Reza Satchu is the Managing Partner and Founder of Alignvest Management Corporation. He has a Bachelor’s degree in economics from McGill University and a Masters in Business Administration from Harvard University, which he received in 1996.
Reza Satchu began his career at Merrill Lynch in 1991 as a Financial Analyst, where he was responsible for structuring and executing high yield debt offerings and executed 10 completed transactions aggregating over $3.5 billion in value. In 1996, he accepted a role and became a General Partner and Managing Director at Fenway Partners, a $1.4 billion private equity firm.
Over the course of his career, Reza Satchu has co-founded, built, and managed a number of businesses, including: Alignvest Management Corporation; KGS-Alpha Capital Markets, a U.S. fixed-income broker dealer with over $10 billion dollars in assets, that was sold to Bank of Montreal for over $400 million; StorageNow, which became Canada’s largest self-storage company prior to being sold to InStorage REIT for over $100 million; and SupplierMarket, a supply chain software company whose investors included Sequoia and KKR that was sold to Ariba for over $900 million.
Continuing his desire to help the next generation of entrepreneurs, Mr. Satchu launched Canada’s first Academic Center for Entrepreneurship studies and business incubation, Next Canada. Programs launched under Next Canada include Next 36, Next AI and Next Founders. Next Canada’s mission is to increase Canadian prosperity while accelerating the trajectory of Canada’s most promising entrepreneurs.
From 2003 to 2010, Mr. Satchu developed and taught Economics of Entrepreneurship at the University of Toronto as an Adjunct Professor. In 2020, he began serving as a Senior Lecturer at Harvard Business School where he teaches Launching Technology Ventures and The Entrepreneurial Manager.
Mr. Satchu served for 10 years as a director of the Toronto Hospital for Sick Children Foundation. He has been the recipient of Canada’s “Top 40 Under 40” Award, as well as the 2011 Management Achievement Award from McGill University.
Mr. Shah was previously the Chief Financial Officer and Chief Operating Officer of StorageNow Holdings, a retail real estate business that acquired, developed and operated 11 self-storage stores in Ontario, Saskatchewan and Alberta. The portfolio was successfully built over a four-year period and sold to InStorage REIT for cash consideration of $110 million. During this period, Mr. Shah directly managed approximately 50 retail and management employees. Prior to joining StorageNow, Mr. Shah was a Senior Manager at KPMG LLP, a global professional services firm, where he specialized in providing audit and advisory services to publicly-listed technology companies in Canada and the United States.
Mr. Shah has also been an instructor at York University’s Schulich School of Business, the University of Toronto and with the Chartered Accountants of Ontario’s School of Accountancy.
Mr. Shah holds a Bachelor of Arts from the University of Toronto, and is a CPA, CA.
Nadir has been working at Alignvest for over 10 years and is a highly accomplished operating executive who was most recently President and Chief Executive Officer of Rogers Communications Inc., the TSX and NYSE listed media and telecommunications company with an enterprise value in excess of $35 billion.
Under his leadership, Rogers became the largest wireless carrier in Canada, delivered best in class cable and wireless margins and significantly strengthened its balance sheet. Before serving as President and Chief Executive Officer of Rogers, Nadir was the President and Chief Operating Officer of the company’s Communications Group. Prior to that, Nadir was the President and Chief Executive Officer of Rogers Wireless. Before joining Rogers in 1999, he had held senior positions at Telus Communications and at BC Telecom. Nadir currently serves on the Board of Directors of Canada Pension Plan Investment Board, TD, Cineplex, and Trilogy. Nadir also serves as the Chair of Scale Up Ventures and of DMZ Ventures and is an honorary member of the Board of Governors of Ryerson University.
Nadir holds a Bachelor of Commerce from the University of British Columbia and holds a CPA, CA and FCA designation. Nadir was appointed to the Order of Canada in 2019.
Andy has been working with Alignvest for nine years and was previously the Managing Partner of HOOPP Capital Partners, through which the Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan, Canada’s largest private trust, conducted its private equity and special situations investment business.
Over a 15-year period Andy led the creation and development of a high impact private capital business and portfolio, generating exceptional investment returns. He completed over $4 billion of investments in North America, the UK and Europe, $1 billion of which was executed in direct investments with the remainder in speciality partnerships and joint ventures typically as the initial and/or largest investor. He served on various Boards of Directors and Advisory Boards within the HOOPP portfolio, and the Asset Mix Committee within HOOPP. Andy also served on the Board Investment Committee of the United Church of Canada Pension Plan for many years.
Prior to HOOPP, Andy was a Partner at KPMG LLP, a global professional services firm, and a Founding Officer and Board Director in its regulated affiliate through which KPMG undertook its corporate finance advisory activities.
