People

Win Bear

Managing Director

Win Bear is a Managing Director on Kensington’s venture capital investment team. Prior to joining Kensington, Win spent 20 years in commercial banking, specifically focused on the innovation sector. Win has worked closely with Canadian and US-based VC firms and growth equity firms, while actively supporting tech and life sciences/healthcare companies ranging from seed-stage companies to large private companies and public companies.

Win joined Kensington after a 15-year career with Silicon Valley Bank, where he led SVB’s Canada growth initiatives, relocating to Toronto as Head of Business Development for all SVB business units across Canada. He previously held senior business development roles at SVB in the Boston and Carolinas region.

Win holds a BA in English and an MBA from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. In his spare time, he loves fishing, SCUBA diving, and just about anything in the great outdoors.

Jami Baker

Manager, Project Administration

Jami Poole comes from the Recruiting industry where she held multiple coordinator positions within Recruiting, Records Management and Operations. Her experience configuring document management software and implementing processes to improve efficiency in the office is guiding us in the direction of a paperless environment.

Jami holds a B.A in Kinesiology from the University of Western Ontario.

Annie Belanger

Senior Associate, Business Development and Investor Relations

Annie joined Kensington in 2021 as an Associate focused on Business Development and Investor Relations.

Prior to joining Kensington, Annie was working at SIAWealth Management, a private investment firm, where she was a part of the sales team’s efforts to fundraise and market numerous funds under the BMO Asset Management umbrella. In addition, she was also working in software sales; where she was helping financial advisors make their buy/sell decisions, allocate assets, and manage risk with a proprietary financial software technology.

Annie holds a B.S., in Finance from The University Of Connecticut, has passed the CSC course and is currently working towards her CFA designation.

Roland Boram

Senior Associate (Vancouver Office)

Roland is a Senior Associate based in the Vancouver office.

Prior to joining Kensington, Roland was an investment banking analyst at Citi, focused on clients in the energy and energy infrastructure sector. Latterly, Roland helped spearhead Citi’s Canadian coverage of the energy transition sector.

Roland holds a Bachelor of Commerce in Finance from the University of British Columbia.

Jordan Bruce

Director

Jordan is a Director at Kensington focused on private equity.

Prior to joining Kensington as an Associate he worked in investment banking at UBS in New York.

Jordan holds a B.A. in Finance from Lake Forest College in Illinois.

Christine Chan

Manager, Administration

Christine comes to Kensington with over 10 years of administrative experience, most recently spending 5 years at Capstone Infrastructure Corporation, where she supported the management team and Board of Directors. Christine has gained her experience working in the utilities, and mining industries at companies such as Capstone Infrastructure and Yamana Gold, where she held responsibilities that included executive support, event planning, and vendor management. Her focus is to provide seamless administrative support and identifying cost savings opportunities across the administrative functions.

Liam Cheung

Managing Director

Liam is a Managing Director at Kensington focused on private equity and venture capital investing.

Prior to joining Kensington, Liam was a Corporate Development Manager at BlackBerry (formerly Research In Motion) where he was involved in mergers and acquisitions, strategic investing, and software licensing activities. During his tenure at BlackBerry, Liam completed several transactions in the enterprise software space including the acquisitions of WatchDox and Movirtu. Liam also led software licensing efforts pertaining to keyboard, camera and mapping technologies.

Liam holds a B.Eng. in Computer Engineering from the University of Guelph and an M.B.A. from Harvard Business School.

Pola Chrostek

Senior Associate

Pola is a Senior Associate on Kensington’s venture capital investing team.

Pola’s career began at KPMG where she worked in the audit, corporate tax and product management teams across the Financial Services and Oil & Gas sectors. With an interest in early-stage companies, Pola worked for an education-based startup in Tanzania helping the company raise their Series A financing round. She later worked at a family office focused on investing in Canadian and Latin American seed-stage companies.

Pola is a Chartered Professional Accountant (CPA) and holds a Bachelor of Commerce in Accounting from the University of Calgary.

