Private Markets Forum 2024

April 15 - 17, 2024
Four Seasons Hotel, Montréal QC

Private market investing has been reshaped by changing economic regimes, constrained liquidity due to the denominator effect, as well as risks and opportunities brought by climate and societal changes. Join your peers and colleagues at Private Markets Forum 2024, for a series of discussions on how institutional investors navigate trends and lead for the long term in private markets in a period of converging risks, while tackling the complexity on an individual, collective and organizational basis.

Keynote Speaker

Barbara Zvan


President and Chief Executive Officer

University Pension Plan

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Advisory Board

Jeff Chan

CFA

Director, ESG Investing


Canada Post Pension Plan

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Tanya Carmichael

ICD.D

Founder


Roxborough Advisory

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Koblavi A. Fiagbedzi 

MBA, CFA, CAIA

Portfolio Manager, Head of Real Assets

CBC Pension Plan

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Peter Martin Larsen


Senior Managing Director, Private Markets

University Pension Plan Ontario

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Matthew Leatherman


Managing Director, Research Strategist

FCLT Global

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Bertrand Millot

MBA, ICD.D

Head of Sustainability

CDPQ

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The Event Experience

Participate in peer-to-peer discussions addressing forward-looking topics facing institutional investors

Network with institutional investors and your peers through a series of breaks and roundtable exchange discussions

Hear from a vast array of industry experts through interactive discussions

Extend connections at the off-site reception and dinner

Interact with speakers and make connections through use of an event app

Private Markets Forum 2023
Event Highlight

Ways to Participate

Speak

Propose a speaker for a topic aligned with the conference theme ➨

Attend

Complimentary passes available for qualified institutional investors ➨

Sponsor

Limited sponsorship opportunities available for provider firms ➨

Barbara Zvan

President and Chief Executive Officer

University Pension Plan

Barbara Zvan is President and Chief Executive Officer of University Pension Plan Ontario (UPP). She is responsible for realizing UPP’s strategies to deliver valuable, lifelong pension security and service excellence to UPP’s over 39,000 members while establishing UPP as the pension solution of choice for Ontario’s university community. Formerly the Chief Risk and Strategy Officer for the Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan, Barb is globally recognized as a leading voice on sustainable investing and an ambassador for defined benefit pensions. She was named Canada’s CEO of the Year and Corporate Citizen of the Year 2022 by the Globe and Mail’s Report on Business magazine in honour of her contributions and leadership in both areas.

A sought-after responsible investing expert, Barb was appointed to the Government of Canada’s Expert Panel on Sustainable Finance in 2018 and is an inaugural member of the Sustainable Finance Action Council, which launched in 2021. On the global stage, Barb played a significant role in creating the G7 Investor Leadership Network and was named one of 26 Climate Champions by British High Commission in Canada and the Canada Climate Law Initiative ahead of COP 26 in 2021.

She also serves on the boards of various global organizations including the Responsible Investment Association, Climate Engagement Canada, and the advisory board of the Institute of Sustainable Finance at the Smith School of Business.

She holds a master’s degree in Math and Statistics from the University of Waterloo and a Bachelor of Science degree from McMaster University. She is a fellow of the C.D. Howe Institute, a member of the Institute of Corporate Directors, a Fellow of Canadian Institute of Actuaries (FCIA) and a Fellow of Society of Actuaries (FSA). 

Jeff Chan

CFA

Director, ESG Investing

Canada Post Pension Plan

Jeff Chan is Director, ESG Investing at Canada Post Corporate Pension Plan. In this role, Jeff leads all aspects of the plan’s ESG efforts including ESG integration, stewardship efforts and the implementation of the plan’s climate change strategy. Prior to this role, Jeff was Director, ESG at a large Canadian asset management firm where he developed and led the implementation of the firm’s ESG strategy and roadmap, including policy and process creation. Jeff also played an integral role in ESG product development and ESG-related client servicing.

Jeff is a Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) and has completed a Master of Science in Sustainability Management from the University of Toronto and a Bachelor of Science (Life Sciences) from McMaster University. Jeff also holds the FSA Credential from the Sustainability Accounting Standards Board (SASB) and the Sustainability and Climate Risk (SCR) Certificate from the Global Association of Risk Professionals (GARP). 

Tanya Carmichael

ICD.D

Founder

Roxborough Advisory

Tanya is committed to creating catalytic impact pathways through a systems thinking approach. With more than 20 years of investment experience, Tanya carved out an executive pathway in private equity on the back of one key differentiator discovered early in her career: a passion for ESG injection into investment strategy and leadership. She went on to manage a $12B fund portfolio and global investment team as Managing Director and Head of Global Funds, Private Capital for Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan. A firm believer in the power of global collaboration, Tanya served as Chair of ILPA and was also a member of the UN PRI Private Equity Steering Committee.

Tanya holds a Bachelor of Laws (LL.B) from Western University and earned her ICD.D designation from the Institute of Corporate Directors and Rotman (University of Toronto). With a non-traditional background in the world of private equity and corporate finance, she brings a progressive perspective and vision for a reimagined infrastructure of finance to support people, profit and purpose in equal balance.

