2009 Highlights

Peter R. Aceto

President and Chief Executive Officer, ING DIRECT Canada

Peter Aceto, President & CEO of ING DIRECT Canada, is a passionate leader and committed savings advocate. His career with ING DIRECT began in Canada more than a decade ago as a founding member of its senior leadership team. In the rapidly changing world of financial services, Peter is a disciplined senior executive with broad exposure to many areas of retail and investment banking including sales, marketing, risk management, operations, lending, legal and compliance, mergers and acquisitions and regulatory management. As the senior leader of ING DIRECT Canada, Peter provides his relentless focus on delivering an outstanding customer experience and the cornerstones of success for ING DIRECT: maintaining a simple and efficient business model, working with management to develop and evolve a winning and adaptable strategy, managing risk, return and growth; and building an ever strengthening team to execute the company’s vision.

Peter was most recently a member of the ING DIRECT USA executive committee and responsible for sales, marketing and corporate communications. Prior to that, he held the posts of Chief Risk Officer, Chief of Staff and Chief Lending Officer while remaining focused on strategic planning and initiatives with bank wide impact. He was actively involved in the analysis and decision-making needed for the bank to achieve and surpass its goals, attain and maintain profitability, and meet shareholder expectations. While in the U.S., Peter championed the company’s philanthropic activities which focused on providing opportunities to underprivileged children across the country and around the world. Peter spends much of his time working with employees throughout the bank, continuing to build leadership for the future.

Peter achieved his Bachelor of Law in May of 1994 from the University of Western Ontario, where he also earned his undergraduate degree in Psychology in 1991. Peter is a proud husband and father of three children.

Peter is and has been involved in the community. He was a Board Member and champion for Habitat for Humanity, the ING DIRECT Kids Foundation, the Delaware State Chamber of Commerce among others and is currently on the Business Development Committee of Mt. Sinai Hospital.

Merv G. Hillier

President and Chief Executive Officer, Certified Management Accountants of Ontario (CMAO)

Merv Hillier is the President and Chief Executive Officer of the Certified Management Accountants of Ontario. With approximately 50,000 members in Canada and 25,000 members in Ontario, the CMA organization is recognized by industry and academia as the experts in the integration of strategy, management and accounting. CMAO is the fastest growing accounting body in Ontario. Merv is a Fellow of CMA Canada, a distinction which recognizes community involvement, professional success and contributions to the management accounting profession.

Prior to joining CMAO in 2007, Merv was Managing Partner of The Corporate LIFE Centre International Inc. with offices in Mississauga, Ontario and Bahrain. As part of the CLCi team, Merv consulted to organizations in Canada and the Middle East with a focus on aligning organizational strategy, design and culture.

Merv has travelled extensively throughout North America, Europe, Asia and the Middle East. He speaks regularly to domestic and international audiences on best practices in developing high performance organizations. His goal in life is “to be remembered for what he has given not what he has gained”.

Jeremy Wright

Inspirational Speaker

Jeremy Wright is a longtime serial entrepenur who has been involved with the business, programming, and IT aspects of the technology industry for nearly a decade. He was the CEO, President and Co-Founder of b5media, Inc, Inc, a prominent blog network. He is currently The Boss at netmobs, a digital strategy and execution agency based in Toronto. Jeremy is the author of Blog Marketing, a business book on blogging as well as a father to his two wonderful boys, Evan and Alex.

Patricia Tiralongo

Vice President of Relationship Management, TD Asset Management Inc.

Patricia Tiralongo has worked for TD Asset Management (TDAM) since July 1999 after graduating from the University of Toronto at Scarborough with an Honours BA Specialist in Management. In September 2008, she joined the Institutional Relationship Management group, responsible for business development and client service for TDAM’s Canadian corporate and institutional clients.

Previously, she was a member of the Quantitative Portfolio Management team, focusing on transition services and equity index portfolio management. Her responsibilities included analysis, coordination and implementation of transitions for TDAM’s institutional clients.

Prior to joining the Institutional Portfolio Management division in 2005, Patricia worked as a Research Associate for an internal hedge fund portfolio within TD Asset Management and was also responsible for trading a variety of market instruments in a variety of arbitrage strategies, as well as analyzing, evaluating and ongoing monitoring of these investment opportunities.

Patricia was awarded her CFA Charter in 2004 and in her spare time is an active member of United Way Toronto’s GenNext Cabinet, focusing her efforts on enhancing volunteerism within the GenNext age bracket.

Alan LeFort

Managing Director, TELUS Security Labs

Alan LeFort is currently the Managing Director for TELUS Security Labs, a research group focused on helping more than 50 of the world’s leading security companies identify and eradicate critical threats and vulnerabilities. In that capacity, he advises several top security companies, providing guidance on marketing and product strategy. Additionally, he heads a product management team at TELUS for security products and services which include managed services, technology integration and professional services. Alan’s career has been one of dueling contrasts, shifting back and forth between business and technology. As a result, Alan has held senior roles in sales, marketing, strategy, consulting and product management. Alan’s varied interests also extend geographically and organizationally, having worked for a software startup in Canada, a real-estate company in Texas, the Mexican foreign service, and the Mexican Institute for Technological Research.

With such a diverse background, its no surprise that Alan likes to teach. He has taught several security courses, from a business and technical perspective at the professional learning centre of the University of Toronto’s faculty of Information Studies. In keeping with a desire to foster knowledge, Alan co-founded the Rotman-TELUS Study on IT Security Practices. As a result is often-cited by the media as an authority on the topic of the business value of security. Alan studied Computer science at York University, Obtained his BA in Finance from the University of St. Thomas in Houston, TX and is currently pursuing his EMBA at the Rotman School of Management.

Karen White

Human Resources and Professional Development, PCL

Karen White is senior director, Human Resources and Professional development for the PCL family of companies. In this role, she is responsible for strategy development and providing overall direction and leadership on all facets of human resources and professional development programs, policies and initiatives.

Karen has 19 years of experience with the PCL family of companies and has held several human resources and professional development roles within the organization; both in corporate and branch office environments. Her current focus includes executive coaching, executive and leadership development and succession planning.

The PCL family of companies is a group of independent construction companies which carry out diverse operations in the civil infrastructure, heavy industrial, and buildings markets. Together, these companies have an annual construction volume of more than $6 billion, making them the largest contracting organization in Canada and one of the largest in the United States. Offices are strategically located in 27 major North American centers to support work across Canada, the continental United States, Alaska, the Hawaiian Islands, and the Caribbean.

Michael Leitch

District Manager, Schindler Elevator Corporation

Michael Leitch is a District Manager in Toronto with Schindler Elevator Corporation.

Michael holds a B.A.Sc. in Engineering from the University of Toronto and is a Member of the Professional Engineers of Ontario. He has more than 20 years experience in operational, project and sales management, with particular interest and focus on the coaching role of management.

Schindler Elevator Corporation is a 135 year old family business, based in Switzerland, with global presence in more than 100 countries.
Outside of the office, he and his wife commit the majority of there time actively involved in sporting activities with their two boys.

Dean Toplis

Vice-President of Business Development, AXA Assurances, Inc.

Dean Toplis is Vice-President, Business Development for AXA Assurances, Inc.

He holds a B.A. from McGill University, an MBA from the University of Toronto as well as several industry designations, including CLU, ChFc, RHU and FLMI designations.
Prior to joining AXA, he held a variety of management positions at RBC Insurance, Colonia Life, Royal Life and Sun Life.

Outside of the office, he has worked with the Toronto Community Foundation and Junior Achievement.

He spends his spare time as a flying instructor and competitive soaring pilot.