Alfred Chuang FCPA, FCA

Managing Director and Chief Financial Officer

Alfred is the Managing Director and Chief Financial Officer of Kensington and is responsible for finance and operations, including valuations, audit and assurance, and financial planning and strategy. Alfred has led global teams in areas of investment and corporate finance, investment structuring and operations, reporting and analytics for alternative investments, including private equity, infrastructure, funds and private debt portfolios. His previous tenures include two large Canadian pension plans and a Big Four accounting firm. Most recently, Alfred was the CFO of a social impact fund focused on the affordable housing sector. Alfred has also served on several corporate and NPO boards.

Alfred is a Fellow with the Chartered Professional Accountants of Ontario, and holds designations as CPA, Chartered Accountant, Chartered Business Valuator, Certified Public Accountant (Colorado), and a Certified Fraud Examiner.

Matthew Cross

Managing Director (Vancouver Office)

Matthew Cross is a Managing Director based in the Vancouver office.

Matthew was previously a Vice President and key member of the investment transaction team at Parallel49 Equity, a leading lower middle-market private equity firm based in Vancouver, BC. His responsibilities at the firm included deal origination, transaction structuring and execution, portfolio company management, and information technology.

Prior to joining Parallel49, Matthew worked with technology sector clients as part of Deloitte Consulting’s strategy practice in San Francisco and held a variety of strategic and operational roles in Canada and Norway at Teekay Corporation (NYSE:TK), a leading global provider of marine services to the oil and gas industry.

Matthew holds an MBA from Harvard Business School, an HBA (Distinction) from the Richard Ivey School of Business at Western University, and a BA in Sociology from Queen’s University.

Abraham Esemu

Senior Manager, Investment Finance

Abraham joined Kensington in 2022 as a Manager of Finance. Prior to joining Kensington, Abraham previously worked at State Street, RBC I&TS; and Pinnacle Fund Services in Private Equity, Hedge Funds & Alternative Investments. He has wealth of experience in private equity accounting, fund administration and investor reporting.

Abraham holds an MBA from Delta State University; and is a designated Chartered Professional Accountant, CPA.

Dylan Freeze

Director (Vancouver Office)

Dylan Freeze is a Director at Kensington focused on venture capital investing.

Dylan’s career began as an Analyst at iData Research, a Vancouver-based market research firm focused on the medical sector. With a personal passion for investing and analyzing companies, Dylan transitioned to a role as a Program Manager at the BC Tech Association in 2015 and quickly immersed himself in Vancouver’s rapidly growing tech ecosystem. Dylan’s main areas of interest are SaaS, E-commerce, Digital Health and Life Sciences.

Dylan holds a B.Sc. in Biology from the University of Victoria.

Daniel Gutnik

Senior Analyst, Investment Finance

Daniel is a Senior Analyst on Kensington’s private equity investment finance team.

Prior to joining Kensington in 2022, Daniel spent 3 years in multiple roles within fund accounting at CIBC Mellon, where he was responsible for the reconciliation, journalizing, reporting, and auditing of mutual funds and ETFs in various asset classes.

Daniel holds an Honours Bachelor of Commerce degree from Lakehead University, where he majored in finance. He is currently on track to complete his Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) designation.

Kirk Hamilton

Managing Director

Kirk is a Managing Director at Kensington focusing on Private Equity.

Prior to joining Kensington, Kirk led M&A for global commodity trader Stemcor Holdings, based in London, United Kingdom. While at Stemcor he worked through two global restructurings and the sale to Apollo Global Management. Kirk started his career working in London in the European investment banking and M&A teams for Scotia Capital and RBC Capital Markets focusing on natural resources M&A and ECM as well as with a UHNW family office where he worked on a number of major transactions in the mining, oil & gas, and industrials sectors.

Kirk sits on the board of various Kensington investments, including Resolute Health Corp., White Swan Environmental, AGNORA and Clearpoint Health.

Kirk holds a B.Sc. Eng. (Civil) from Queen’s University.

