Conference Speaker and Moderator Biographies

Welcome Remarks

Speaker Name	Speaker Title	Speaker Company	Speaker Bio
Roanna Kim	President, CASLA	RBC Capital Markets	Roanna Kim is a Managing Director & Head of Prime Brokerage at RBC Capital Markets. She has over 20 years of experience in the financial services industry working through the Securities Finance value chain, with positions as an Agent Lending trader and relationship manager, and as Principle Borrower for a Broker Dealer. After a career break, Roanna was a 2018 recipient of the VersaFi Return to Bay Street (RTBS) Award and leads Diversity & Inclusion initiatives as part of the Global Leadership team of Women in Securities Finance. Roanna is also the Co-Lead for the Women in Securities Finance Toronto Chapter.

Market Update

Speaker Name	Speaker Title	Speaker Company	Speaker Bio
George Goncalves	Head of US Macro Strategy	MUFG Securities	An industry veteran with more than 25 years on the sell-side and buy-side, George joined MUFG in 2021 as head of U.S. Macro Strategy with a mandate to formulate U.S. fixed income views, drive market strategy thought leadership, and actionable trade ideas for clients. He focuses on rates, MBS, credit, the Fed/global central bank policy, U.S. dollar funding dynamics and all things macro-related. George spent nearly a decade at Nomura Securities, first as the chief U.S. Rates Strategist and later as the Head of U.S. Fixed Income Strategy in the Americas. Over his tenure at Nomura, he oversaw teams of analysts and strategists covering U.S. rates, U.S. credit and emerging market rates. Prior to that, George was a senior research analyst at both Morgan Stanley and Bank of America. He started his career in the Fixed Income markets on the buy side at the formerly known Merrill Lynch Asset Management division in institutional separate accounts, analyzing and co-managing portfolios of Treasuries, repo, short-term credit and MBS as an assistant portfolio management analyst. George is an active guest on Bloomberg TV and a frequently quoted source in various financial media outlets. George received his joint degree in Finance/Economics and Political Science from Rutgers University’s School of Management in 1998.

Session 1: Optimizing Noise: Navigating the Challenges of the Unpredictable and the Need for Continuous Value Accretion

Moderator Name	Moderator Title	Moderator Company	Moderator Bio
Kyle Kolasingh	Director, CASLA	RBC Investor Services	Kyle is Director and Head of Market Services Solutions at RBC Investor Services. He oversees lender management and sales for the RBCIS Securities Finance program and leads a cross-product technical sales and relationship management team also covering foreign exchange and cash management solutions. Kyle joined RBCIS in 2010 and previously worked for RBC Financial Caribbean. Over the past 15 years Kyle has held various positions in operations, risk & investment analytics and deal management. Based in Toronto, Kyle works closely with beneficial owners and internal partners in the provision of securities financing products and solutions to the Bank’s clients. Kyle is also a board member and a member of the executive team at the Canadian Securities Lending Association (CASLA) and is the Chair of the International Securities Lending Association (ISLA) Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Steering Group. He holds a Bachelor of Administrative Studies with Honours in Finance from York University.
Panelist Name	Panelist Title	Panelist Company	Panelist Bio
Jessica Ying	Associate Portfolio Manager, Funding	BCI	Jessica has worked in the Finance field for more than 15 years, with a career spanning risk management, liquidity and funding management and fixed income trading in major Canadian Banks and pension funds. She holds a Master of Finance degree from the Rotman School of Management at the University of Toronto.
Sagar Patel	Executive Director	J.P. Morgan	Sagar Patel is Head of Americas Tri-party Product & Relationship Management within the Securities Services business at J.P. Morgan. Sagar’s expertise and current role focuses on managing Tri-party collateral products in the securities lending, repo and derivatives space. Sagar has been at J.P. Morgan his entire professional career, starting in the markets business. Sagar joined the Securities Services business in 2014 working in Product Management roles across clearing, Tri-party and collateral management products. Sagar holds a bachelors degree from Drexel University and a masters degree from Fordham University.
Jon Whiting	Head of UST & Int’l Equity Lending	Fidelity Agency Lending	Jon Whiting is a vice president and international and fixed income agency lending team leader with Fidelity Capital Markets, the institutional trading arm of Fidelity Investments that provides trading products and services to a wide array of clients, including buy-side institutions, hedge funds, other financial institutions, and Fidelity’s retail, correspondent, and advisor businesses. Fidelity Investments is a leading provider of investment management, retirement planning, portfolio guidance, brokerage, benefits outsourcing, and other financial products and services to institutions, financial intermediaries, and individuals. In this role, Mr. Whiting is the head of Fidelity Agency Lending’s U.S. Treasury and international equity trading groups and manages the distribution strategy, performance, and developmental road map of each product line. Prior to joining Fidelity in March 2020, Mr. Whiting spent 17 years at State Street Bank in its Global Markets division. In his last role at State Street, he was the Securities Finance (SF) global head of Product Strategy, managing key expansion initiatives and the strategic product pipeline across all SF business lines. Prior to this role, Mr. Whiting was the global head of International Equity Trading for State Street’s Agency Lending business. Prior to joining State Street in 2003, he was an equity trader for Heartland Securities in Boston, MA. Mr. Whiting was on the board of directors of EquiLend Holdings LLC from 2016 to 2019. Mr. Whiting earned his bachelor of arts degree in economics from Cornell University in Ithaca, NY. He holds the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) Series 7, 63 and 24.
Kathleen Duggan	Executive Director	Morgan Stanley

