Forecast Dinner

42nd Annual Forecast Dinner

Thank you to everyone who joined us at the 42nd Annual Forecast Dinner!

To view photos from the event, click here.

The Annual Forecast Dinner is the premiere event for CFA Society Edmonton. The Forecast Dinner has been a tradition for the last 41 years where members, associates, and leaders from the business and investment community assemble to hear prominent members from the financial world speak. This year, we are pleased to be celebrating our 42nd Anniversary.

2020 Speakers

The Hon. John Baird
Former Minister of Foreign Affairs

As Minister of Foreign Affairs, John Baird demonstrated his leadership on the world stage by championing freedom, democracy, human rights, and the rule of law. Holding the position in the cabinet of Prime Minister Stephen Harper from 2011 to 2015, Mr. Baird had previously served at the federal level as President of the Treasury Board, Minister of the Environment, and Minister of Transport. Mr. Baird spent three terms as a Member of Parliament, and four years as Minister of Foreign Affairs. He also served as President of the Treasury Board, Minister of the Environment, Minister of Transport and Infrastructure, and Leader of the Government in the House of Commons. Prior to entering federal politics, Mr. Baird spent ten years in the Ontario Legislature where he served as Minister of Community and Social Services, Minister of Energy, and Government House Leader. Currently, Mr. Baird serves as a Senior Business Advisor with Bennett Jones LLP, a premier Canadian law firm. In addition, he sits on the advisory board of Barrick Gold Corp. and the corporate boards of Canadian Pacific, Canadian Forest Products (Canfor), the FWD Group and PineBridge Investments. He also serves as a Global Strategic Advisor to Hatch Ltd, a Canadian global multidisciplinary management, engineering, and development consultancy, and is a Senior Advisor at Eurasia Group, a global political risk consultancy. Mr. Baird volunteers his time with Community Living Ontario, an organization that supports individuals with developmental disabilities; the Prince's Charities -- the charitable office of His Royal Highness The Prince of Wales; and is a board member of the Friends of Israel Initiative. He holds an Honours Bachelor of Arts in Political Studies from Queen’s University.

Dave Hemstad
"Canadian Master"

Dave Hemstad is a three-time Canadian Comedy Award nominee who began performing on national television in 2002. In addition to his own half hour Comedy Now Special on CTV and his Gala performance at the prestigious Just for Laughs Festival in Montreal he has taped appearances for both the Halifax and Winnipeg Comedy Festivals for CBC. Dave has many acting credits to his name including having starred in the Showcase comedy series Almost Heroes. Dave is currently a regular on CBC's smash hit The Debaters for both television and radio. In addition to his many international appearances, Dave is proud to have performed in every province AND territory in Canada.

Heather Loomis Tighe
Managing Director & Head of Institutional Family Office Business, BlackRock

Heather Loomis Tighe, is a Managing Director and Head of BlackRock's Institutional Family Office Business in Canada and Co-Head of the Family Office Business in the Western U.S. In addition, she serves as the Market Strategist for the U.S and Canadian Family Office Business.

Heather advises some of the world's most prominent and sophisticated families and individuals on asset selection, portfolio construction, risk analysis, and bespoke solutions to fit their needs.

Prior to BlackRock, Heather was a Managing Director at JPMorgan, responsible for managing a $13 billion dollar Fixed Income Business across the Western and Central United States. Heather sat on the Portfolio Construction Committee and founded WISE, Women's Insight Series. Before joining JPMorgan, Heather was a proprietary equity trader at First New York Securities.

Expert at simplifying sophisticated financial concepts, Heather regularly is invited to appear at conferences, in broadcast, print and online media including CNBC, Bloomberg, FOX Business, The Wall Street Journal and The New York Times.

Heather is an advocate of environmental stewardship and led the San Francisco Council of the Natural Resource Defense Council (NRDC) for five years. She currently sits on the Advisory Board of Tompkins Conservation, which recently completed the largest private to public land donation in history. She is the senior sponsor for the Green Group at BlackRock, which addresses environmental initiatives across the firm. An additional point of advocacy is for women's empowerment and education. Heather runs the Women's Investment Series for the Western U.S. and Canada.

Heather graduated magna cum laude and Phi Beta Kappa from Duke University with degrees in Economics and Spanish. She currently lives in San Francisco with her husband and son.

2020 Sponsors