Jenny Han

Senior Manager, Corporate Finance

Jenny joined in 2017. Prior to joining Kensington Capital, Jenny was part of the finance team at CBRE Caledon Capital Management Inc. responsible for general corporate accounting. Prior to that Jenny spent nine years with Covington Capital Corporation, as a Senior Accountant, where she gained significant experience in venture capital and private equity fund valuation and corporate accounting.

Jenny is a Certified Treasury Professional (CTP). She received her Bachelor of Arts (B.A), Honours in Economics from York University.

Oliver Howlett

Regional Sales Manager, Business Development and Investor Relations

Oliver joined Kensington in 2022 as a Regional Sales Manager with the Business Development & Investor Relations team.

Prior to joining Kensington, Oliver worked as an Internal Sales Consultant within the Global Asset Management division at the Bank of Montreal, where he was responsible for providing Investment Advisors & Portfolio Managers with outcome-oriented Financial Products (ETF’s, Mutual Funds, Segregated Funds) through a consultative sales process.

Oliver holds a Bachelor of Management & Organization Studies from the University of Western Ontario.

Rui Hu

Director, Marketing

Rui Hu is the Director of Marketing at Kensington Capital. She held multiple roles in organizations including Ontario Power Generation, Ministry of Environment and Climate Change, Hydro One, and Manulife. Her focus included event planning, digital marketing, communications and strategic marketing. Previously, Rui worked on the project team to launch the new Manulife.ca website for the Group Benefits and Retirement division.

Rui graduated with a Bachelor of Business Administration degree in Marketing from the University of Toronto. She also received her Digital Marketing Certification from the University of Toronto.

Harold Huber

Director (Calgary Office)

Harold Huber is a Director and works out of Kensington’s Calgary Office. He has more than 30 years of experience in the acquisition and development of energy and infrastructure projects in North America.

Prior to joining Kensington Mr. Huber practiced corporate law with a focus on projects in the power, oil & gas, and pipeline sectors. He also has a strong background in regulatory law in matters involving the National Energy Board and numerous provincial regulatory agencies. Mr Huber was previously a senior partner in the Infrastructure & Energy Group of Torys LLP a based in their Calgary office. Prior to that he was a senior partner in the energy group at McCarthy Tétrault LLP.

Harold holds a LL.B from the University of Saskatchewan College of Law and a B.Admin from the University of Regina.

Stefan Janicki

Director

Stefan Janicki has more than 20 years of experience advising technology companies, venture capital and private equity funds. He recently joined the Kensington investment team after serving as legal counsel on many of Kensington’s venture and private equity investments for the past several years.

Stefan began his career in 1994 as a corporate and securities lawyer at Osler, Hoskin & Harcourt LLP and transitioned to the investment industry in 2000 when he joined Brightspark Ventures, an early stage venture fund, as its General Counsel. Stefan has acted as a Corporate Officer and General Counsel to various early stage software and technology companies, and joined enterprise risk management software company Dyadem International in 2008 as a member of its Executive Management team, until it was acquired by IHS Inc. in 2011. He also has more than 15 years experience in the computer gaming and related hardware sectors, serving on several gaming company advisory boards, as a columnist and contributing editor of gaming industry publications and a judge at the Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3).

Stefan is a graduate of Osgoode Hall Law School.

Thomas Kennedy

Senior Managing Director

Tom Kennedy is the founder of Kensington Capital Partners and Chair of the Investment Committee. Tom serves on the Advisory Boards of several private equity funds and private companies and has been an active supporter of the Private Equity and Venture Capital business in Canada. His public service and philanthropic work has been a longstanding, and focused on education and healthcare.

Tom’s previous experience includes 10 years in operational and management positions with Consolidation Coal Co. and Alberta Energy Company. He has investment banking experience as a senior executive with Bunting Warburg, Lancaster and TD Securities.

Tom holds a B.Sc.Eng. (Mining) from Queen’s University and a D.B.A. from the University of Edinburgh and is a professional engineer.