Session 2: Fireside Chat on the Collateral Infrastructure and Market Practices Advisory Group (CIMPA) 

Moderator Name	Moderator Title	Moderator Company	Moderator Bio
Annaleigh Greene	Managing Director	BMO Capital Markets
Panelist Name	Panelist Title	Panelist Company	Panelist Bio
Nicholas Chan	Treasurer	BMO Capital Markets	Nick Chan is Treasurer for BMO Capital Markets. His mandate is to drive business optimization and increase productivity in alignment with our strategy, client-centric priorities, and the Bank’s overall risk, capital and funding appetite. Nick has responsibility and oversight for liquidity, balance sheet and capital management for Capital Markets, Global Markets funding strategy, and will partner to ensure prudent application of economic and regulatory risk limits while supporting key growth initiatives for the business. Nick has been a driving force in many Canadian industry initiatives including leading the development of the Enhanced CORRA benchmark for the Canadian Alternative Reference Rates Working Group (CARR), co-chair of the Collateral and Infrastructure and Markets Practices Advisory Group (CIMPA) to modernize the repo market, as well as BMO’s representative at the Canadian Fixed-Income Forum (CFIF). He is passionate about community, and is the current Executive Sponsor for the Asian Coalition of Employees (ACE) Canada Enterprise Resource Group. Nick earned an Honours Bachelor of Science degree in Computer Science and Economics from the University of Toronto and is a CFA Charterholder.
Harri Vikstedt	Senior Policy Director	Bank of Canada	Harri Vikstedt joined the Bank of Canada in 2006. Currently the Senior Policy Director, Market Committees and Initiatives in the Financial Markets Department, he is focussed on market related issues. Harri co-chairs the Collateral Infrastructure and Market Practices Advisory Group (CIMPA) which is an industry-wide working group created under the Canadian Fixed-Income Forum (CFIF) to promote the well-functioning of the Canadian securities and financing markets. Prior to this he co-led the Canadian industry’s efforts to transition the financial market from CDOR to CORRA. He was responsible for the Bank’s domestic and foreign currency trading operations until 2017, and for implementing the Bank’s strategy for acquiring and analyzing financial market intelligence. Harri worked in global financial markets in Europe and North America across both buy- and sell-side roles for 17 years before joining the Bank. He is a Chartered Financial Analyst and holds an MBA in Finance and an engineering degree from the University of Toronto.

Session 3: Introducing the CASLA Emerging Talent Committee: A Conversation on Mentorship, Talent and Digital Dexterity

