BCBusiness

March 2019 On the Money

With a mission to inform, empower, celebrate and advocate for British Columbia's current and aspiring business leaders, BCBusiness go behind the headlines and bring readers face to face with the key issues and people driving business in B.C.

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BCBUSINESS.CA MARCH 2019 BCBUSINESS 33 ■ Stephanie Andrew Co-founder and executive director, Capital Investment Network; founding partner, Women's Equity Lab ■ Christina Anthony VP, director, portfolio manager and invest- ment adviser, Odlum Brown; founder and chair emeritus, Forum for Women Entrepre- neurs (FWE) ■ Alexa Blain COO, Deetken Impact ■ Nicole Bradbury Partner, Renewal Funds ■ Heather Conradi Director, impact invest- ing, Vancity Capital ■ Meryle Corbett CFO, KF Capital and KF Aerospace Group ■ Nanon de Gaspé Beaubien- Mattrick Founder and president, Beehive Holdings ■ Catherine Dorazio Managing director, busi- ness development, Connor, Clark & Lunn ■ Kelsey Dunwoodie CFO and chief compliance officer, Deans Knight Capital Management ■ Samantha Findlay National sales develop- ment lead, MD Financial Management ■ Bonnie Foley-Wong CEO, Pique Ventures; founding investor and board member, Pique Fund ■ Brenda Irwin Co-founder and manag- ing partner, Relentless Pursuit Partners ■ Thealzel Lee Founder and president, E-Fund; co-manager, Vantec Angel Network ■ Ingrid Leong Director, corporate strategy, GSL Group ■ Julie McGill Managing partner, Fulmer Capital Partners ■ Kristi Miller Co-founder and national managing director, First West Capital ■ Jennifer Muench Regional president, B.C., BMO Private Wealth ■ Annamaria Nemeth VP and senior portfolio manager, TD Wealth Private Investment ■ Tea Nicola Co-founder and CEO, WealthBar ■ Maria Pacella Senior VP, private equity, PenderFund Capital Management, and portfolio manager, Pender Technology Inflection Fund ■ Sybil Verch Senior VP and national director of wealth management, Raymond James ■ Maili Wong First VP, investment adviser and portfolio manager, CIBC Wood Gundy • were investors in Campfire, and Joey Houssian sits on its advisory committee, which led to her role with JH. Gautam, who laughs easily, was always good at math, so she earned a commerce and finance degree at the University of Toronto. In 2005, with encouragement from informal mentor Kevin Li, who is still a friend and now heads U.S. investment banking for CIBC Capital Markets, she pur- sued a career in that industry, landing a job with Toronto-based Westwind Partners as an analyst. Around that time, the boutique investment bank had opened an office in London, where Gautam worked before moving to Citigroup in 2007. Returning to Toronto in 2010, she did a brief stint as an associate for BMO Capital Markets and joined the investment team of ONCAP, the mid-market platform of Onex Corp. She spent almost five years with the private equity giant, including two as director of fundraising at Onex Partners. "If you think about the private equity invest- ing cycle, it all starts with fundraising," says Gautam, whose skills in that area and as an investor caught the attention of her future Campfire colleagues. Joey Houssian invests in a variety of early-stage ventures in consumer prod- ucts, real estate, and travel and tourism. He recently launched Vallea Lumina, cre- ated with Montreal's Moment Factory, a global leader in video, lighting, sound and special effects. "It's incredibly rewarding to be able to work in so many different areas," Gautam says of JH, which has five staff. Gautam sees plenty of women go into finance. Keeping them there is another mat- ter. "Retaining that talent is the challenge we all face," she says. "As you progress along and climb the ladder, there are fewer of us here at the top." When it come s to mentor i ng, Gautam keeps things informal. Besides sit- ting down with people introduced to her through a mutual connection, she some- times responds to cold meeting requests on LinkedIn. "The younger generation's doing a great job of reaching out on their own," she says. —N.R.

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