Jonathan Paul

Chair

One of the leaders of Ascendant Wealth Partners, Jonathan is a financial expert with nearly two decades of experience. Priding himself on a thorough, organized, and highly responsive approach, he is a trusted advisor on the finances of affluent families and foundations. 

As an auditor for an international professional services firm, Jonathan developed an expert understanding of tax as well as his signature “no stone unturned” approach to client service, one he built upon as he gained further experience in investments and wealth management. Most recently, Jonathan served as a Vice-President of a leading Canadian wealth management boutique. Jonathan is a Chartered Professional Accountant (CPA, CA) and a Chartered Investment Manager (CIM). He holds a Bachelor of Business Administration degree (with distinction) from Ivey Business School at Western University. 

Jonathan enjoys seeing the value he provides to people, a passion that extends beyond his work: Jonathan has been a member of Toronto Hebrew Memorial Parks investment committee for the past 10 years; as well, he has been involved with Pancreatic Cancer Canada since 2019, and currently chairs the non-profit’s board. 

In his down time, Jonathan and his wife, Romy, get plenty of entertainment from their young daughters, Ava and Addison. Jonathan also likes to stay active, be it getting out on the golf course or playing men’s league hockey with the same group of guys he started out skating alongside as a child.

Michael Gilbert

Vice Chair
Michael is a Partner at Ernst & Young LLP, Canada with responsibility for leading the management and technology consulting businesses in Central Canada. He has over 25 years of experience managing, designing, implementing, and supporting complex process and technology solutions, providing senior executive oversight on some the largest transformation projects in North America.

Lauren Israel

Lauren Israel is Executive Director, Business Management at the Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce (CIBC) in New York City. Her current responsibilities include coordinating employee giving, sponsorships and donations for the US Capital Markets team. Prior to her role with CIBC, Lauren held several positions at the Bank of America Merrill Lynch where she served as Director in several Technology departments over her 12 year tenure, including Global Markets and Risk Technologies, Legal and Compliance Technology and Finance Technology in New York and London. She obtained her Masters of Business Administration and Bachelor of Science at the University at Buffalo, with concentrations in finance and international business. Lauren has also been a dedicated volunteer on the United Way of New York City Campaign Council since 2017.

Russell Browne

Russell Browne is a Managing Director Sales and Structuring, Metals Trading FICC, providing metals risk management solutions and structures to clients in the Mining, Energy, Chemical and Institutional Investor sectors. Russell recently joined BMO in November 2018, having previously worked at Scotiabank (ScotiaMocatta) for 10 years, as a Director in Precious Metals Sales and Trading. Prior to working in metals, Russell worked 7 years in Currency Sales and Structuring. Russell began his career in Montreal, working as an open-outcry Pit Trader at the Montreal Exchange, trading futures on 5 and 10 year Canadian Bonds and 3 month Bankers Acceptances. Russell has a B.A. in Economics from Concordia University (Canada).

Bryan Nese

Bryan Nese is an aspiring rock star and current partner in the DC office of the law firm of Mayer Brown LLP. Bryan’s practice focuses on high-stakes patent litigation, particularly in helping clients monetize patent portfolios large and small. Bryan has spoken in the U.S. and in Asia on U.S. patent law, trade secrets, and the nuances of Section 337 practice at the U.S. International Trade Commission. He has also donated hundreds of pro bono hours to asylum, special education, and child custody matters. 

A former legal research/writing adjunct professor at the George Washington University Law School, Bryan has a passion for helping current students and recent grads avoid some of the mistakes he’s made. He regularly lectures on the topics of networking, legal writing, and how to succeed as a young attorney. Since 2019, he has mentored first-year law students through the Leadership Council on Legal Diversity’s mentoring program. 

Bryan earned mechanical engineering degrees from Rowan University (B.S.) and the Pennsylvania State University (M.S.), and obtained his J.D. from the George Washington University Law School. In his sparse spare time, Bryan enjoys hobby boardgaming, cooking Italian food, and snowboarding while simultaneously not injuring himself.

