Leadership & governance
Leadership & governance
Our experienced management team includes accomplished executives in the financial industry.
President
and
Chief Executive Officer
Paul Leonard
Mr. Leonard is a financial professional with over 30 years experience in launching and growing Canadian retail banks that challenge the traditional banks. He was the CFO of CFF Bank, a Canadian schedule 1 bank that had approximately $245 million in assets and over $1.5 billion in loans under administration. Prior to that he was instrumental in growing the Ally Bank brand in Canada with savings, automobile loans and mortgage assets before Ally was acquired by Royal Bank of Canada. In addition, he was the founding Chief Financial Officer of ING DIRECT (since renamed Tangerine Bank), an innovator in offering direct to consumer savings and lending products.
Mr. Leonard is a Certified Professional Accountant, Chartered Accountant and holds a Bachelor of Commerce from the University of Toronto.
Chief Financial Officer
Michael Koshan
Mr. Koshan is a financial services executive with over 25 years of experience in roles across finance, treasury and capital markets within regulated financial institutions, alternative finance companies and fintech. He has expertise in financial reporting, risk management, financial planning & analysis and balance sheet management with banks and other financial services entities across both public and private markets. Most recently, he was CFO at Nuula and prior to that, CFO & Treasurer at Dealnet Capital before joining the Bank.
Mr. Koshan is a Certified Public Accountant, Chartered Accountant and holds the Partner, Director & Senior Officer (PDO) designation from the Canadian Securities Institute, along with undergraduate degrees from both the University of Windsor (BComm) and Queen’s University (BA).
Chief Operating Officer
Barry Ferguson
Mr. Ferguson joined the bank in 2020 as its Chief Marketing Officer and in early 2021 assumed additional responsibilities for the bank’s operations and information technology divisions. Mr. Ferguson has held senior financial services industry positions for over 30 years including Senior Vice President at Qtrade Financial Group; VP at HomEquity Bank; VP, Computershare Trust; Regional Head & Senior Director, CIBC Retail Banking, Wealth & Asset Management. He has also been a management consultant advising senior business leaders on strategies that optimize growth, revenue, customer experience and employee engagement for their organizations. Mr. Ferguson regularly serves on industry Advisory Boards and Fundraising Committees.
Mr. Ferguson holds the Partner, Director & Senior Officer (PDO), Fellow, Canadian Securities Institute (FCSI) and Fellow, Institute of Canadian Bankers (ICB) designations from the Canadian Securities Institute. Additionally, Mr. Ferguson has studied Leadership, Strategic Thinking and Business Transformation with some of the leading executive education institutions in the U.S. and Canada.
Chief Risk Officer
Paul Akey
Mr. Akey is a financial services executive with over 25 years of credit and risk management experience. Paul has held leadership roles at Scotiabank in Risk Management, Finance, Sales and Service. Acknowledged as an expert in various disciplines, he has effectively managed risk through the economic cycle and across the full suite of banking products.
Mr. Akey holds an undergraduate degree from the University of Guelph and an MBA from Dalhousie. He is active in his community and serves on several advisory boards and is frequently invited to participate in industry roundtables and discussions.
Chief Credit Officer
Caterina Vlahos
Ms. Vlahos brings tremendous leadership experience and significant multi-functional expertise in Real Estate & Secured Lending, Underwriting, Mortgage Processing, Risk Management, Business Development and Retail/Digital Banking cultivated from close to 20 years in the financial services industry.
Caterina is a graduate of McMaster University DeGroote School of Business, where she earned her Master of Business Administration (MBA) degree in Digital Transformation.
Director, Banking Operations
James Page
Mr. Page is a seasoned financial professional with over 40 years experience in the Banking Industry. Prior to joining WealthONE, James was the Director of Member Experience at OPPA Credit Union, where he had overall responsibility for sales and service. For over 35 years, James held senior leadership roles at CIBC including National Director Risk Management, Regional Director Business Effectiveness.
Director, Compliance
Lilia Iacob
Ms. Iacob brings over 15 years experience in the management of regulatory compliance risk. Lilia has extensive experience in the design and development of Compliance framework and supervision structure with expert knowledge of Privacy, AML/ATF, OSFI and FINTRAC legislation and guidelines. Prior to joining the Bank, she worked for Federally Regulated Financial Institutions such as MUFG Bank Ltd. (Canada), RBC, ZagBank/Desjardins, and ResMor Trust.
Ms. Iacob earned her BA from the University of Calgary.
Senior Underwriter
Jeff Hayashi
Mr. Hayashi has been involved in the mortgage lending industry for over 35 years. He began his as an appraiser and then moved into underwriting where he held several leadership roles. Jeff joined WealthONE in 2017 as Credit Manager before assuming his role as the Banks senior mortgage underwriter.
Marketing Manager
Amy He
Ms. He is a marketing professional with over 10 years experience in Finance, CPG, and Technology. Amy brings strategic marketing, brand communication and digital marketing expertise to her role as senior marketing manager at the Bank. Prior to joining WealthONE, Amy worked in public relations and communications at Ketchum and Hill+Knowlton Strategies, top 10 global consulting agencies.
Amy holds an MBA degree from Wilfrid Laurier University.
