Equities team

Romeo Leemrijse is a member of the Investment Executive Team and leads Ontario Teachers' Equities department, which delivers growth through private and public equities. He joined Ontario Teachers’ in 2006 and has more than 25 years of private equity and investment banking experience. Since joining the organization, he has been involved in a number of significant transactions including PODS, GFL, Aethon Energy, Shearers, Dematic, Insight Pharmaceuticals, GNC and Serta Simmons Bedding. He currently sits on the boards of PODS, CSC and Aethon Energy. Romeo was previously at EdgeStone Capital Partners, where he was responsible for sourcing and executing investments, as well as monitoring and providing strategic guidance to portfolio companies. Earlier in his career he worked as an investment banker at CIBC. Romeo is a CFA charterholder and graduated from the University of Calgary with a Bachelor of Commerce degree. Additionally, he holds the ICD.D certification from the Institute of Corporate Directors.

Maggie Fanari is based in London and leads High Conviction Equities (HCE), a platform which crosses over both public and private markets across most sectors globally.

Jean-Charles Douin is based in London and leads Private Capital's activities in Europe, the Middle East and Africa. He joined Ontario Teachers' in 2008 and has over 15 years of private equity experience.

Iñaki Echave co-leads the EMEA Private Capital team from our London office. Iñaki is a seasoned investor with over 20 years of international experience and a specific focus in the technology and financial sectors. He has held several senior positions in private equity, as Managing Director of Blackstone Private Equity in London, Canada Pension Plan Investment Board (CPPIB) Direct Investments in Europe and Director of BHL (UK) Holdings. Previously, Iñaki was a partner at Magnum Capital and Ventura EP and has worked for 3i, JP Morgan Partners and Bain & Co. Iñaki has an MBA from INSEAD in France and a double degree in business and law from ICADE in Spain.

Harj Shoan is based in Toronto and leads Private Capital’s Portfolio Management practice, which focuses on value creation planning, value lever acceleration, talent management, board effectiveness, and sharing of best practices across the direct investment portfolio. Prior to joining the Portfolio Management team, Harj was a member of the Consumer & Retail direct investing team in Private Capital, and currently sits on the boards of Arterra Wines Canada, Shearer's Snacks, Traeger Grills, and Koru.

Erem Kassim Lakha joins Ontario Teachers' from McKinsey & Company where she was a Partner in the UK and European Transformation Practice, focused on leading successful commercial transformations with clients across healthcare, insurance, real estate, agriculture and consumer sectors. She also has experience in supporting businesses accelerate disruption in their sectors, through digital innovation and business building. Erem is a seasoned transformation leader who has spent the past 20 years in senior operating roles, driving transformative growth. Most recently, was the Global Business Director for the Impressionist & Modern Art division at Christie’s as well as Global Head of Client Strategy reporting to the CEO. She was also an early member of the value creation team at Montagu Private Equity when the fund was making a shift to active investing, and served as MD for one of their UK-based portfolio businesses in the premium consumer space. She is a Trustee of TeenTech, a charity focused on providing tech skills and confidence to youth. She has also served as Non-Executive Director on boards of start-up companies in the healthy eating, hospitality and social impact sectors. She is also on the Advisory Board for a sports, arts and cultural talent organization targeting youth. Erem holds an MBA from Harvard Business School and a Bachelor’s in Political Science from Brown University, Rhode Island. Prior to McKinsey, Erem held roles at Christie’s Manson, Montagu Private Equity in London, Spirit Group in London (TPG/Blackstone owned), Bain & Company in Toronto, and in M&A at Credit Suisse in New York.

Ian Archbold joined Ontario Teachers’ in 2010 and is a member of the High Conviction Equities team with a focus on Global Technology investments. He has invested in public and private technology companies at scale across North America, Europe and Asia.

Adwait Masurkar joined Ontario Teachers’ in 2020 and is a member of the High Conviction Equities team with a focus on public equity investments in India and South East Asia.

Dave Haddock joined Ontario Teachers’ in 2004 as a member of the Global Active Equities team and has over 25 years’ experience investing in public markets. He currently has sector responsibilities for Industrial and Consumer Discretionary investments.

Greg Nielsen joined Ontario Teachers' in 2007. He has worked on a number of investments in the financial services sector, including GCAN Insurance Company, Canada Guaranty Mortgage Insurance Company, BroadStreet Partners, NXT Capital, First American Payments, APCO Holdings, Catalina Holdings (Bermuda), Constellation Insurance Holdings, Lendmark Financial Services, and RATESDOTCA Group Ltd (formerly Kanetix). Greg currently serves on the boards of APCO Holdings, BroadStreet Partners, Constellation, Lendmark, and RATESDOTCA Group.