Martin Kent

Managing Director

Martin Kent is a Kensington Managing Director with over 25 years of experience in a broad range of financial management activities. Prior to joining Kensington, Martin was the Chief Financial Officer of Protenergy Natural Foods Corp., a leading North American private label food manufacturer, in which Kensington was an investor.

From 2009-2012 Martin was the CFO of Quantum Murray LP, a national industrial and environmental services company with $200 million in revenues. From 2005 to 2008, Martin was a Managing Director at Newport Partners, an investment firm that provides wealth management services, capital and financial advisory services to help Canadian entrepreneurs realize their personal and corporate goals. Prior to Newport, Martin co-managed private equity funds for ONCAP and EdgeStone, where his responsibilities included sourcing, structuring and managing investments in mid-market companies. From 1994 to 2000, he was a Managing Director in the Mergers & Acquisitions Group at RBC Dominion Securities. From 1987 to 1994, Martin held various investment banking positions with Morgan Stanley and J.P. Morgan in New York and Toronto.

Martin began his career in with Clarkson Gordon, a predecessor of Ernst & Young, where he received his Chartered Accountant designation in 1984. He received a Master of Business Administration from Harvard University in 1987 and a Bachelor of Commerce degree from Queen’s University in 1982.

Sam Kourkouliotis

Associate, Business Development and Investor Relations

Sam joined Kensington in 2022 as an Associate with the Business Development and Investor Relations team. Prior to joining Kensington, Sam worked at CIBC. Sam holds an Honors B.A. from the Ivey Business School at Western University with a certificate in Sustainability (ESG).

Anthony Kubanin

Senior Manager, Technology

Anthony is a Senior Manager, Technology at Kensington.

Prior to joining Kensington, Anthony was an Information Technology manager at Jackman Reinvention Inc. in Toronto where he managed information technology strategy and operations. Previously, he held similar IT roles in the Education, Financial, and Education sectors with over 14 years of combined experience in IT.

Anthony is passionate about technology and stays current with the latest innovations and trends. Anthony holds certificates from Ryerson University in Data Analytics, Big Data, and Predictive Analytics as well as Advanced Enterprise Architecture and Infrastructure Management. Anthony is a Microsoft Certified Azure Administrator and has additional Microsoft certifications in Security, Compliance, Identity, and Azure AI.

Carol Leipsig

Administration and Document Management

Carol comes from an industry where she held multiple administration positions within the government sector of Legislative Services, Social Services and Health Services. Carol brings with her education, experience, knowledge, and professional commitment to the Administrative and Records and Operations role. She is currently working towards her Project Management Certificate designation, and holds Administration of Municipal Clerks and Treasures of Ontario (AMCTO) designation from Queens University and Records Information Management Certification – with Distinction (RMC), University of Toronto.

Alan Lee

Vice President, Portfolio Analytics and Valuations

Alan joined Kensington in 2022 as a Director, Portfolio Analytics & Valuations in the Finance team. Prior to joining Kensington, Alan worked in various Finance roles at OMERS for 13 years within the Private Markets group. Most recently, he worked in the Valuation team supporting the quarterly valuation process for various Direct investments within the Private Equity and Infrastructure asset class. In addition, he also led the Portfolio Analytics function to build out the capability of scenario analysis on acquisitions/exits as well as dynamic portfolio-level reporting on key metrics.

Alan received his Bachelor of Commerce from the Toronto Metropolitan University (formerly Ryerson University) and is a Chartered Professional Accountant.

Russell Lindzon

Senior Legal Counsel

Russell Lindzon is Senior Legal Counsel at Kensington.

Prior to joining Kensington, Russell practiced corporate securities law at Fasken Martineau DuMoulin LLP where he was an active member of the firm’s M&A, securities, investment funds, private equity and emerging companies groups. During his time at Fasken, Russell was involved in a variety of public and private transactions, including mergers and acquisition, corporate reorganizations, take-over bids, reverse takeovers and debt and equity financings.

