Our Managing Partners

David has held senior positions in the banking sector, both leading businesses and managing complex functional roles. He has managed sales, product, and strategy for TD Bank Commercial, one of Canada’s big 5 banks and has planned and structured some of the largest domestic and international mergers and acquisitions in Canadian banking history. David has the operating know-how to deliver innovation and value-creation.

Following his banking success, David took his executive experience to a highly innovative banking solution at one of the world’s largest technology companies.

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David enjoys a reputation as a trusted and creative advisor and strategist, with advanced analytical capability. Over the past 30+ years, David has a track record of delivering impactful results while building great teams and future leaders. He is committed to integrity, transparency, and meeting the needs of colleagues, clients, and governance communities.  

Throughout his career, David has been immersed in risk management. Most recently, David was the Director of Risk at World Vision Canada, Canada’s largest humanitarian NGO where he worked with Board members, the CEO, and senior management to implement a best-in-class strategic risk management capability. Under David's leadership, enterprise risk management became engrained into enterprise-wide strategy, facilitated the embracing of risk culture throughout the organization, and enabled robust risk-aware dialogues amongst the CEO, senior leadership team, and the Board of Directors. 

At work and in his over 20 years of Board experience, David has a passion for serving the marginalized and delivering solutions to the challenges of those in poverty, both domestically and internationally.  He appreciates and has championed strong board/management collaboration, valuing transparent and trusted relationships. David has a Bachelor of Commerce from Victoria College at the University of Toronto.

Cheryl Leonhardt, CFA
Managing Partner

Cheryl Leonhardt is an insightful and passionate leader with over 25 years of experience advising Canadian, American and global corporates and NGOs in the areas of strategy, risk, innovation, and financial governance. She has engaged Boards of Directors, CEOs, senior management and operational staff to effectively and concretely assess, analyze and develop approaches to achieve operational goals and develop strategy.

Previously, Cheryl was a senior executive and Board member at one of Canada’s largest investment dealers where she implemented and managed the integrated business unit responsible for all aspects of equity derivatives, structuring and introduction of innovative products, the research and ongoing assessment of risk management and the evaluation and development of analytical trading systems. She has a reputation for integrity, innovation, diligence and excellence.

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Cheryl has researched, quantified and lived with risk her whole career. Early on, at the introduction of more complex derivatives into the Canadian equity market, Cheryl was part of a small team which pioneered real-time AI and 3D visualization approaches for the live risk management of investment strategies and trading positions. Her ongoing interest in the application of quantitative and qualitative approaches to risk as it applies to corporate operations and strategy has been a driver in her management experience and consulting practice.

Cheryl has served on numerous Corporate and Not for Profit Boards over the past 28 years. As the Audit Committee Chair at World Vision Canada, she advocated for the adoption of strategic risk management and then worked with the management team and Board to embrace enterprise risk management for strategic and governance excellence. Cheryl has an Honors B.A. (Business) with Distinction from The Richard Ivey School of Business, Western University, and an M. Phil. (International Relations) from Cambridge University. She is a Chartered Financial Analyst and a Past Fellow of the Canadian Securities Institute.