Andy holds a Bachelor of Commerce degree from the University of Toronto, is a CPA, Chartered Accountant and a graduate of the ICD-Rotman Directors Education Program.
Lee has been working with Alignvest since the firm’s inception. He co-founded ATI Technologies in 1985 and built the company into one of the world’s largest suppliers of graphic chips and add-in boards to the personal computer industry. In addition to managing the company, Lee was ATI’s largest shareholder, first employee and responsible for innovation and development of all products. Lee helped build ATI into a TSX and NASDAQ listed global market leader, with annual sales in excess of $2.2 billion and over 3,000 employees. ATI was sold in 2006 to Advanced Micro Devices for cash and stock consideration of US$5.4 billion. Since then, Lee has managed his family office investing in a variety of alternative asset products. Prior to founding ATI, Lee held various design engineering positions with Mitel, Motorola and Plessey.
Lee holds a Masters in Engineering and a BASc from the University of Toronto.
Rupert has thirty years’ experience in the financial markets covering research, analysis, portfolio management and asset raising. He has sourced and made investments in multiple asset classes including public equity, private equity, hedge funds and venture capital. This has been across a global geographic area with a focus on UK, Europe, Asia and North America. Amongst other qualifications he holds the Chartered ESG Investment Manager designation from the Chartered Institute of Professional Certifications.
He started his career as a credit analyst at Standard Chartered Bank in Bangkok, Thailand and subsequently worked for Indosuez W.I. Carr and Deutsche Bank from 1993-2003, based in Bangkok, Hong Kong, Singapore, New York and London. He left to join a start up Hedge Fund – Matterhorn Investment Management – which he helped build into a $300m asset management business, before leaving to set up and launch his own Emerging Market Fund in 2007. This he ran from 2007-2011 before merging it into an alternative investment management platform called MAB Partners. In 2014 he joined Alignvest Management Corporation, a Canadian private investment group with investments in student housing, life insurance, and consumer businesses, originally to set up their London office.
He has spent the last 20 years involved with the family business and family office community, and the multitude of topics this covers, including the World Economic Forum Family Business Community. He has strong relationships across the institutional and family office investment world and advises a leading European family on their private investments. He has been involved in multiple activities relating to family businesses including family office investing, restructuring, succession planning, and litigation.
Other roles he holds are as an Ambassador for Alzheimer’s Society, Member of the Advisory Board of Somerset House and Chair of the UK charity for the Gallmann Memorial Foundation – the largest private nature conservancy in Kenya. He is also a trustee of the Syncona Foundation, the charitable arm of the largest funder of life science start-ups in the UK.
Prior to joining Alignvest, Mr. Kosc was a Manager at Bain & Company, a global management consulting firm, where he led teams that deployed value-creation efforts for Fortune 500 Companies as well as conducted due diligence for global private equity firms and hedge funds.
He had also spent time in roles at Alphabet – both within YouTube (Google LLC), a global media platform, where he supported new product launches, as well as Google X (X, the Moonshot factory) where he designed business models and made investment decisions on early-stage bets.
Mr. Kosc holds a Bachelor of Commerce from Queen’s University (First Class Honours) and a Masters in Business Administration with High Distinction from Harvard Business School (Baker Scholar).
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Ms. Chan was previously the Controller since joining Alignvest in 2013. Prior to joining Alignvest, Ms. Chan was a Manager at Ernst & Young LLP, a global professional services firm, where she specialized in providing audit and advisory services to clients in the financial services industry, specifically asset management companies.
Ms. Chan is a CPA, CA and holds a Bachelor of Commerce and Finance from the University of Toronto.
Anthony joined Alignvest in 2023 and is actively involved in all aspects of Alignvest’s business.
Prior to joining Alignvest, Anthony was a Private Equity Associate at Birch Hill Equity Partners, a leading Canadian mid-market private equity firm with $5 billion in AUM. While at Birch Hill, he conducted due diligence on new investment opportunities and worked on value creation projects across a number of the firm’s portfolio companies.
Anthony was previously an Investment Banking Analyst at TD Securities in Toronto, where he worked on several mergers and acquisitions, equity offerings, and debt financing transactions while in the Mergers & Acquisitions and Diversified Industries groups.
Anthony holds an HBA with Distinction (Ivey Scholar) from the Ivey Business School and graduated from Western University as a National Scholar.
Shiela joined Alignvest in 2023 as Executive Support to Sanjil Shah. She has excelled as an administrative professional for over 10 years. Prior to joining Alignvest, she was the Office and HR Manager at Espresso Capital. Shiela earned an advanced diploma in Business Administration – Management from Seneca College.