Moderator Name	Moderator Title	Moderator Company	Moderator Bio
Johnathan Papavranoussis	Vice President – Trading	BNY
Panelist Name	Panelist Title	Panelist Company	Panelist Bio
Andrea DiCenso	Director, Securities Lending	TD Securities	Andrea Di Censo is a financial services professional with over 20 years of progressive experience in the Securities Lending and Prime Brokerage space. Andrea currently works as a Director at TD Securities Inc and has been with the prime brokerage team for 15 years.
Courtney McGrath	Trader, Securities Finance	Wealthsimple	Courtney McGrath is a Securities Lending Trader at Wealthsimple. Her responsibilities include managing the inventory and relationships associated with Wealthsimple’s Fully Paid and Margin Lending Programs. Prior to joining Wealthsimple in 2023, she worked for 5 years across various roles at Scotiabank including as a Associate Director on their Corporate Derivatives Products Group. Courtney holds a Bachelor of Applied Science in Mechanical Engineering from Queen’s University and became a CFA Charterholder in 2022. She has been an active member of VersaFi since 2020 and is a member of the inaugural CASLA Emerging Talent Committee in 2025.
William Yan	Associate, Market Services Solutions	RBC Investor Services Trust	William Yan is an Associate, Market Services Solutions at RBC Investor Services. He is responsible for lender management across the RBCIS Securities Finance program in a cross-product technical sales and relationship management team, covering securities lending, foreign exchange and cash management products. He has been with RBC since 2018 and previously completed RBCIS’ Graduate Rotational Program. William is also a sub-committee co-chair at the Canadian Securities Lending Association (CASLA). William holds a BSc, Biotechnology and Economics from the University of Waterloo.

Session 4: Data, Demand & Disruption: Positioning For The Future

Moderator Name	Moderator Title	Moderator Company	Moderator Bio
David Mak	Executive Director	Wealthsimple	David Mak is an Executive Director and head of securities finance within the capital markets group at Wealthsimple. A financial professional with over two decades of industry experience, he has held leading roles in the fixed income, structured notes, FX, funding and investment services teams at various broker-dealers in Canada. David earned a Bachelor of Commerce (Finance Spec.) degree from the University of Toronto, is a CFA Charter holder, and a Fellow of the Canadian Securities Institute. He is also on the Board Of Directors at the University of Toronto SMF, providing leadership and regularly contributing to the growing integration of academia with finance.
Panelist Name	Panelist Title	Panelist Company	Panelist Bio
Lisa Tomada	Vice President, Global Securities Lending	CIBC Mellon	Lisa Tomada Vice President, Global Securities Lending, CIBC Mellon Lisa leads a team responsible for client management and business development of CIBC Mellon’s securities lending offering, advancing BNY’s global securities lending program in Canada. In this role, she also oversees the local administration of its securities lending program, with a focus on the implementation of product and strategy for Canadian asset owner and asset manager clients. Lisa has been with CIBC Mellon for more than 12 years, contributing to the company’s Markets group. Lisa joined CIBC Mellon as Legal Counsel in 2012, before becoming Director of CIBC Mellon’s Markets team. She has more than 25 years of legal and financial services experience. Lisa holds an Honours Bachelor of Arts degree in International Studies from Glendon College and a JD/MBA from Osgoode Hall Law School and Schulich School of Business.
Lou Carvajal	Director, Securities Finance	S&P Global Market Intelligence
Sasha Sitsker	Sr. Associate	EquiLend	Sasha Sitsker is a Client Success Manager at EquiLend, guiding institutional clients in their adoption of innovative financial technologies and in streamlining operations through efficiency and automation. With over a decade of experience spanning across private credit, asset-based lending, wealth management and digital asset trading, Sasha brings a unique, cross-market perspective to the client experience within the evolving securities finance ecosystem.
Kunal Shah	Director	RBC	Kunal Shah is a Director on the Equity Finance Desk at RBC Dominion Securities with over 10 years of progressive experience in the industry.

Session 5: Regulators & Policymakers: Global Perspectives on Shifting Views and Assumptions

