AssetOps Toronto schedule

Setting the tone for a day of action-oriented discussion on data, automation and operational alpha in the Canadian buy-side. 

During this 5-minute networking session, the aim of the game is to go and meet two people you don't already know.   

Moderator: Francisco Ceballos, Head of Data & AI Platform, Data & Analytics, BNY

Speakers:

• Where operations leaders are focusing time and budget for the next 12 months.

• Upskilling teams for data literacy, automation and AI enablement.

• Peer exchange on priorities across public and private market operations.

Moderator: Benjamin Shinewald, President and CEO, BOMA Canada

Speakers:

Sandy Poklar, President & Chief Operating Officer, Firm Capital

Breann Kelly, Chief Operating Officer & Chief Compliance Officer, Ewing Morris & Co. Investment Partners

Sidhartha Sharma, MD & Head, Global Operations Transformation, Strategy and Initiatives, RBC Global Asset Management

Joseph Chiu, COO & CFO, First Avenue Investment Counsel Inc.  

• From PDFs to platforms — how asset owners are automating valuation and performance processes in private assets. 

• Integrating private and public data streams for risk, liquidity and reporting consistency. 

• Technology partnerships and data standards needed to achieve public-market-style efficiency in alternatives.

Moderator:  Amanda-Lee Cassidy, Member Services Manager, EDM Association 

Speaker:

Alfred Chuang, Managing Director and Chief Financial Officer, Kensington Capital Partners Limited

• Navigating CSA total-cost reporting, Access Model and ESG anti-greenwashing rules through operational design.
• Automating audit trails and records retention to satisfy emerging regulatory expectations.
• Leveraging data transparency and disclosure automation to strengthen investor trust and brand credibility.

Moderator: Pat Dunwoody, Board Member, FAIR Canada

Speakers:

Kuno Tucker, Chief Compliance Officer, Manulife Wealth

Shalomi Abraham, Senior Vice President, Head of Legal, Invesco Canada

• Designing vendor-oversight frameworks that meet CSA/OSFI expectations without adding red tape.
• Creating shared accountability for data security and service continuity in multi-provider environments.
• Lessons from Canadian managers who turned outsourcing relationships into true partnerships.

Moderator: Jason Bernstein, VP, Portfolio Operations and Chief Compliance Officer, Castle Ridge Asset Management

Speakers:

• Rationalizing tech vendors and platforms without losing functionality or governance. 

• Managing change fatigue and aligning culture with technology strategy. 

• Embedding flexibility for new products and regulations into core systems architecture.

Moderator: Pitchappan Shanmugam, Head of Operations Technology, BMO Wealth Management 

Speakers:

• Proving governance maturity in a risk-heightened environment — demonstrating robust oversight and enhanced control frameworks to meet the deeper institutional scrutiny around operational resilience.
• Elevating transparency and reporting quality for sophisticated allocators — delivering timely, accurate, and audit-ready data, reflecting the standards institutional clients now expect as baseline.
• Designing operating models that inspire allocator confidence — integrating strong risk management, disciplined process design, and credible escalation/incident pathways which reassure institutions that the firm can scale responsibly and protect client capital.

Moderator: Arnie Yang, Senior Manager, Client Journey Management, Client Success, TDAM

Speakers:

Kashif Malik, Managing Director, Head Investor Client Management, JP Morgan & Co

Carol Penhale, Head of Canada, Rimes

Sonia Maloney, Vice President, Strategy & Chief Operating Officer, Sun Life Global Investments

• Where AI and automation are delivering real returns in Canadian operations (workflow orchestration, reconciliation, reporting).
• Overcoming the execution gap: model governance, training data, and control frameworks in regulated environments.
• Rethinking talent and change management for a hybrid human-AI workforce.

Moderator: Winfield Chen, Data Scientist, Canoe Financial

Speakers:

Daniel Wroblewski, Managing Director | GenAI, Data, and Investment Strategy Innovation | Global Leader, CPP Investment Board

Mehrnaz Shokrollahi, Director of Data Science and Advanced Analytics, RBC Global Asset Management

• How COOs are balancing automation with empathy — managing fear, change fatigue, and reskilling across diverse teams. 

• Embedding a culture of experimentation, agility, and data literacy across the organization. 

• What defines an effective operational leader in 2026: communication, adaptability, and psychological safety.

Moderator: Korinne Collins, CEO, Association of Canadian Pension Management

Speaker: Krista Skalde, Operating Partner and Chief Talent Officer, Inovia

• Establishing a single source of truth for data across front, middle and back offices.
• Integrating metadata, ontologies and controls to prepare for agentic AI workflows.
• Case examples from firms achieving real-time reporting and auditability.

Moderator: Rufat Muradov, Analytics Manager, Performance, BCI

Speakers:

In the highly competitive age of digital transformation financial service organizations are facing accelerated urgency to improve their customer and employee experience while simultaneously reducing operating costs, and managing risk and compliance.

To meet these competing demands on their business, these organizations are racing to deploy deep learning to achieve a new competitive edge by optimizing their back office operations with intelligent document processing, personalizing their customer experience with cutting edge NLP models, and reducing fraud and risk using state-of-the-art deep learning.

AI is here and delivering new capabilities to help businesses solve large and complicated challenges. Join Bob Gaines to learn what that means for your business and how deep learning is helping organizations:

• Achieve higher compliance, faster and with lower costs • Dramatically improve Customer Experience • Reduce time to value from years to weeks

Sergio Rego is a customer engineer at SambaNova Systems where he helps clients deploy purpose-built, deep learning solutions in weeks rather than years. Sergio started his career in financial services, where he worked in strategy; active and index management; and product design and management. Sergio also served as a senior data scientist and team manager for a system integrator where he helped federal government agencies deploy ML and AI solutions.

In the highly competitive age of digital transformation financial service organizations are facing accelerated urgency to improve their customer and employee experience while simultaneously reducing operating costs, and managing risk and compliance.

To meet these competing demands on their business, these organizations are racing to deploy deep learning to achieve a new competitive edge by optimizing their back office operations with intelligent document processing, personalizing their customer experience with cutting edge NLP models, and reducing fraud and risk using state-of-the-art deep learning.

AI is here and delivering new capabilities to help businesses solve large and complicated challenges. Join Bob Gaines to learn what that means for your business and how deep learning is helping organizations:

• Achieve higher compliance, faster and with lower costs • Dramatically improve Customer Experience • Reduce time to value from years to weeks

Sergio Rego is a customer engineer at SambaNova Systems where he helps clients deploy purpose-built, deep learning solutions in weeks rather than years. Sergio started his career in financial services, where he worked in strategy; active and index management; and product design and management. Sergio also served as a senior data scientist and team manager for a system integrator where he helped federal government agencies deploy ML and AI solutions.