Founding Director
and Board Chair
Daryl Yeo
Daryl was first elected to the Board in 2016 and was appointed Chair in 2021. Daryl brings over four decades of experience in the financial services industry including 25 years at RBC. In the past 12 years Daryl has served in independent board member roles with ResMor Trust, Community Trust and Exchange Bank of Canada, with particular focus on enterprise risk management.
Mr. Yeo holds an Institute of Corporate Directors (ICD.D) designation, a Bachelor of Commerce Degree from the University of Alberta and is a Fellow of the Institute of Canadian Bankers (FICB).
Chair, Audit Committee
and Member, Risk, Credit Review
Committees
Marissa Lauder
Marissa’s deep understanding of the industry regulatory framework, corporate governance, capital adequacy and risk management position her well for her responsibilities as Chair of Audit Committee and roles on both the Risk and Credit Review Committees. Marissa is the former CFO of Street Capital Group, and most recently she completed a strategic review of Street Capital which eventually led to the successful sale of the company in late 2019. Early in her career, Marissa worked at the Office of the Superintendent of Financial Institutions (OSFI) and more recently, she served on the Board of Pace Credit Union as Chair of the Audit Committee and as a member of the HR Committee.
Ms. Lauder earned her Bachelor of Commerce from the University of Toronto, is a Certified Public Accountant (CPA), Chartered Accountant (CA) and holds her ICD.D designation.
Chair of the Governance, Conduct Review, and Human Resources Committee
Tuula Jalasjaa
Tuula joined the Board in 2021 and her responsibilities include leadership of this core Board Committee. She brings to the Board an extensive 25 years of global banking and financial services experience including as a former Scotiabank and HollisWealth/HollisBank senior executive. She has served on a number of Boards and is also the founder of The Women's Collection, a multi-faceted program designed to empower women who want financial freedom & independence and to make the right financial choices by combining education, networking, tools, and resources.
Ms. Jalasjaa earned her Intl’ MBA from the Schulich School of Business at York University, a BA from the University of Western Ontario, and also holds the CFA designation and the ICD.D. from the Rotman School of Business Institute of Corporate Directors Program.
Chair, Risk and Credit Review Committees
Bogie Ozdemir
Recently retired as Chief Risk Officer of Canadian Western Bank, Bogie brings a deep knowledge of the banking industry regulatory framework, enterprise risk management and mortgage lending environment to his new Board responsibilities. His 24-year career in financial services includes senior roles at BMO, Sun Life Financial and Standard & Poor’s. He is a published author and has completed Risk Management Certificate Program at Schulich School of Business and Managerial Leadership Development Program from Ivey School of Business.
Mr. Ozdemir earned his MBA from Rotman School of Management, M.Sc., and B.Sc. from Istanbul Technical University, and holds his ICD.D designation.
Founding Director
and Member, Governance, Conduct Review and Human Resources Committee
and Member, Audit Committee
Jeffrey Graham
Mr. Graham is Senior Vice President and Global Head of Legal and Compliance with SkyPower Global, a leading international developer and operator of utility scale solar power projects. Previously, he was the national head of the Financial Services Regulatory Practice of Borden Ladner Gervais LLP where he advised domestic and international financial entities on establishment, transactions, product development, and compliance with federal and provincial laws and regulations, including the Bank Act (Canada) and OSFI’s regulatory requirements. He has more than 20 years of experience as a director of Canadian regulated financial service entities. Mr. Graham was a founding director and current corporate secretary of Toronto Finance International. He also founded and is the Senior Editor of Thomson Reuters FinTech Global Guide Publication.
Jeff earned his B. Comm. and B.C.L./LL.B. degrees from McGill University and has graduate degrees in international legal studies from Cambridge University and Columbia University. Mr. Graham was first admitted to practice in the Province of Quebec and is currently a member of the Bars of the District of Columbia in the US and the Province of Ontario.
Director
and Member, Audit Committee, Credit Review Committee
and Member of Stakeholder Relations Committee
Alfred Lau
Alfred is the founder and co-leader of a private equity firm with operations in Hong Kong and Beijing. Prior to his current role, Mr. Lau was a partner of KPMG with over 35 years of experience at key locations around the world, including Beijing, Vancouver, and London. He has held senior positions within KPMG including co-leader of the audit practice in Beijing and co-leader of the China Practice in Canada. He was the Audit Engagement Partner for several multinational Fortune 500 companies, listed companies on the TSX and Chinese enterprises. Alfred is fluent in Mandarin and Cantonese and has a solid understanding of the business and operating environment in Canada and China.
President
and
Chief Executive Officer
Paul Leonard
Mr. Leonard is a financial professional with over 30 years experience in launching and growing Canadian retail banks that challenge the traditional banks. He was the CFO of CFF Bank, a Canadian schedule 1 bank that had approximately $245 million in assets and over $1.5 billion in loans under administration. Prior to that he was instrumental in growing the Ally Bank brand in Canada with savings, automobile loans and mortgage assets before Ally was acquired by Royal Bank of Canada. In addition, he was the founding Chief Financial Officer of ING DIRECT (since renamed Tangerine Bank), an innovator in offering direct to consumer savings and lending products.
Mr. Leonard is a Certified Professional Accountant, Chartered Accountant and holds a Bachelor of Commerce from the University of Toronto.
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