Moderator Name	Moderator Title	Moderator Company	Moderator Bio
Dexter Gall	Director, Securities Finance	RBC Investor Services	An accomplished global securities finance professional with 35 years of value creation. Current chair of CASLA regulatory and tax sub-committee.
Panelist Name	Panelist Title	Panelist Company	Panelist Bio
Laura Paglia	President and Chief Executive Officer	Investment Industry Association of Canada (IIAC)	Prior to joining the IIAC as President and CEO in August 2021, Laura Paglia provided legal representation and advice to a broad range of participants in capital markets, wealth, and financial services industries at large. These include domestic and foreign banks, insurance companies, investment dealers, investment fund managers, exempt market dealers, and various public issuers. Laura also represented and advised a variety of individual professionals, such as Boards of Directors and/or their Special Committees, Chief Executive Officers, Ultimate Designated Persons, Chief Compliance Officers, research analysts, investment bankers, institutional traders, portfolio managers, and investment and mutual fund advisors. Laura is a frequent speaker and writer on topical and emerging industry issues. Laura was called to the Bar of Ontario in 1997. She obtained an LLB from Osgoode Hall Law School in 1994 and an LLM from Osgoode Hall Law School in 2014. Laura’s professional recognitions include: • Selected by peers for inclusion from 2013 – 2021 in The Best Lawyers in Canada editions (Corporate and Commercial Litigation). • Recognized in the 2021, 2018, and 2017 editions of Benchmark Canada – The Definitive Guide to Canada’s Leading Litigation Firms & Attorneys as a “Local Litigation Star: Ontario”. • Recognized as a 2020 and 2019 Acritas Star.
Farrah Mahmood	Director – Regulatory Affairs	International Securities Lending Association (ISLA)	Farrah joined the International Securities Lending Association (ISLA) in September 2019 and is Director of Regulatory Affairs within the Regulation & Market Practice group. Farrah provides invaluable support to this strategically important part of the Association’s focus, by working with the various workstream coordinators to monitor and assess EMEA financial regulations, including Tax, that have potential to impact the securities lending market. Farrah reviews regulatory implementation, consultations and manages industry working groups, whilst monitoring updates from policy makers & National Competent Authorities to maintain best practice documentation. Prior to ISLA, Farrah occupied client service and desk support roles within derivatives and securities lending middle office, as well as in asset servicing operations, for J.P Morgan Chase.
Thomas Veneziano	North American Head of Product	Pirum	Thomas Veneziano joined Pirum in July of 2022 as North American Head of Product, to help Pirum’s expansion into the U.S. post trade market, after spending 11 years at Citibank managing Agency Lending Operations. Tom has 35 years of industry experience, spanning operations, trading, and prime brokerage. Prior to Citi, Tom worked at Daiwa Securities in Operations and Treasury Finance Trading, Barclays Bank in Middle Office, Sales and Treasury Finance Trading, Bank of America in Fixed Income Prime Broker, and Treasury Finance Trading. Wells Fargo managing agency lending operations. Tom also acted as Co-Chair to the Risk Management Association Operations and Tech committee for 4 consecutive years prior to joining Pirum.
Nancy Steiker	Senior Director, Global Securities Finance Product Management	FIS Global	Nancy Steiker has 20+ years of experience within capital markets and prime brokerage as well as software vendors. Earlier in her career, she held various positions within the Securities Finance and Collateral industry at EquiLend, Citi, Barclays Capital and Lehman Brothers covering global trading, operations, and collateral management.is a seasoned professional in the fintech industry, currently serving Senior Director for the Global Securities Lending Platform at FIS, a global leader in financial technology solutions. Based in the New York City

Session 6: Unlocking Securities Finance 2.0 Through an Integrated Digital Financial Ecosystem

