AVENTINE - Key Persons
Job Titles:
- Portfolio Manager
- Head of Private Client Services
David is a Portfolio Manager at Aventine with primary responsibility for investment research, trading and operational support. He works on the investment selection team for both clients' core, low turnover holdings as well as those held by the firm's two actively managed investment funds. David is also a key participant in our third party fund manager selection and monitoring process.
Prior to joining Aventine, David was an Associate Portfolio Manager at a large Canadian Pension Fund covering North American equities. Previously David was an Analyst for the Equity Long/Short team of UBS O'Connor, a large multi-strategy hedge fund, based in London, UK. David has earned a Bachelor of Commerce degree from Queen's University and a Masters in Finance from London Business School.
Job Titles:
- Managing Partner
- Portfolio Manager
James is the Managing Partner and Portfolio Manager at Aventine. He is co-lead Portfolio Manager of the Aventine Canadian Equity Fund and the Aventine Dividend Fund. James also manages the overall asset allocation and third party manager selection for Aventine.
Prior to joining Aventine, James was a Portfolio Manager for two industry leading funds at an independent investment firm based in Toronto, Canada with approximately $1 billion in assets under management. Previously he served as an investment consultant focusing on the development and implementation of quantitative strategies for institutional portfolio managers across Canada and the US. James is a CFA Charterholder and member of the Toronto CFA Society. He earned a Bachelor of Business Administration (Finance) from Wilfrid Laurier University.
Jim is a Partner at Aventine and the firm's Chief Compliance Officer. He is co-lead Portfolio Manager of the Aventine Canadian Equity Fund and the Aventine Dividend Fund. Jim is a value investor to the core who primarily concentrates his investment activities in the areas of fundamental research, industry analysis and business valuation.
Prior to joining Aventine, Jim was a portfolio analyst at an independent investment firm based in Toronto, Canada with approximately $1 billion in assets under management. Previously to this Jim worked as Country Manager for the Private Equity and M&A group at Marsh & McLennan as well as spending time with Macassa Capital, Quilvest Private Equity and Bain & Company. Jim is a CFA Charterholder. He earned a B.Comm from Queen's University and an MBA from Harvard Business School.
Nicholas is a Senior Associate at Aventine with primary responsibility for investment research and trading. He works on the investment selection team for both clients' core low turnover holdings as well as those held by the firm's two actively managed investment funds. Nicholas is also a key participant in our third-party fund manager and private investment opportunities selection and monitoring process.
Nicholas previously worked alongside the Aventine team as a Summer Investment Analyst while earning a Bachelor of Commerce (Hons.) degree from Queen's University. Prior to returning to Aventine, Nicholas completed his Juris Doctor degree down under in Australia, achieving Class 1 Distinction. While studying, Nicholas volunteered as a senior student advisor at the school's Commercial Law Clinic.
Job Titles:
- Head of Private Client Services
Shannon is the Head of Private Client Services at Aventine. She serves clients by working closely with the Portfolio Managers to provide effective communication of the firm's investment strategies while managing incoming inquiries and new client on-boarding. Shannon is also responsible for Aventine's marketing initiatives, portfolio reviews, tax statements and helps manage much of the general operations of the firm.
Prior to joining Aventine, Shannon worked for SunLife Financial where she utilized "insurance as an asset class" strategies designed to mitigate the tax impact of succession planning for high net worth individuals and families. Shannon holds a Bachelor of Commerce degree from the University of Guelph and an advanced diploma in Accounting.
Job Titles:
- Chairman
- Partner
- Our Chairman and Partner
Vahan is an entrepreneur and investor whose career includes investment and merchant banking, operational management, private equity and public investments. In addition to serving as Aventine's Chairman, Vahan also runs TerraNova Partners LP , a private equity firm he launched in 2004. Prior to launching TerraNova, Vahan co-founded Polar Capital Corporation, a private Toronto-based investment company where he served as President from 1990 to 2000.
Vahan currently serves on the board of two other TerraNova portfolio companies including York Environmental and Carma Industries. He is a member of the World Presidents' Organization and is active with several community service projects, most notably The Mosaic Institute where he is co-founder and Chairman. Vahan holds a law degree from the University of Ottawa, a B.A. from the University of Western Ontario and a Certificate of Proficiency from the Langues et Lettres faculty of the University of Grenoble, France.
Our Chairman and Partner, Vahan Kololian, exemplifies this well when in 1983, as a young investment banker at Burns Fry, he first approached Jim Pottow's grandfather, Frank Bazos, with a business proposal. Frank, an immigrant from Greece, was an entrepreneur who founded the widely successful Becker's convenience store chain in Ontario. Vahan had analyzed the convenience store market space and saw tremendous potential for incremental synergies that could be created by the Becker's chain of convenience stores combining with Mac's Convenience Stores (at the time owned by Silcorp Limited). He sent a letter to Frank Bazos outlining the conviction of his proposal.