Carol Chow, RRC^®, Chartered Financial Planner^®, CFP^®

Chair – CIFP Retirement Institute

Carol Chow is a seasoned financial planner with more than 30 years of experience in the field. She began her career in high-net-worth planning before expanding her expertise to support advisors and clients across the mass and mass-affluent markets.

Carol holds the Chartered Financial Planner^®, Certified Financial Planner^® (CFP^®), and Registered Retirement Consultant^® (RRC^®) designations and has served as a Professor of Financial Planning at a leading post-secondary institution.

With more than 20 years of service at a major financial institution, Carol played a pivotal role in developing financial advice frameworks, tools, and processes designed to support advisors and clients. She is deeply committed to advancing the financial planning profession and has served on numerous boards of directors for prominent financial planning associations.

Pat Bolland

Head of Advisor Partnerships – Justwealth Financial

With more than 45 years in financial markets and media, Pat began his career on the floor of the Toronto Stock Exchange before spending decades as a business editor and host on major networks. Today, he is Head of Advisor Partnerships at Justwealth Financial.

Anthony Quinn

President – The Canadian Association of Retired Persons (CARP)

Anthony Quinn is the President of the Canadian Association of Retired Persons (CARP), Canada’s national advocacy organization representing older Canadians. He has been with CARP for more than 16 years, having held a range of roles focused on community development, operations, communications, and advocacy before becoming President in 2025.

Over his CARP career, Anthony has played a significant role in building and expanding CARP's national chapter network, helping grow the community-based network from approximately 12 chapters to about 60 during his tenure. His work has involved engaging volunteers, developing partnerships, and strengthening CARP's presence in communities across Canada.

As President, Anthony is a prominent advocate for issues affecting older Canadians, including financial security, pensions, healthcare access, caregiver support, age discrimination, fraud prevention, and long-term care. He regularly represents CARP in discussions with governments, policymakers, financial institutions, and other organizations.

D. Tony Mahabir, MBA, CMC, CIM^®, CFP^®, RRC^®, RWM

CEO – CANFIN Wealth Management
Fiduciary Advisor – CANFIN Private Wealth

D. Tony Mahabir is a distinguished leader and fiduciary advisor with over three decades of experience in financial planning, portfolio management, and executive leadership. As CEO of CANFIN Wealth Management, he has spearheaded the development of the firm’s innovative WM360º platform—delivering integrated solutions across wealth management, estate planning, tax consulting, and business advisory services.

In his role as a practicing advisor at CANFIN Private Wealth, Tony is deeply committed to values-based, client-first financial guidance. His fiduciary approach ensures that every strategy is tailored to the unique goals and life vision of the individuals, families, and business owners he serves.

Tony’s influence extends beyond the advisory practice. He has taught finance and management at Humber Polytechnic and served on national and international boards, including CIFPs, FPA (USA), and the UN-affiliated Convention of International Financial Advisors. He has also earned honours including the FP Canada Fellow and Distinguished Financial Specialist distinction.

At the core of Tony’s work is a guiding mission: “Transforming lives—one at a time—through the power of financial planning.”

John L. Connell

Founder and CEO – Focal AI

John began his career at Microsoft, where he managed a $1B P&L within Office 365 and contributed strategically to the company’s acquisition of LinkedIn. After relocating to San Francisco, he joined a video conferencing startup that was later acquired by Dialpad. He went on to invest in enterprise SaaS and AI/ML at a $5B AUM venture capital fund before becoming the first business hire at an AI-driven compliance startup, helping scale the company from pre-revenue to $36M in funding within three years.

He graduated from the University of Texas at Austin with studies in Finance and Management Information Systems and had early-career touchpoints across wealth management at Merrill Lynch and equity trading at Jefferies in New York.

Focal AI is the industry’s most secure AI note-taking platform for financial planners, helping individual advisors save up to 15 hours per week and teams expand client capacity by 30%.

Michelle Munro, CPA, CA

Director, Tax and Retirement Research – Fidelity Investments Canada

Michelle Munro is Director, Tax and Retirement Research for Fidelity Investments Canada ULC. Michelle advises on complex tax issues that affect Fidelity’s mutual funds and their investors. She is a leading member of Fidelity’s research team that specializes in issues around planning for and living in retirement, with a special interest in women and wealth, estate planning, and planning for life’s unexpected events. She is frequently interviewed by the media and speaks about both tax and retirement to investors and financial advisors across Canada.

Before taking this role, Michelle served as Director of Corporate Tax at Fidelity Investments Canada ULC for 10 years. As Director of Corporate Tax, she oversaw all corporate tax issues that impacted the Fidelity Canada organization. Michelle is also the past co-chair of Fidelity’s Women’s Leadership Group, an internal employee resource group aiming to develop and support women leaders.

Before joining Fidelity in 2008, she was a senior manager in the tax department of Ernst & Young. She holds the Chartered Accountant (CA) designation and obtained a BMath from the University of Waterloo.

Ruth Morales-Sullivan, MBA, BSc

Business Development Manager – Chartwell Retirement Residences

Ruth Morales-Sullivan is a Business Development Manager with Chartwell Retirement Residences, where she focuses on business development, relationship building, and partnerships within the retirement-living and senior-care sector. She is part of Chartwell’s Business Development team, which works on identifying growth opportunities and developing strategic partnerships.

Ruth is also an active contributor to professional education and industry engagement. Her work highlights the intersection of retirement planning, senior care, and financial-advisor support.

Her professional activities demonstrate an emphasis on community partnerships and connecting seniors with resources and services. She has participated in Chartwell initiatives involving healthcare professionals, community organizations, senior-service providers, and educational programming.

In her role, Ruth is focused on building trusted relationships across the senior-care ecosystem, helping families and professionals better understand retirement-living options and supporting partnerships that improve the experience of older adults.

Pier-Alexandre Drouin, MBA, CFA

Vice President, Business Development – Wealth Management at Fidelity Wealth

Pier-Alexandre Drouin is Vice President, Business Development – Wealth Management at Fidelity Wealth, where he specializes in supporting wealth management professionals through the complexities of succession planning. With nearly two decades of experience working closely with advisors, he has developed a deep, practical understanding of the business, personal, and structural challenges they face when preparing for transition.

Anthony Williams, RRC^®, Chartered Financial Planner^®, CFP^®

VP of Academic Affairs – Canadian Institute of Financial Planning (CIFP)

In his role as President and CEO of CIFPs, Anthony is actively engaged in representing the views of CIFP members and promoting financial planning more broadly as the chief liaison with regulatory and oversight bodies.

As VP, Academic Affairs, Anthony oversees the Academic Department of CIFP. This involves the development, maintenance, and supervision of the core education curricula and supporting continuing education tied to the various professional designations offered by CIFP.

Anthony is also CIFP's head instructor for preparatory bootcamps for industry certification examinations and facilitates events including Professional Days and Ethical Conduct sessions.