Russell holds a J.D. from the Schulich School of Law at Dalhousie University and a B.A. from the University of Western Ontario.

Richard Lipak

Vice President, Controller

Richard joined Kensington Capital in 2018 as an Investment Finance Director. Prior to joining Kensington, Richard was a Director for thirteen years leading the finance team accountable for private equity and strategic investments at Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce.

Richard is a designated Chartered Professional Accountant, Chartered Accountant and he obtained a Bachelor of Mathematics at the University of Waterloo.

Angelo Manaloto

Regional Sales Manager, Business Development and Investor Relations

Angelo is a Regional Sales Manager at Kensington, focused on business development and investor relations.

Prior to Kensington, he worked with institutional and HNW investors, raising funds for McGill University’s various funds, programs, and projects. His previous experience also includes time as a commodities analyst for the economic research division at the Bank of the Philippine Islands, assisting in launching a new service delivery model at Willis Towers Watson, and analyzing SME-growth promotion policies in Southeast Asia for the Asian Development Bank.

Angelo holds a B.A., Double Major in Economics and Philosophy at McGill University and is currently working towards his CFA Level II designation.

Thilipan Mariyan

Managing Director

Thilipan is a Managing Director at Kensington focusing on investor relations, business development and sales strategy.

Prior to joining Kensington, Thilipan worked for a boutique investment bank based in Toronto where he focused on deal origination for the capital advisory and M&A advisory groups. Thilipan graduated with a Bachelor of Commerce degree in Finance from the Ted Rogers School of Management – Ryerson University.

Eamonn Mcconnell

Senior Managing Director

Eamonn McConnell is a Kensington Senior Managing Director and the Chief Investment Officer.

For over 35 years, Eamonn McConnell has been involved in the investment banking and global fund management business. Eamonn has worked in Canada, the UK and Asia during his career. He has worked for many large international institutions including Barclays Global Investors, Deutsche Bank and Merrill Lynch. In the late 1990s through 2002, he was a Managing Director at Deutsche Bank responsible for the pricing, underwriting and risk management of Deutsche Bank’s debt new issue business (Asia and Europe).

His areas of activity have ranged from capital markets work in both debt and equity products, the establishment of a mutual fund investment management company and the subsequent launch of several funds, to the establishment of a private equity fund management company. Eamonn has been an active investor in all types of assets and the management of risk products. He is currently a director of Gryphus Capital, a private equity firm he co-founded in 2002, which is based in Singapore. Eamonn served as the Deputy Chairman of the Alternative Investment Management Association (AIMA) Canada from 2008 – 2013.

Eamonn has an MBA from McGill University and HEC France, and the CAIA designation.

Richard Nathan

Senior Managing Director

Rick Nathan leads Kensington’s venture capital investment program as a Senior Managing Director and member of the firm’s Investment Committee. His career spans many years across the private equity and venture market as an industry leader, investor and professional advisor. Rick currently serves as an active board member of several companies within the Kensington venture portfolio, and as a member of the investor advisory committee of several of Canada’s leading venture funds.

Rick began his career as a corporate and securities lawyer at Osler, Hoskin & Harcourt LLP, where he practiced law for 12 years, including as head of the firm’s Technology Business Group from 1995 to 1999. He then entered the investment industry as a Co-founding Partner of Brightspark Ventures, an early-stage venture capital firm. Rick served as President and Chair of CVCA- Canada’s Venture Capital and Private Equity Association from 2005 to 2012, and was a founding Co-Chair of CIX- Canadian Innovation Exchange from 2008 to 2016. Rick joined Kensington in 2005.

Rick is a graduate of Dartmouth College (Computer Science) and the University of Toronto Faculty of Law.

Tammy Ng

Law Clerk

Tammy Ng is a Law Clerk at Kensington.

Tammy has over 15 years of experience as a corporate law clerk. Prior to joining Kensington, Tammy has worked as a corporate law clerk at a law firm and in-house for publicly listed companies, a Crown corporation and a private company. Tammy has experience in providing support on corporate governance matters and corporate transactions.

