Meet The Experts - Money smart

Meet the expert team that gets to the bottom of the financial issues facing today’s young Manitoban adults.

Ainsley Cunningham (Host)

Ainsley Cunningham is the Manager of Education and Communications with the Manitoba Financial Services Agency. During her 24-year tenure with the Agency she has been responsible for the development and delivery of financial literacy programs for Manitobans. Her passion for teaching financial literacy concepts is evident in the creative nature of the programs that the Agency has developed and the personal manner in which she interacts with learners.

As Manager of Education and Communications, Ainsley has represented the Commission on both national and international education committees. Prior to government service Ainsley spent several years working in the securities industry and teaching in the public school system. Ainsley holds a Bachelor of Arts and a Bachelor of Education degrees as well as a Certificate in Management from the University of Manitoba.

Simon Belanger

Simon is the co-host of The Podcast For Canadian Investors.The podcast features in depth discussion around individual stocks and various investing strategies while incorporating the nuances of Canadian investment vehicles. Simon has years of experience in the pension and retirement space. He loves helping people understand their pension and the impact it has on their retirement.

Robert Chernomas
Robert Chernomas is a Professor of Economics at the University of Manitoba. He has been a visiting professor at Johns Hopkins University, Bucknell University and lectured in Europe, Africa and China specializing in macroeconomics, the economic determinants of health, health economics and the history of economic thought. Robert has been intensely active in the University of Manitoba Faculty Association and advisor to governments provincially, nationally and internationally.

He is the co-author with Ian and Mark Hudson of Neoliberal Lives: Work, Politics, Nature and Health in Contemporary America, Manchester University Press, 2019; in 2016 (with co-author Ian Hudson) Economics in the 21^st Century: A Critical Perspective, University of Toronto Press; and the forthcoming, The American Gene: The Unnatural Selection of poor Whites, Blacks and Women from the University Press of Toronto Press with co-authors Ian Hudson and Greg Chernomas.

Sean Geobey
Sean is the Assistant Professor in Social Innovation and Social Entrepreneurship in the University of Waterloo’s School of Environment, Enterprise and Development (SEED) where his teaching includes social entrepreneurship, social finance, and sustainable business strategy. He is the Academic Director of the Masters of Economic Development and Innovation (MEDI) program at the University of Waterloo and Co-Director of the Waterloo Institute for Social Innovation and Resilience (WISIR) and has led a number of multisector codesign collaborations on issues including business succession planning, sustainable finance, and affordable housing. Currently he is leading an initiative funded by the Canadian Social Finance Fund’s Investment Readiness Program to build capacity for and understanding of the Canadian social finance sector.

Jeffrey Hodgson
Jeffrey Hodgson joined the CPP Investment Board in July 2017. He oversees the Global Stakeholder Affairs function. Jeffrey has more than 20 years of experience as a financial journalist on three continents. He began his career at Bloomberg News in Toronto and subsequently took on a variety of reporting and editing roles at Reuters. These included postings in London and Hong Kong, where he led coverage of Asia’s asset management industry. More recently he was Business Editor for The Canadian Press, overseeing the work of journalists in Toronto, Ottawa, Montreal, Calgary and Vancouver.

Jeffrey holds a Bachelor of Journalism degree from Carleton University in Ottawa.

Spencer Jakab
Spencer is the editor of the “Heard on the Street” column at The Wall Street Journal and a former top-rated stock analyst. He is author of the book: The Revolution That Wasn’t: GameStop, Reddit and the Fleecing of Small Investors (Portfolio, 2022).

Dr. Paul Kershaw
Dr. Paul Kershaw is a policy professor in the UBC School of Population & Public Health, a regular media contributor and Founder of a Generation Squeeze – an award-winning “Think and Change Tank” that promotes wellbeing and fairness for all generations. Generation Squeeze turns evidence into action and rejuvenates democracy in order to preserve what is sacred for younger and future generations: a healthy home, childhood and planet.