Raymond Shiu joined Ontario Teachers' in 2005 from RBC Capital Markets. He has been involved in a number of direct investments, including the acquisition of the Pure Group, Flynn Restaurant Group, Insight Pharmaceuticals, PetVet Care Centre, Shearer's Foods, Serta, Simmons, and Valentino Fashion Group. He also participated in the formation of FountainVest Partners and Park Square Capital and currently sits on the boards of Flynn Restaurant Group and the Pure Group.

Blake joined Ontario Teachers' in 2013 and has worked in private equity for more than 15 years. Previously, Blake was a Senior Vice President at Callisto Capital, a mid-market Toronto-based private equity firm focusing on buyouts and growth capital investments in Canada. Blake's varied work experience includes hedge fund investing at a Toronto-based firm, equity research at RBC Dominion Securities and debt syndication at Newcourt Capital.

Ashfaq Qadri joined Ontario Teachers' in 2016 with more than a decade of experience in private equity and investment banking. His role includes execution and portfolio management responsibilities for direct private equity investments in the industrials and energy sectors. Ashfaq currently serves on the boards of various Ontario Teachers' portfolio companies, including The AZEK Company, Trivium Packaging, TricorBraun, Stone Canyon Industries Holdings, Hawkwood Energy and Kanata Energy Group. Prior to joining Ontario Teachers', Ashfaq was a Vice President at Morgan Stanley Private Equity, with roles based in both New York and London. He previously also worked in Morgan Stanley's Investment Banking division in New York. Ashfaq received a Bachelor of Arts degree from Amherst College and graduated with a double major in Computer Science and Economics.

Robin Shah joined Ontario Teachers' in 2012 and is focused on direct private equity investments in the industrials and business services sector. Since joining the organization he has worked on a number of investments, including Aurora Plastics, Infiltrator Water Technologies, Mauser Packaging Solutions, Cole Parmer, CSC ServiceWorks, EXAL Group, and Alliance Laundry. Robin serves on the boards of Aurora Plastics and Mauser Packaging Solutions.

Jeff Markusson joined Ontario Teachers' in 2006 and has participated in a number of investments across the industrial, business services, and financial services sectors. He currently serves on the boards of APCO, Broadstreet Partners, Constellation Insurance Holdings, First American Payments Systems, Lendmark Financial Services, and Seacube.

Salman Hasnain joined Ontario Teachers’ in 2022, and his responsibilities include transaction sourcing, execution, and managing the firm’s direct private equity investments. He currently serves on the boards of Allworth Financial, and Constellation.

Ying Soong re-joined Ontario Teachers’ in 2023 with a focus on private equity investments in the Financial Services sector, where she had also spent 8 years previously. She currently serves on the boards of Broadstreet Partners, Canada Guaranty, and Lendmark Financial Services. Prior to her return, Ying was a founding partner of La Tourelle Capital working on early-stage equity investments in both the Financial Services and the Healthcare sectors. She worked previously at AIG, where she was a founding member of AIG Energy, a principal investing and commodity trading platform. Ying started her career at J.P. Morgan with their energy investment banking team in New York. Ying holds a M.B.A. from Harvard Business School and a B.A. in Computer Science and Economics from Wellesley College. Ying currently serves as an officer of the HBS Club of Toronto.

Christian Dunn joined Ontario Teachers' in 2006 and moved to the Hong Kong office in 2013. He has been involved in the origination, evaluation, execution, and post-investment monitoring and management of numerous fund investments, most recently with a focus on Asia and the emerging markets. He has also been involved in select direct and venture capital investments. As part of the Asia team, Christian is focused on fund investments in the region.

Mei Ni Yang is based in Hong Kong and is part of the senior team leading private equity funds in the Asia-Pacific region. Mei Ni has more than 20 years of experience in the private equity and venture capital industry. Prior to joining Ontario Teachers’, Mei Ni was a Partner and Head of Private Equity for Asia-Pacific at Mercer, where she was a member of the global IC and was responsible for investment research, business development and portfolio construction. She started her career at Citigroup Investment Banking and held various senior positions at JP Morgan Partners, Hamilton Lane and UBS. Mei Ni received her B.S. and B.A. degrees from The University of Pennsylvania, where she graduated from the Huntsman Program, a dual-degree program between The Wharton School and College of Arts and Sciences. She is a Chartered Financial Analyst registered in Hong Kong.

Joe Topley joined Ontario Teachers' London office in 2016 and is responsible for private equity funds in the EMEA region.

Terry Woodward leads the Global Healthcare portfolio and team within Private Capital. He joined Ontario Teachers' in 2001 with prior industry experience in both R&D and corporate development.

Richard Thomas joined Ontario Teachers’ Portfolio Management Team in 2020. He works closely with portfolio companies in the Financial Services and Technology sectors to lead the identification and implementation of strategic priorities and value creation opportunities. Richard also drives portfolio-wide initiatives as part of the PMT, and sits on the boards of Koru and Lendmark Financial. Prior to joining Teachers’, Richard held a number of executive roles at Royal Bank of Canada. These included leading the development of the bank’s digital start-up arm at RBC Ventures, leading the Strategy & Business Architecture group, and managing portfolios and products within Cards & Payments. His previous experiences also include executive positions at HSBC and Sears Canada Financial Services, as well as working with Deloitte in Europe and North America in the Strategy & Operations practice. Richard has an MA from the University of St Andrews, an MBA from London Business School, and the Chartered Director (C.Dir) designation from the Directors College at McMaster University.