Tammy holds a B.A. in Criminology from the University of Toronto and she completed the law clerk program at Seneca College.

Daniel Pham

Senior Associate

Daniel is a Senior Associate at Kensington focused on private equity.

Prior to joining Kensington, Daniel was an investment banking analyst at Rothschild & Co in Toronto where he focused on advising clients in the mining sector. Previously, he was in a similar role at RBC Capital Markets in Calgary. As an investment professional, Daniel has execution experience on over 10 M&A and financing transactions with an aggregate value of over C$10 billion.

Daniel holds a Bachelor of Commerce in Finance from the University of Calgary. During his time at the University of Calgary he was a member of the Dinos Varsity team and represented the school at the Rio 2016 Canadian Olympic Trials.

Jessica Salvador

Managing Director

Jessica is involved in all aspects of investor relations, sales strategy and business development activities for Kensington Capital.

Prior to joining Kensington in 2013, Jessica held several roles within RBC Dominion Securities, one of Canada’s leading full-service investment and wealth management firms.

Jessica is a graduate of York University (Economics).

Lisa Sartor

Principal

Lisa joined as a Senior Associate with Kensington’s Private Equity team in 2021.

Prior to joining Kensington, Lisa spent several years as an Associate at Banyan Capital Partners, a lower middle-market Canadian private equity fund based in Toronto, Ontario. Previous to Banyan, Lisa held roles in PwC’s Corporate Finance practice and Audit & Assurance practice.

Lisa holds her CPA, CA designation and an Hons. Bachelor of Commerce from the DeGroote School of Business at McMaster University.

Elaine Turnbull

Manager, Administration

Elaine Turnbull has over 30 years of financial administration experience and has been with Kensington since its inception in 1996.

Elaine previously was a research assistant in Equity Capital Markets at TD Securities, and in Securities Placement at Lancaster Financial Corp and worked with the President at Bunting Warburg.

Elaine previously volunteered as a corporate fundraiser for LOFT Community Services, one of Toronto’s largest and most diverse suppliers of supportive housing.

Will Wu

Senior Analyst

Will is a Senior Analyst on Kensington’s analytics and valuation team.

 Prior to joining Kensington in 2024, Will spent 2 years within Deloitte LLP’s Value Advisory and Modelling team. Based in Toronto, Will worked on various M&A mandates and support for various annual valuation processes within the Infrastructure and Private Equity asset classes.

 Will holds a Bachelor of Accounting and Financial Management from the University of Waterloo and is a Chartered Professional Accountant (CPA) and a Chartered Business Valuator (CBV).

Vanessa Zhang

Associate

Vanessa is an Associate at Kensington focused on private equity.

Prior to joining Kensington, Vanessa spent several years across different functions at Intact Financial Corporation. Most recently, she worked in Corporate Development at Intact, focusing on in-house M&A activities for the company. Prior to that,  Vanessa was an actuary working in the Personal Lines insurance pricing department and on several marketing optimization projects in the data science department of Intact.

Vanessa is a Fellow of the Casualty Actuarial Society (FCAS) and holds a Bachelor of Mathematics in Actuarial Science and Statistics from the University of Waterloo.

Yiwei Zhang

Senior Manager, Investment Finance

Yiwei joined Kensington in 2017 as a Senior Fund Accountant. Prior to joining Kensington, Yiwei worked as a Senior Operations Analyst at Northleaf Capital Partners, where she gained experience in private equity accounting and investor reporting.

Yiwei holds a Master of Accounting from the University of Waterloo and received her Certified Management Accountant designation in 2013.

Adam Zhardanovsky

Associate

Adam is an Associate on Kensington’s venture capital investment team. 

Prior to joining Kensington, Adam was a Financial Research Analyst at Sustainable Development Technology Canada, where he supported investment due diligence into cleantech startups and developed forecasts for commodities and other economic factors. 

Adam holds a Bachelor of Commerce in Finance and Economics from the University of Toronto and is currently completing his Master of Financial Economics at Western University.