Ms. Lockhart is a director of George Weston Limited, Choice Properties REIT and Atrium Mortgage Investment Corporation. Previously, Ms. Lockhart was the Chair of Gluskin Sheff + Associates, Inc., and a director of Loblaw Companies Limited, Canada Deposit Insurance Corporation, Retirement Residence REIT and Barrick Gold Corporation. Additionally, Ms. Lockhart was formerly the Chief Administrative Officer of Frum Development Group and a Vice President of Shoppers Drug Mart Corporation. Currently, she is the Chair Emeritus of Crow’s Theatre Company and Director of The Royal Conservatory of Music, and was previously Chair of the Ontario Science Centre, President of the Canadian Club of Toronto, Chair of the Canadian Film Centre, Director of the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health Foundation and Director of The Canada Merit Scholarship Foundation. Ms. Lockhart was awarded the Order of Ontario in 2006.
Robert Wolf is a corporate director and financial management professional. Since 2008, through RTW Capital Corporation, he has been making active investments in and providing advisory services to North American businesses in a variety of sectors. Mr. Wolf also currently serves as a director of dentalcorp Holdings Ltd. (TSX:DNTL). Mr. Wolf has also previously served as a director/trustee of WPT Industrial REIT, InnVest REIT, OneREIT, Monarch National Insurance Company, MYM Nutraceuticals Inc. Crosswinds Holdings Inc., Sarment Holding Limited, and C.A. Bancorp Realty Finance Corp. Prior to 2008, Mr. Wolf was the Chief Financial Officer of RioCan Real Estate Investment Trust from its inception in 1994. In this role, he led all efforts to raise equity and debt capital in the public markets. In addition to being responsible for all financial reporting and compliance functions, he also played a key role in corporate acquisitions, joint ventures and debt restructurings. Prior to 1994, Mr. Wolf held a variety of positions in both public accounting and private and public real estate companies. Mr. Wolf is a Chartered Professional Accountant and holds a Bachelor of Commerce degree from McGill University and a Master of Business Administration degree from the Schulich School of Business at York University.
Rajiv Silgardo is a director of the OMERS Administration Corporation, where he serves as a member of the Board’s Investment and the Human Resources Committees. Mr. Silgardo has over 30 years’ experience in the investment industry as a senior executive in the areas of asset and wealth management. He retired in late 2019 as President and CEO of UBC Investment Management Trust, where he spearheaded the allocation and investment of the University’s Endowment and Pension portfolios across private and public asset classes. Prior to joining UBC in December 2016, Mr. Silgardo was Co-CEO of BMO Global Asset Management (“BMO GAM”), which he helped establish and grow from approximately $50 billion in assets under management in 2009 to over $300 billion by mid-2016. Earlier, Mr. Silgardo spent 14 years with Barclays Global Investors (“BGI”). Mr. Silgardo served initially as Chief Investment Officer and subsequently led the firm as President and CEO in Canada. In addition to OMERS, Mr. Silgardo serves as Chair of the Investment Advisory Committee of Greyhawk Investments. He is a past member of the Investment Committee of the Vancouver Foundation, the TSX Trading Advisory Committee and of the Board of Governors of the Bishop Strachan School in Toronto. He has also served on the Advisory Board at The Ted Rogers School of Business at Ryerson University and the Board of Directors of Canada Exchange Traded Funds Association. Mr. Silgardo received his B. Comm (Honours) and M. Com degrees from Delhi University, India, and an MBA from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. He is a CFA Charterholder.
Ms. MacPherson most recently ran an independent consulting business and spent 14 years with Canadian Apartment Properties REIT (“CAPREIT”) as Executive Vice President, Operations and Vice President, Sales and Marketing. Ms. MacPherson’s responsibilities included revenue management, leasing and marketing, investor relations, customer experience, commercial and field operations, and new-build development for CAPREIT’s portfolio of residential rental suites and manufactured home sites across Canada, the Netherlands and Ireland.
Prior to CAPREIT, Ms. MacPherson worked in public relations, and sales and marketing in diverse industries such as pharmaceuticals, software, and consulting and accounting firms. Additionally, Ms. MacPherson currently acts as a mentor for Toronto CREW and sits on the advisory board of a real estate software company. Ms. MacPherson received her BScH from Queens University and her MBA from the Richard Ivey School of Business at Western University.
Prior to Alignvest, David worked at Marlin Spring and North American Development Group, where he was involved in the acquisition of over $750 million of income-producing and development properties across a variety of asset classes, including Multi-Family Residential, Office and Retail.
Mr. Choran earned a Bachelor of Business Administration from Wilfrid Laurier University
Andrew joined the Alignvest team in October of 2023 and is responsible for evaluating new investment opportunities and providing asset management oversight for Alignvest Student Housing REIT and Campus Assets Inc.
