Hall of Fame 2019

Helen Kearns has been a leader in capital markets in Canada for more than 30 years. She started in the investment business at Richardson Greenshields of Canada Limited, where she advanced to Head of Institutional Sales & Trading and was a member of the firm’s Executive Committee. Helen oversaw the institutional equity sales and trading activities both in North America and abroad as well as managing liability trading and offering capital markets insight into underwriting.

In 1996 she founded her own institutional investment firm, Kearns Capital Limited which, in its first year, participated in over $2 billion in underwriting. In doing so, she became the first woman to launch an institutionally focused brokerage in Canada. Helen sold her interest in 1999.

From 2001 to 2004, Helen was President of NASDAQ Canada where she introduced the NASDAQ trading platform to Canadian capital markets. During this time, she became a Founding Board Member of L’Association des femmes en finance du Québec.

She joined Bell Kearns & Associates Ltd. in 2006, an investment consulting firm serving families, foundations and businesses, and was named President and Chief Executive Officer of the firm in 2008.

Helen served three terms as a Governor of the Toronto Stock Exchange and played an instrumental role in the strategic repositioning of the TSX. She also served as Lead Director on the Advisory Board of the KingSett Canadian Real Estate Income Fund.

She has served on several boards including the Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan, the Alberta Investment Management Corporation, the National Ballet School, the Multiple Sclerosis Research Foundation, George Brown College Foundation, and Women in the Lead, and on the Board of Governors of OCAD University.

Helen’s extensive background in Canada’s investment industry was recognized in 2002 when she was the recipient of the John Molson School of Business Award of Distinction. In addition, she is a recipient of the Montreal Board of Trade Women of Distinction Award (2002), the “Women on the Move” Entrepreneur of the Year Award (1997) and was recognized by the Financial Post as one of the 100 Most Powerful Women in Canada (2004). In 2012 Helen was elected President of The Ticker Club, a Bay Street luncheon club that attracts the cognoscenti of Canada’s money managers with assets under management of over $3 trillion.

Click here for the Investment Industry Hall of Fame video vignette of Inductee Helen Kearns.

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Following graduation from the Wharton School, Jim joined Merrill Lynch in New York. He was transferred to Toronto and began his career as a Research Analyst with the firm leaving in early 1959 to join Harris & Partners, a small boutique investment firm. Harris & Partners merged with RBC Dominion Securities in 1973 where he became an Executive Vice President. He was transferred to Montreal and assumed responsibility for the combined firms’ operations in Quebec. Returning to Toronto, he became Chairman of RBC Dominion Securities, a role he held from 1981-1992.

In addition to serving as a director of several public companies, Jim contributed to the governance of his profession, serving as a member of the Board of Governors of the Toronto Stock Exchange, and a member, as well as National Chairman of the Board of the Investment Dealers Association of Canada.

He is currently a Board member of the Ontario Arts Foundation, Business for the Arts, and The National Ballet of Canada Endowment Foundation. He is past Chairman of the Boards of The National Ballet of Canada, The National Ballet of Canada Endowment Foundation, The Hospital for Sick Children Foundation, the Board of Trustees of The Hospital for Sick Children and the Board of Trustees of Rosedale United Church.

In recognition of his many contributions to the quality of life in Canada, Mr. Pitblado was appointed a Member of the Order of Canada in 1998. He also received the Edmund C. Bovey Award for leadership in business and the arts in 2000. Jim and Sandra Pitblado were jointly named the outstanding Philanthropists of the year by the National Society of Fundraising Executives in 1999 and jointly received the Ramon John Hnatyshyn Award for Voluntarism in the Performing Arts in 2003. In 2005, he received an Honorary Doctorate of Laws from the University of Manitoba.

Click here for the Investment Industry Hall of Fame video vignette of Inductee Jim Pitblado.

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Charlie has worked in finance, investing and wealth management for over 35 years and his vision and entrepreneurial spirit have shaped the careers of many. He was the founder of Wellington West Holdings Inc. which successfully employed over 650 professionals before being acquired in 2011 by National Bank of Canada. From 2011 to 2016, Charlie was Vice-Chair on the Executive Committee of National Bank Financial Wealth Management.

Prior to forming Wellington West, Charlie was a Senior Vice President and Director of Midland Walwyn Capital Inc., Canada’s largest independently owned retail investment firm.

In 2017, Charlie’s entrepreneurial spirit took hold again and he, along with new partners, formed Wellington-Altus Private Wealth Inc. an independent wealth management firm.

Charlie is proud of his Manitoba roots and, along with his wife Dayna, is a strong supporter of their local community engaging with many worthy causes.

Most recently Charlie was inducted into the 2018 Wealth Professional Inaugural Hall of Fame and named by Wealth Professional Magazine as one of the Top 50 Advisor’s in all of Canada. More recently he was honoured with the Invesco Canada Award for Lifetime Achievement at the 2019 Wealth Professional Awards.

Click here for the Investment Industry Hall of Fame video vignette of Inductee Charlie Spiring.

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Eric Steven Sprott, is a renowned and respected leader in the investment community and one of the world’s premiere gold and silver investors with over 50 years of experience in the investment industry. After earning his designation as a Chartered Accountant, Mr. Sprott entered the investment industry as a research analyst at Merrill Lynch and Company Inc. He is the Professional investor, Director and Founder of the Sprott Foundation. In 1981, he founded Sprott Securities (now Cormark Securities Inc.). After establishing Sprott Asset Management LP. in December 2001 as a separate entity, Mr. Sprott divested his entire ownership of Sprott Securities to its employees. He served as Chairman of the Board at Kirkland Lake Gold Ltd. from November 2016 and was Chair of Kirkland Lake Gold Inc. from February 2015 until his recent retirement as Chairman and member of the Board in May 2019.

Over the course of his career, Eric has received numerous industry awards and in 2012 he was awarded the Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Medal by the Governor General. In 2013, he was appointed as a Member of the Order of Canada.

Over the years, Eric has also been recognized for his considerable philanthropic endeavours and community contributions. Eric and his family established the Sprott Foundation in 1988 to address urgent human need, hunger and homelessness. He has provided generous endowments to Carleton University, the Ottawa Hospital Foundation, Daily Bread Food Bank and United Way, among others. More recently, Eric donated $1.4 million to Can Fund in support of Canadian athletes for every gold medal won at the 2010 Vancouver Olympics. Eric sponsored a 24-year old Canadian driver, James Hinchcliffe, getting him a seat with the prestigious Newman/Haas Racing. In June 2012, the Sprott Foundation donated $25 million in support of the Department of Surgery at the University Health Network.

Click here for the Investment Industry Hall of Fame video vignette of Inductee Eric Sprott.

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