Carolyn Lussier
Carolyn works as a financial advisor, providing comprehensive financial planning to individuals, families, and business owners. She began her career in 2008 with a focus on investment and insurance planning. In 2010, she obtained her Certified Financial Planning designation, maintaining internationally recognized standards of knowledge, skills, ability, and ethics. In 2017, Carolyn obtained her Chartered Life Underwriter designation (CLU®), Canada’s premier wealth transfer and estate planning designation.

Enoch Omololu
Enoch Omololu is the resident personal finance expert at SavvyNewCanadians.com and a veterinarian. He has a master’s degree in Finance and Investment Management from the University of Aberdeen Business School (Scotland) and has completed several courses and certificates in finance, including the Canadian Securities Course. He also has an MSc. in Agricultural Economics from the University of Manitoba and a Doctor of Veterinary Medicine degree from the University of Ibadan.

Enoch is passionate about helping others win with their finances and has been writing about money matters for over a decade. His writing has been featured or quoted in The Globe and Mail, Winnipeg Free Press, Wealthsimple, Financial Post, Toronto Star, Credit Canada, CAA Magazine, National Post, CIBC, and many other personal finance publications. Since he founded the Savvy New Canadians platform in 2016, it has been read by more than 16 million unique visitors.

Arian Poushangi
Arian Poushangi is a Lawyer with the Manitoba Securities Commission (MSC). As a Lawyer at the MSC, Arian is involved in enforcement matters, corporate policy development, and is also the Manitoba member on various Canadian Securities Administrators (CSA) Committees related to the regulation of cryptocurrencies. Prior to joining the MSC, Arian practiced at a large full service firm in Manitoba, where he specialized in corporate and securities matters. Arian has a Juris Doctor degree and a Bachelor of Science degree, both from the University of Manitoba.

Dan Richard

Dan is a Treaty 1 band member in Manitoba—Sandy Bay First Nation. He obtained his CA designation in 2001, becoming the third First Nation CA in Manitoba. He has been a Board member (Treasurer) of the Indigenous Chamber of Commerce since 2018, is a current Board member of BUILD and Chair of the Indigenous Learning Centre, and past board member of AFOA Canada and AFOA Manitoba.

Kerstin Roger
Kerstin Roger, PhD. (Professor, Department of Community Health Sciences, Max Rady College of Medicine, Rady Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Manitoba). Research focusses on the family, caregiving and aging, health and wellness including abuse, and how these interface with health care and a wide range of chronic illnesses. Dr. Roger has been a Principal Investigator on multi-site nationally funded research (e.g. PHAC, SSHRC, Movember, federal government), as well as conducting provincial and regionally funded research. She has worked on international collaborations, local not-for-profit community initiatives, and continues to co-author and engage graduate students in her research.

Dr. Moira Somers
Dr. Moira Somers is a financial psychologist, neuropsychologist, and behavioural scientist based in Winnipeg, Manitoba. She consults to organizations around the globe on issues pertaining to money and mental health, financial non-adherence, and behaviourally smart interventions for financial services. She is the author of Advice that Sticks: How to Give Financial Advice that People Will Follow.

Samson Williams
Samson Williams is joining us from Washington, DC where he hones his trade as a classically trained anthropologist who specializes in crisis management for banks, financial institutions and the odd government agency. When not in DC, Samson can be found traveling around Europe and the Middle East lecturing on FinTech, the intersection of Blockchain and The Space Economy and how technology transforms social capital into financial capital. Samson is an Adjunct Professor at University of New Hampshire School of Law and an Instructor at Columbia University in NYC where he lectures on AI ethics, blockchain, cryptocurrencies and the Space Economy. In his spare time Samson is President of the Crowdfunding Professional Association and investor and Head Cheerleader for GoingPublic.com, an SEC regulated RegA+ investment crowdfunding platform.

Last but not least, Samson is a gummy bear aficionado so if he bores you with talk about cryptos, NFTs, real estate and the 5th Industrial Revolution ask him about his favorite gummy bears. For more information on Samson visit www.SamsonWilliams.com and follow him on social @HustleFundBaby.