Prior to Alignvest, Andrew worked at Centurion Asset Management and was a dual employee of Minto Apartment REIT and Minto Properties, where he was involved in transaction of over $900 million of multi-residential, student housing and commercial assets by way of acquisition, development or debt financing.
Andrew holds a Master of Arts in Economics from Wilfrid Laurier University and is a CFA Charterholder.
Rohan is responsible for evaluating new investment opportunities and providing development oversight for Alignvest Student Housing REIT and Campus Assets Inc.
Prior to Alignvest, Rohan worked at BMO Capital Markets in their real estate investment banking group, involved in both property brokerage and capital markets transactions, as well as Desjardins’ real estate investments team, executing multi-residential and industrial transactions exceeding $750 million by way of acquisition and full cycle development.
Rohan holds an HBA with distinction from Ivey Business School.
Lyes’ experience in the financial industry, started in an Investment Banking boutique in Montreal then focused for the last 6 years on building relationships with discretionary investment advisors. Prior to join Alignvest, he was most recently Vice-President at Evolve ETFs, Senior Business Development Manager and Team Lead at Horizons ETFs one of the largest ETFs providers in Canada, and business development manager working at a large mutual fund dealer now part of Purpose. He gained a deep experience in the ETF world as a portfolio strategist helping some of the largest wealth management teams with their Model Portfolios using Morningstar Direct. He brings to Alignvest a vast experience in asset allocation combining various asset classes, and a solid understanding of quantitative finance. Lyes is quadrilingual (English, French, Spanish, Arabic) and holds a B.Com, and a Master in Finance from ESAA partner of HEC Paris, ESCP Europe elite business schools. He is also a 2021 CFA level 3 Candidate.
Ali joined Alignvest in January 2023 and is actively involved in all aspects of Alignvest Student Housing’s accounting, reporting and taxation. Prior to joining Alignvest, Ali was a Fund Controller at Montez Corp, an integrated multi-asset real estate investment, developer and asset manager investing on behalf of institutional investors, where he specialized in preparation of financial statements of development and Income-producing properties, implementation of Yardi voyager 7s, and preparation of the finance slides for the mid-year / annual investors presentation deck.
Ali is a CPA, CGA, CPA (Maine, US), FCCA (UK), Chartered Accountant (Pakistan) and holds a Bachelor of Commerce from the University of Punjab.
Bradley Williams is the Vice President, Operations at Canadian Student Living. Since joining CSL, Mr. Williams has overseen all capital projects including the rollout of our new lock system weare working to implement across the portfolio, numerous mechanical system upgrades, large scale furniture replacements across the portfolio, as well as many other smaller projects.
With expertise in contract negotiation and a strong supplier network, he has persistently realized 10-20% savings throughout each of these capital projects. Mr. Williams also assists in overseeing market
research, budget and rent analysis and operational review for current and new acquisitions, as well as development projects. Prior to Canadian Student Living, Mr. Williams worked at CHC Student Housing as VP, Operations. In this role, Mr. Williams oversaw all operations for both the public and private companies, and regularly conducted due diligence for new acquisitions and potential development projects.
With a 20+ year history in student housing, Mr. Williams has an extensive experience in all areas of the industry. Mr. Williams holds a Bachelor of Science from Colorado State University and a Master’s Degree from Western Illinois University in College Student Personnel graduated with Honours.
Amanda Kalbfleisch is the Director, Operations at Canadian Student Living. Since joining CSL in 2019, Ms. Kalbfleisch provides assistance and support for property management where needed; including improving operational efficiencies and managing special projects. Ms. Kalbfleisch leads ASH’s ESG strategy and implementation, helps develop the annual report, and provides market analysis and due diligence support for new acquisitions. Prior to Canadian Student Living, Ms. Kalbfleisch managed PBSA in her role as Regional Director with CHC Student Housing. In this role, Ms. Kalbfleisch directly supervised property operations, including staff management, leasing, marketing and financial reporting. Ms. Kalbfleisch has a Master’s Degree in Business Administration (MBA) with a specialization in Strategic Management from Lazaridis School of Business and Economics. She is a registered Project Management Professional (PMP) in good standing with the Project Management Institute.
Patrick Miksa is a Partner at Campus Assets, the development arm of Alignvest Student Housing. Patrick is responsible for establishing the vision, policy and culture for all real estate activities at Campus Assets. A thought leader within the Higher Education sector, Patrick is a member of a number of Steering Committees, Finance Committees, Operations Committees, Development Committees and Student Programming Committees. He is currently the only Canadian developer to sit on the Urban Land Institute’s University Development & Innovation Council. In his previous role as Vice President for the premier purpose built student accommodation (PBSA) portfolio within the Canadian market, he led the creation and growth of their portfolio valued at over $1 billion, consisting of over 2.3 million sf with development costs in excess of $725 million.