CFA Atlantic Canada Board of Directors

President

Tristan McBride

Portfolio Manager
Vestcor Inc.

Tristan is a portfolio manager at Vestcor, a pension fund based in Fredericton, New Brunswick. He has over 12 years of experience in investing in public equities and his current focus is on REITs, Utilities and Financials across North America along with Canadian small cap. Tristan holds the Chartered Financial Analyst designation and has a BBA from the University of New Brunswick with double Honors in Finance and Accounting and a Major in Economics. He also serves as a director of CFA Societies Canada and is the treasurer of the Upper River Valley Hospital foundation.

Vice-President

Ying Wu

Director, Risk Management and Chief Compliance Officer
Vestcor Inc.

Ying is the Director, Risk Management at Vestcor Inc., where she leads the Risk Team and oversees all activities related to the assessment and management of investment risk and enterprise risk. She also serves as Chief Compliance Officer at Vestcor. Prior to leading the Risk Team, Ying held positions in Quant/Applied Research where she focused on investment risk, asset allocation and asset & liability management.
She has also been lecturing advanced portfolio risk management courses at the University of New Brunswick, in addition to serving on the Board of Directors of Pension Investment Association of Canada (PIAC). In her spare time Ying is an avid traveler and enjoys kayaking and hiking.

Treasurer

Secretary

Jon MacLanders

Past President

Hilarry Patterson

Vice President, Commercial Financial Services
Royal Bank of Canada

As Vice President, Commercial Financial Services at RBC, Hilary has overall responsibility for a team of Commercial Relationship Managers in Halifax, Nova Scotia with industry expertise in real estate and supply chain. Hilary has been with RBC since January 2016 working as a Commercial Account Manager focused on real estate, a Senior Financing Specialist supporting New Brunswick & Newfoundland, VP CFS for the Annapolis Valley and South West Nova Scotia before becoming VP CFS for Metro Halifax in October 2021. 

Prior to joining RBC, Hilary spent nine years with Clarke Inc., an activist investment firm based in Halifax, in several different capacities including equity/bond trader, investment analyst, and investment manager for the fixed income portion of a pension plan (2008-2016). Hilary started her career with Manulife Asset Management as an institutional investment analyst in Toronto (2006-2008). 

Hilary earned a Bachelor of Commerce degree from Queens University in 2006 and obtained her Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) designation from the CFA Institute in 2012. 

Hilary is active in volunteerism serving as the past President of the CFA Society of Atlantic Canada, a member of the Investment Committee for the Saint Mary’s University Endowment Fund, and a member of the New House Committee for the Ronald McDonald House Atlantic.

Director - Advocacy

Ross Hallett

Director - Research Challenge

Kyle Weeden

Principal
Ekcler

A Principal in our Halifax office, Kyle joined Eckler in 2011.  He has over ten years of industry experience and delivers services to Eckler’s pension, foundation, endowment and trust clients across Canada. He advises clients in the areas of policy construction and implementation and has assisted multiple clients in the design of their governance structures.

As a senior practitioner in Eckler’s Outsourced Chief Investment Officer (OCIO) advisory practice, Kyle has participated in some of the largest OCIO due diligence reviews and provider searches in Canada. He has experience in both public and private markets, including various alternative asset classes. His expertise covers real assets, private debt, private equity and absolute return strategies, both domestically and internationally focused.

Kyle has a Bachelor of Commerce degree, with distinction from Dalhousie University. He holds the Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA), Chartered Alternative Investment Analyst (CAIA) and Financial Risk Manager (FRM) designations. Kyle serves on the board of the CFA Atlantic Society and organizes the CFA Research Challenge for Atlantic Canadian universities. He has also volunteered his time as a past member of the Halifax Regional Municipality (HRM) Investment Policy Advisory Committee which oversees the operating assets of the HRM.

Director - Social Media

Natasha Dowding

Director - Ethics Challenge

Stephen Moore

Investment Counsellor
CI Private Welath

As an Investment Counsellor, Stephen provides portfolio management services and his experience to our high-net-worth clients. He also provides ongoing review of client portfolios and works closely with the rest of the CI Private Wealth team to ensure that our clients’ investments plans continue to meet their needs.
Prior to joining CI Private Wealth, Stephen gained a valuable range of experience working in the financial service industry.  He began his career as an Operations Analyst where he provided operational support to Hedge Funds and Institutional Investor clientele. Soon after, he joined one of Canada’s largest wealth management firms where he supported two senior portfolio managers. 
Stephen graduated from Acadia University with a Bachelor of Business Administration with a major in Accounting. Stephen earned his Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) designation in 2022 and is currently a board member of the CFA Atlantic Society. Stephen spends most of his time outside of the office keeping active. He is an avid golfer and plays hockey year-round. 

Director - Programming

Ryan English

Senior Investment Analyst
Workers Compensation Board of Nova Scotia

Ryan is a board member of CFA Atlantic as the Director of Programming. Ryan lives in Halifax, Nova Scotia works at the Workers’ Compensation Board of Nova Scotia as a Senior Investment Analyst. He completed his CFA charter in 2020 and is committed to supporting other aspiring CFA candidates to complete the program. Ryan supports two other causes in his free time – Hope Cottage in Halifax, NS and Canadian Blood Services.

Director - University Outreach

Colin Marinelli

BMO Private Wealth

With over a decade experience in relationship management, Colin is now in his 6th year with BMO Private Wealth and is directly involved in the management of investment portfolios for individuals, corporations, and foundations. As a lifelong learner of the capital markets, Colin acts as a steward of his clients’ capital and executes an array of investment objectives. 
 Graduated with a Bachelor of Business from Acadia University followed by a Master of Finance at Saint Mary's University in Halifax, Nova Scotia. Colin was awarded the Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) designation and ESG Certificate by the CFA institute in 2022. He most recently acquired the Certified Financial Planner (CFP) designation in 2023 and is currently enrolled for the Charter of Alternative Investment Analyst (CAIA) exam.
 Colin is currently serving as a board member for the CFA Atlantic Chapter. He also is actively involved with his local community assisting in various volunteering roles for the Halifax Chamber of Commerce and QEII Health Sciences Centre Foundation. Colin proudly grew up in Cole Harbour, Nova Scotia and has worked in various locations in Alberta before settling back home in 2019. He currently resides in Halifax, Nova Scotia. 

Director - Marketing & Newsletters

Patrick Davis

Associate Portfolio Manager - Public Markets
Nova Scotia Pension Services Corp.

Director at Large

Mark Fraser

Director at Large

Nathan Campbell

Regional Administrator

Jessie Zheng, CFA, CPA, CAIA