Moderator Name	Moderator Title	Moderator Company	Moderator Bio
Steve Everett	Head Business Strategy and Innovation Post Trade	TMX	Steve Everett is the Head of Business Strategy and Innovations at CDS. Steve has over 15 years of experience in Post Trade and Market Infrastructure, in leading innovative Market driven and client-centric change across TradeFI and Digital domains in multiple global markets. His current focus within the TMX Group is to lead innovation and change and all Post Trade commercial aspects with a key focus in 2023 to introduce Canada’s first Triparty Collateral service as well as a series of Market driven initiatives and innovative digital solutions across the broad spectrum of post trade.
Panelist Name	Panelist Title	Panelist Company	Panelist Bio
Guido Stroemer	CEO	HQLAᵡ	Guido Stroemer is a financial market veteran with over 30 years of professional work experience in a variety of trading, risk management and senior leadership positions. Prior to co-founding HQLAᵡ in 2017, Guido was global head of repo trading at UBS. He received an MBA in finance from NYU Stern School of Business and a BA in economics from Hamilton College.
Kelly Mathieson	Chief Business Development Officer	Digital Asset	Kelly Mathieson is Chief Business Development Officer at Digital Asset, creators of the Canton Network. She joined Digital Asset in 2016 and is a member of its Executive Management team. Prior to Digital Asset, Kelly spent 30 years in the capital markets in roles at J.P.Morgan and Goldman Sachs.
Fabrice Tomenko	CEO	Clearstream International	Fabrice Tomenko is CEO of Clearstream International S.A and Head of Digital Trust & Strategic Partnerships Results driven with more than 20 years of experience in the Post-Trade industry, Fabrice is now leading Digital Innovation and Strategic partnerships within Collateral, Lending and Liquidity Solutions at Clearstream. Before that, he was heading the Banking, Funding and Financing Product Management Team. Since he joined Clearstream, Fabrice was involved in many different innovative initiatives such as outsourcing of collateral management, concept of mobilization of collateral using DLT technology and new user interface leveraging Artificial Intelligence. He has been spearheading partnerships in collateral management with major market infrastructures, such as ASX, B3, Strate, and most recently, TMX in the context of CCMS. He was also a member of the Collateral Harmonization Task Force put in place by the European Central Bank and leading the Triparty Collateral Management stream. Prior joining Clearstream, Fabrice was Head of Global Collateral Management Client Services Representatives and Operations Teams at The Bank of New York Mellon in Brussels.
Ahmed Shadmann	Head of Agency Trading Canada and Non-US Equities	State Street	Ahmed Shadmann is Head of Agency Trading for all Non-US Equities and Canadian Fixed Income at State Street Markets. He started his career at State Street in the Boston office in 2015 before moving to Toronto eight years ago. Prior to joining State Street, Ahmed began his career in the financial services sector working for HSBC in Dhaka, Bangladesh as a relationship manager in corporate banking. Ahmed holds a bachelor’s degree in Business Administration from the Institute of Business Administration of Dhaka University and a master’s degree in International Business from Tufts University. State Street provides experienced securities lending capabilities and supplies liquidity across more than 45 markets, worldwide, via Securities Finance offices and trading desks located throughout the Americas, Europe/Middle-East/Africa and Asia/Pacific regions.
Yvette Wu	CEO	Yield Exchange Inc.	Yvette Wu is the CEO and Co-founder of Yield Exchange, a Canadian fintech platform transforming access to secure, short-term investment products such as tri-party repos and GICs. With a background in enterprise risk and financial innovation, Yvette launched Yield Exchange to modernize how institutions manage liquidity — by enabling digital, transparent, and scalable access to fully collateralized investments.
Barnaby Nelson	CEO	The ValueExchange	Barney is CEO and founder of the ValueExchange – a global market research house that specialises in helping to make the case for meaningful transformation in the world’s capital markets. Working with an international team of experts, Barney’s attention is focused on delivering actionable, statistical insights on key market dynamics – with an emphasis on digitisation, post-trade processing, asset servicing innovation and on supporting growth in key emerging markets. Prior to the ValueExchange, Barney worked for over 20 years in the post-trade capital markets space. Until 2018, he led Standard Chartered Bank’s custody business in Asia and prior to that he launched BNP Paribas’ custody business in Asia.

Keynote Speaker

Speaker Name	Speaker Title	Speaker Company	Speaker Bio
David Frum	Social & Political Commentator, Staff Writer	The Atlantic	One of the most influential political analysts of our time, David Frum brings a rational conscience into the mainstream. He helps crystallize what the current political climate both nationally and globally will mean for your business or organization – for the good, the bad and the future. As a Staff Writer at The Atlantic, a Canadian-American political commentator and host of 2025’s The David Frum Show Podcast, David’s commentary on social and political issues generates thought-provoking discussions throughout America and around the world.

Closing Remarks

Speaker Name	Speaker Title	Speaker Company	Speaker Bio
Mary Jane Schuessler	Director, CASLA	BMO Capital Markets	Mary Jane is a Managing Director, Equity Finance in the Global Equity Finance group at BMO Capital Markets. In this position she supports BMO’s Prime Brokerage platform covering Hedge Funds, Pension Plans and the broker dealer community while collaborating internally to improve the product offering. Mary Jane has over 20 years of experience in the securities finance industry and was previously Desk Head and Director of Securities Finance at RBC Investor & Treasury services in Canada. In her previous role Mary Jane also spent two years working on the lending desk at RBC I&TS’ Australia office in Sydney.