Matthew Howard-Cairns leads the Value Creation practice for Ontario Teachers’ Equities business in the Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA) region, based in London. He joined Teachers’ in 2022 and is involved in a number of Teachers’ Private Capital investments. Previously, Matthew worked at Blackstone, one of the world’s leading investment firms, where he was the head of Asset Management for Blackstone’s Tactical Opportunities business in Europe. At Blackstone, Matthew served on the Boards of Directors of portfolio companies across a variety of asset classes, industries and geographies. He started his career at PricewaterhouseCoopers. Matthew serves as a non-executive trustee for several charities. Matthew graduated with joint honours in Economics and Politics from the University of Durham and is also a Chartered Accountant.

Tricia Witty joined Ontario Teachers' Portfolio Management team in 2016. She supports our portfolio companies in identifying and capturing value creation opportunities, particularly in the area of Operations. She currently sits on the board of Shearer’s Foods.

Cindy Yan leads the direct and co-investment activities and portfolio management for Ontario Teachers' in Asia Pacific. She is based in Ontario Teachers' Hong Kong office. She has over two decades of combined experience in Private Equity, Management Consulting and Corporate Operations and General Management. Prior to joining Ontario Teachers, Cindy was a Partner with Advantage Partners, an Asia focused mid-cap buyout firm, where she led various buyout and late-stage growth investments in Greater China and Southeast Asia and Pan Asia cross-border value creation for the portfolio companies. The investments are across Technology, Consumer, Services (Consumer & Business), Health/Wellness, and various Industrial sectors. Prior to that, she worked at Boston Consulting Group and the 999 Group Cindy holds a BA from Sichuan International Studies University and MBA from Harvard Business School.

Francois Stoessel is based in London and part of the Private Capital team. He joined Ontario Teachers' in 2016 and has over 10 years of private equity investing experience. He covers the Healthcare sector in Europe.

Marvin Teubner joined the London office of Private Capital in 2011 and has over 15 years of private equity investing experience. He has worked on a number of transactions and was recently involved in the buyouts of Techem, CeramTec, Synlab, Lowell, Bridon, and Burton's Biscuits. Marvin currently serves on the boards of Techem, CeramTec, Synlab, and Lowell.

Eric Hargrave joined Ontario Teachers' in 2009 and has nearly two decades of principal investing, investment banking and accounting experience. He relocated from Toronto to London in 2015 and after nine years of working on the Infrastructure and Natural Resources team, he joined Private Capital in 2018. He is responsible for origination, execution, and management of direct investments in the technology, media and telecom sectors across Europe, as well as geographic coverage for the Nordics. Eric currently serves on the board of Memora.

Ashvin Malkani joined Ontario Teachers' in 2002 and has over 20 years of private equity investing experience. He has been involved in a number of transactions at Ontario Teachers', including Maple Leaf Sports & Entertainment, CTVglobemedia, Doane Pet Care Company, North American Oil Sands Corporation, Q9 Networks, Datapipe, Ascend Learning, Metronode, TierPoint and RSA Security. Ashvin leads the Global Technology group and is based in Toronto. He currently serves on the board of directors of Intouch CX, Compass Datacenters, Fleet Complete, Mitratech and Sovos Compliance.

Ilya Kachko joined Ontario Teachers' in 2009 and has 17 years of private equity and investment banking experience. Ilya has been involved in a number of transactions at Ontario Teachers', including Camelot Group, Premier Lotteries Ireland, SeaCube Container Leasing, BayBridge Seniors Housing, Amica Mature Lifestyles, Datapipe, Metronode Group, 24-7 Intouch, Fleet Complete, RSA Security, and Mitratech. He currently serves on the board of directors of Camelot Lottery Solutions, 24-7 Intouch, RSA Security, and Mitratech, and previously served on the boards of BayBridge Seniors Housing, Metronode Group, Fleet Complete, and Premier Lotteries Ireland.

Karim Hussein joined Ontario Teachers’ in 2021 and is a member of Equities’ portfolio management and equities transformation team. He previously worked for Barclay Private Bank London, where he worked as a Director, Chief of Staff & Head of Business Transformation. His experience prior to that includes time at American Express in Business Planning & Analysis and Client Acquisition roles supporting the International Consumer Card division. He has also worked in Equity Derivative Sales & Structuring in several institutions, most notably Credit Suisse where he built out the Smart-Beta and thematic Equity product set for Retail and Institutional clients. Karim holds a BSc in Economics from the University of Nottingham and earned his MBA degree from London Business School.