Tanya serves as a speaker and advisor partnering with pension fund leaders, Boards, and institutional investors to re-imagine ESG, culture, and DE&I initiatives as part of their broader investment strategy. She believes the next frontier of sustainable, future-proofed investment can be achieved by leveraging holistic systems thinking, interconnectedness of investor and society, purpose loops and operational pathways for change. 

Koblavi A. Fiagbedzi 

MBA, CFA, CAIA

Portfolio Manager, Head of Real Assets

CBC Pension Plan

Koblavi Fiagbedzi joined the CBC Pension Plan in 2018 and is currently Portfolio Manager and Head of Real Assets. The Real Assets portfolio is 14.5% of Plan AUM. In his role, Koblavi leads strategy development, investment activity, ongoing monitoring, and risk management functions of the portfolio. Real asset investment activity is executed via direct, JV/co-investment, secondary and Fund structures globally. In addition, Koblavi provides support to the larger team for private equity and private debt investments.

Koblavi began his career at the Bank of Canada in 2004 where he worked on long term research and model development. Later, he joined Export Development Canada “EDC” as an Economist where he focused on current analysis and transactional guidance for political risk insurance, sovereign, and project finance loans in several key markets. When he joined the International Business Development Group at EDC in 2008, Koblavi led EDC’s corporate strategy for emerging markets and conducted due diligence and sourcing for project finance, corporate debt, political risk, and credit insurance. In 2012, Koblavi joined the CMPA Investment Fund where he focused on transaction and portfolio management for the private market portfolio in private debt, private equity, and real assets.

Koblavi earned his BBA (Honors) from Acadia University and MBA from the University of London. Koblavi is also a CAIA and CFA charter holder. 

Peter Martin Larsen

Senior Managing Director, Private Markets

University Pension Plan Ontario

Peter Martin Larsen is UPP’s Senior Managing Director, Head of Private Markets, responsible for UPP’s Private Markets portfolio comprising the infrastructure, real estate, private equity, and private debt asset classes. Prior to joining UPP, Peter held senior investor roles at one of Europe’s largest institutional investors, PensionDanmark, and advisory firm and investment banking positions at PwC and Macquarie Capital. Peter has served on the Boards of Directors of multiple large infrastructure companies, and currently sits on the Investment Committee of the Danish Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) Investment Fund, a DKK 5bn public-private partnership contributing to the realization of the 17 UN SDGs through investments in developing countries. Peter has Master’s Degrees in Finance and Economics from the London School of Economics and the University of Copenhagen.

Matthew Leatherman

Managing Director, Research Strategist

FCLTGlobal

Matthew Leatherman joined FCLT Global from North Carolina Department of State Treasurer where he served as Policy Director. Matthew contributed to the Department adopting a policy on long-term stewardship for approximately $100 billion of assets under its management and to updating practices for how staff incorporate longer-term factors into the evaluation of debt issued by local governments. He also was staff director of the Department’s Corporate Governance Committee, a body responsible for conducting the Department’s engagement with regulators, dialogue with corporate issuers, and voting of proxy ballots.

Matthew’s earlier career focused on U.S. fiscal research, most recently at the Stimson Center in Washington D.C. His commentary in outlets like Bloomberg Government was influential for understanding government shutdown and budget sequestration the terms of fiscal impact, management process, and the governance relationship between executive and legislative branches. Matthew advised the Rivlin-Domenici Debt Reduction Commission on military budgeting and management, including the structure of retirement and health care benefits for U.S. service-members. His fiscal research has been published by Foreign Affairs, International Herald Tribune, Washington Post, McClatchy-Tribune News Service, and other outlets.

Matthew is a Board member of the John Rex Endowment, a $75 million fund with a focus on improving mental health, preventing injury, and expanding access to healthy lifestyles for children in Wake County (NC). He is a term member of the Council on Foreign Relations and holds degrees from the University of North Carolina and Columbia University.

Bertrand Millot

MBA, ICD.D

Head of Sustainability

CDPQ

Bertrand Millot leads the Stewardship Investing team, which is responsible for defining and implementing CDPQ’s strategic directions, including integrating ESG factors into all activities and deploying the climate strategy. His responsibilities have three aspects: helping investment teams structure impactful investment opportunities (particularly with regard to social, climate and energy transition investments); managing risks related to ESG, climate change and reputation and contributing to the organization’s outreach in collaboration with the CDPQ Global team. Mr. Millot is one of the architects of CDPQ’s climate change strategy and a seasoned investor in infrastructure and corporate debt in emerging markets, fields where ESG considerations have historically been at the forefront. At CDPQ since 2015, he previously held various positions in risk management and stewardship investing, including Business Unit Risk Manager for the Fixed Income, Capital Solutions and Cross-functional Risk portfolios. He also served as Head of Climate Risk and Issues and led the Stewardship Investing team. Before joining CDPQ, Mr. Millot was CEO and CIO at Cordiant Capital, an emerging market corporate debt fund manager. Earlier in his career, he was active in infrastructure project finance with the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development in London, U.K. and with BNP Paribas in Paris, France. Mr. Millot holds an MBA from McGill University, a Master’s in Engineering from École Nationale Supérieure d’Arts et Métiers in Paris and is a member of the Institute of Corporate Directors (ICD.D designation).