics at Smith School of Business, Queen's University.

Her research employs both theory and empirical work to study aspects of international trade law and regulation, intellectual property protection, and international high-skilled migration.

Her work has been published in leading journals, including Journal of International Economics, Canadian Journal of Economics, Economic Inquiry, Journal of International Business Studies, Journal of Economics & Management Strategy and Journal of the Japanese and International Economies.

Olena has received a Thomas Edison Innovation Fellowship for 2016-2017 from the Center for the Protection of Intellectual Property (CPIP) at George Mason University School of Law. Olena is also currently a Senior Fellow at the Centre for International Governance Innovation (CIGI). Olena has a PhD. in Economics (2009) from the University of Calgary. In 2010, Olena won the World Trade Organization (WTO) Essay Award for Young Economists.

Matthew Reesor is the Director of the Full-time MBA at Smith School of Business. He has held administrative leadership and faculty positions at Nagoya University of Commerce and Business (NUCB) and Queen’s University. He was a recipient of the Outstanding Teacher of the Year Award while at NUCB. His research, focusing primarily on communications and language policy, has been published and widely referenced in academic journals. He is the author of a best-selling communications textbook published by Macmillan Japan.

Mr. Robertson was an investment banker for nearly 20 years and has over $100 billion in completed transaction experience. He has extensive M&A experience (>$80 billion) as well as significant ECM, DCM and restructuring experience (>$20 billion collectively) across a broad group of sectors. Mr. Robertson has executed numerous award winning and notable transactions across the globe, having lived and worked in Asia (15 years) as well as in New York and San Francisco (4 years). He has held numerous senior positions, including Co-Head of Investment Banking, Asia and Head of Sectors, Asia. Employers have included Lazard Freres, Credit Suisse First Boston/Donaldson, Lufkin & Jenrette and The Royal Bank of Scotland/ABN Amro.

Independently recognized "Deal of the Year" awards won by transactions led and executed by Mr. Robertson include Best Domestic M&A Deal in Asia in 2006, Best GDR/ADR in Asia in both 2007 and 2005, Best Equity-linked Deal in Asia in 2005, Best Secondary Deal in Asia in 2005, Best Deal in Singapore in 2006 and Best Deal in Korea in 2005. Whilst at Lazard Freres in New York, Mr. Robertson executed the largest and third largest M&A deals in history at the time of the transactions (MCI Communications’ US$42.7bn merger with WorldCom and SBC Communications’ US$23.8bn purchase of Pacific Telesis), as a junior banker.

During his banking career, Mr. Robertson had a wide variety of committee responsibilities, including: Co-Head of the Investment Banking Management Committee in Asia, Co-Head of the Regional M&A Engagement Committee (Asia Pacific), Member of the Regional Equities Engagement Committee (Asia Pacific), Regional Capital Allocation Committee (Asia Pacific), Asia Pacific Banking Management Committee, Global M&A Engagement Committee, Global TMT Management Committee, Global TMT Capital Allocation Committee and the Asian Global Clients Management Team.

Prior to becoming an investment banker, Mr. Robertson spent over a year volunteering primarily with domestic female indigenous NGOs in remote areas of Central America followed by a year working and volunteering in Nanning and Wuhan, China.

Mr. Robertson has taught over 5,000 students over the past 10+ years at the Smith School of Business at Queen's University in Canada. He currently teaches/has taught a variety of finance courses across numerous programs at the Smith School of Business, including courses in the Executive MBA, Master of Finance – Toronto, MBA, Master of International Business, Accelerated MBA, GDB and Bachelor of Commerce programs. He is also the Finance Expert in Residence in Smith’s Career Advancement Centre and runs/contributes to a variety of programs which assist students gain employment in a wide variety of finance roles across the world.

Mr. Robertson is conversant in Mandarin and Spanish. He earned his H.B.A. from the Richard Ivey School of Business at the University of Western Ontario.

Ian is the Executive Director of the Financial Modeling Institute (FMI), the world's only financial modeling accreditation body. In this role, Ian works closely with the FMI team on the creation and execution of FMI's strategy.

In 2002, Ian founded The Marquee Group, a leading provider of financial modeling training to students and professionals in the financial community. Over the years, Ian has led training sessions for thousands of people in Canada, the United States, Europe, Aisa and Australia. Ian is passionate about teaching and brings a hands-on, interactive approach to every course. The Marquee Group was sold to Training the Street in early 2023.

Ian teaches at Queen's University and is a past recipient of the "Instructor of the Year" award in the Master of Finance program at the Smith School of Business.

Prior to establishing The Marquee Group, Ian spent a number of years in the Investment Banking departments at Citigroup and BMO Capital Markets. Ian completed his Bachelor of Commerce Honours degree with academic distinction from the University of Manitoba and has also attained the Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) designation.

Wulin Suo joined Smith School of Business in 2000. Before joining the school, he had taught at the University of Toronto’s Rotman School of Management, the Mathematics Department of UBC and Hebei University in China.

He also worked in the risk management department and the treasury department of the Royal Bank of Canada.

He has a PhD in Applied Mathematics (UBC '94) and a PhD in Finance (Toronto ;02).

Suo’s research interests include consumption and portfolio theory, asset pricing, valuation and hedging of derivative securities, term structure modeling, credit risk and risk management. His research interests also include computational finance, and mathematical finance.