Hilen Wong

Hilen leads the TELUS Stores and Koodo Shops teams. In this role, he supports over 2,700 team members across Canada delivering technology solutions backed by an exceptional customer experience. Hilen and his team also proudly support TELUS’ commitment to Give Where We Live by actively volunteering and fundraising in the local community.  The TELUS team is proud to support PCC with an annual fundraising drive in memory of a beloved colleague who lost his battle with pancreatic cancer.  Hilen was a member of the Pancreatic Cancer Canada Board of Directors from 2019 through 2023, before shifting to its Advisory Committee in 2024.

In over 15 years at TELUS, Hilen has held various leadership roles at TELUS including positions in Business Intelligence, Product Development, Pricing and National Retail. Trained as an electrical engineer, Hilen worked as a management consultant supporting clients primarily in the communications sector prior to joining TELUS.

Hilen and his wife Karen have two wonderful children. In his spare time, Hilen enjoys spending time with his family.

Jason Roberts

Jason is a commercial litigation lawyer with McEwan Partners in Vancouver, where his practice focuses on securities law matters. He holds a law degree from the University of Manitoba and has completed all of the requirements for his Master of Laws in securities law from Osgoode Hall Law School (York University), from which he will formally graduate in June, 2024. In 2012 and 2013, Jason lived in Ottawa while working as a Law Clerk for the Honourable Justice Louis LeBel of the Supreme Court of Canada. Jason joined the Pancreatic Cancer Canada Board of Directors in 2019 (a position he held through 2023 before shifting to the Advisory Committee in 2024) shortly after he lost his mother to pancreatic cancer. In his spare time, Jason enjoys spending time with his young family and is also an avid amateur golfer.

Marc St-Onge

Marc St-Onge is currently consulting with Element Fleet Management in their finance area.  Prior to joining Element in 2023, he was employed by CIBC for nearly 25 years and held various progressively senior positions within CIBC Capital Markets, including most recently as Managing Director and Global Head of DCM where he was responsible for the origination and syndication of investment grade, high yield and government fixed income products globally.

Prior to this, Mr. St-Onge was Managing Director and Head of Corporate Banking Canada, where he was responsible for the bank’s Canadian corporate loan portfolio and oversaw the bank’s lending activities with corporate, government and financial sponsor clients across all major industries.

Mr. St-Onge holds a Bachelor of Business Administration (Finance) from l’Ecole des Hautes Etudes Commerciales and was awarded the Chartered Financial Analyst designation in 1998. Mr. St-Onge chairs the Shaw Festival Boxing Evening, a fundraising event for The Shaw Festival Theatre in Niagara-on-the-lake.

Ricky Ray Butler 

Ricky Ray Butler is a 15 year digital veteran who has been at the forefront of reimagining the advertising landscape in a world of ever growing digital content. He found Plaid Social Labs in 2009 which was later acquired by BEN. Today BEN is leading the way in connecting brands to the right audiences in non-ad supported media across social, streaming and traditional platforms, and with the recent acquisition of TubeBuddy, has expanded that mission to help the 6M+ creators on the platform.

Butler serves as an advisor and investor for entrepreneurs and charities who share his relentless quest for disruption and deep learning, including applications of natural language generation in gaming with AI Dungeon and powering automated machine learning using unstructured data with Zeff (acquired by DataRobot). As one of AdAge’s 40 Under 40, and a member of Forbes Agency Council, Butler is serving as the catalyst for the next generation of data driven entertainment and advertising. Like any true digital nerd, Ricky spends his free time creating art no one should see and reading about the myriad of ways data has and can improve the 21st century.

Dr. Anish Kirpalani

Dr. Kirpalani is a radiologist, medical educator, and healthcare business advisor with over 15 years of broad practice experience in both academic and private/community settings in Canada and the USA. He has been a staff radiologist at St. Michael’s Hospital in Toronto since 2009, and he is Associate Professor in the Department of Medical Imaging at the University of Toronto. In addition to maintaining a busy clinical practice, Anish has authored over 50 peer-reviewed journal articles and has given over 50 invited lectures in radiology, focused mostly in MRI. Anish has a background in both engineering and medicine. He lives in Toronto with his wife and two young children.