• Mark K. Hannoush, CPA, (CA), CFA, Head of Due Diligence & Advisory, Ontario Teachers' Pension Plan

As Head of the Due Diligence & Advisory group, Mark Hannoush leads a team that specializes in conducting due diligence at the Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan Board in Toronto, Canada.  His role is to ensure that enterprise wide risk management is assessed and mitigated, as well as to provide direct support and assistance with deal implementation for the Plan's External Manager Program which includes a variety of investment products from Hedge Funds to Private Equity Funds through a variety of structures from Managed Accounts to SPV’s and Fund Investments.  The Group performs an internal and external advisory function (with its partners) in regard to risk management and infrastructure support and development; as well as business intelligence services.   

The Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan has been a significant investor in External Managers since 1995.  Mark was formerly in the Public Equities group within the Finance department, where he managed the middle and back office functions and processes for all internally traded and externally managed public equity portfolios. 

He began his career as an auditor with Ernst & Young LLP in Ottawa, Canada where he earned his CPA, (CA) designation.  He is also a CFA Charterholder. 

 

• Sean O'Hara, Co-Founder and Chief Investment Officer, Obsiido Capital Management Ltd.

Mr. O’Hara is a senior investment executive with deep alternative investments expertise, including in the areas of due diligence, portfolio construction and risk management. He has over 30 years of investment experience in Europe and North America and has worked in the retail, private wealth, and institutional investment markets. Prior to co-founding Obsiido, Mr. O’Hara was the Chief Investment Officer (CIO) at XFO Private Asset Solutions, a Toronto-based boutique alternative investment advisory firm providing permitted Canadian HNW investors with access to some of the world’s leading alternative asset managers through proprietary fund-of-fund investment solutions. Prior to that, Mr. O’Hara was the CIO at Cygnus Investment Partners, an alternative investment firm that provided proprietary Canadian access to the funds of Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co. (KKR), a leading global investment firm that manages multiple alternative asset classes, including private equity, infrastructure, real estate, and private credit. Mr. O’Hara previously held positions at several leading investment organizations including Laketon Investment Management, Claymore Investments, Merrill Lynch Investment Managers and Rothschild Asset Management.

Mr. O’Hara holds the Chartered Alternative Investment Analyst (CAIA), Chartered Investment Manager (CIM), Certified Investment Management Analyst (CIMA) and Certified Financial Planner (CFP) designations. He is a Fellow of the Canadian Securities Institute.

 

• Seydina M. Fall, Associate Director, Chartered Alternative Investment Analyst Association

Seydina has over 15 years of experience in real estate, private equity, and finance education. Currently, Seydina serves as Associate Director for Exams at the Chartered Alternative Investment Analyst Association (CAIA). His focus is on curriculum development and exam management in the areas of real assets, hedge funds, private equity, and structured products. Additionally, Seydina is the founder and the managing partner of smf+co, an international real estate private equity firm focused on thematic investing around long-term trends, such as rapid urbanization, resilience to address climate-related challenges, and the use of technology to improve new infrastructure and to make old infrastructure more efficient. Prior to founding smf+co, Seydina was Chief Financial Officer of MDNY real estate and Corbel capital, both full service real estate firms based in New York City. Seydina has taught corporate finance, derivatives, business analytics, real estate finance, and advanced valuation at various universities, including Columbia University, New York University, Johns Hopkins Carrey School of Business, University of Maryland, and Fordham University. His most recent publication is “Mboolo – Centre for Fair Trade and Exchange” for the United Nations (August 2020). He graduated summa cum laude from New York University and holds an MBA from the Yale School of Management. He is a Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA). Seydina is trilingual (French, English, Spanish) and has achieved professional working proficiency in Arabic.

 

• Claire Van Wyk-Allan, CAIA, Managing Director, Head of Canada, AIMA

Claire Van Wyk-Allan, CAIA is Managing Director, Head of Canada for AIMA, and also co-leads AIMA’s investor engagement work through the Global Investor Board and Investment Peer Group. She joined AIMA as Director, Head of Canada in 2018 and has over 14 years of professional experience in alternative investments, leadership, strategy and business development. 

Prior to joining AIMA, Claire was a Business Development Manager, Advisor Channel Sales at RBC Global Asset Management (RBC GAM), where she covered retail advisors in GTA West. Previously, she was the Manager, Sales Support at RBC GAM, where she built and managed a team across Canada. Claire began her career at Arrow Capital, where she spent almost four years as Regional Manager, covering wealth advisors across Ontario.

Having served on the AIMA Canada Executive Committee for almost four years before joining AIMA as staff, Claire has also served as Board Liaison for the Sales Practices Committee and as Co-Chair for the Events Committee. She has been a two-time Co-Chair for Help for Children’s Hedge Funds Care Canada Gala. Claire graduated from the University of Western Ontario with a Bachelor of Management and Organizational Studies, specialising in Finance, and is a CAIA Charterholder.