Financial Services Sector Forum Speakers

Saskia Tolsma

Saskia Tolsma is Vice President, Policy and Stakeholder Engagement with BCFSA. She is responsible for developing policies and best practices and operationalizing an engagement strategy for BCFSA as a modern, effective and efficient regulator. She leverages over 15 years of experience in policy and regulatory development, including extensive work with a variety of government partners, regulators, and external stakeholders in order to provide strategic advice on how BCFSA meets its commitments for meaningful engagement and transparency.

Before joining BCFSA, Saskia held progressively senior roles at the Department of Finance Canada. This experience included roles to support the Minister of Finance in developing the federal budget, developing the mandate for the Canada Infrastructure Bank and roles in financial sector policy related to financial services innovation and consumer protection. Most recently this entailed responsibility for the federal government’s review into open banking and supporting the Minister of Finance’s Advisory Committee on open banking. Prior to joining Finance Canada, Saskia also worked at the Senate of Canada in a policy capacity, particularly on environment and natural resource files. These roles have supported Saskia in developing a strong sense of how to advance priority public policy initiatives and how to manage challenging issues in the public environment.

Saskia holds a Bachelor of Public Affairs and Policy Management from Carleton University, and a Masters of Public Policy from the University of Ottawa.

Dr. Stanley Hamilton

Dr. Hamilton is the chair of BCFSA’s board of directors and an emeritus professor at UBC’s Sauder School of Business.

During his career at UBC, Dr. Hamilton taught and conducted research in real estate valuation and investments, institutional investments, pension fund governance, and the real estate brokerage industry.

Blair Morrison

Blair Morrison is the Chief Executive Officer of BC Financial Services Authority (“BCFSA”). He also serves as B.C.’s Superintendent of Financial Institutions, Superintendent of Pensions, Superintendent of Real Estate and the Registrar of Mortgage Brokers as well as Chief Executive Officer of the Credit Union Deposit Insurance Corporation (“CUDIC”).

Blair is leading BCFSA on its journey to become a modern, effective, and efficient regulator for B.C.’s financial services sector. He has been instrumental in driving BCFSA’s strategy to safeguard the integrity of the sector and boost public protection.

A multifaceted executive, Blair brings more than 25 years of extensive regulatory, legal, compliance, and risk management experience.

Prior to joining BCFSA, Blair held progressively senior roles with some of Canada’s major institutions. He most recently spent over 11 years with the Bank of Montreal (“BMO”) in senior roles in Legal, Compliance, and Procurement. Prior to joining BMO, he served in senior legal roles with TMX Group and Nortel Networks Corporation.

Blair holds a Bachelor of Commerce from Queen’s University and a Bachelor of Laws from The University of Western Ontario.

Pam Skinner

As Senior Vice President of Education, Licensing and CUDIC Operations, Pamela Skinner oversees BCFSA’s licensing, registration, and education. She is responsible for planning and implementing regulatory and business solutions strategies. She also oversees the Credit Union Deposit Insurance Corporation (“CUDIC”).

With over 30 years’ experience in banking and regulatory services, Pam has deep expertise in licensing, education, and professional advisory services. Her regulatory experience includes serving as Vice President of Education and Licensing with the Real Estate Council of British Columbia (“RECBC”).

Pam is a Fellow of the Chartered Professional Accountants (“FCGA”, “FCPA”). She was previously Vice President of Public Practice Regulation at the Chartered Professional Accountants of British Columbia (“CPABC”). Pam was active in pursuing the unification of the three professional accounting designations in B.C. and played a significant role in creating CPABC’s regulatory structure by serving on several committees at both the provincial and national levels.

Prior to joining the professional accounting regulator, Pam held senior and executive roles with several financial institutions including one of the big-five Canadian banks. She was Vice President of Trust for HSBC Bank (Canada), CEO of HSBC Trust Company (Canada), and Director of Trust Services with Bank of Montreal (“BMO”) Harris Private Banking.

Pam has volunteered in various capacities with the Estate Planning Council of Vancouver, including a term as President. She has also served as Director of Lions Gate Hospital Foundation, Member of the Foundation’s Investment Committee, and Chair of the Planned Giving Committee.

Jock Finlayson

Until January 2021, Jock Finlayson was the Executive Vice President and Chief Economist at the Business Council of British Columbia, an organization representing some 250 large and mid-size companies, academic institutions, and affiliated industry associations in the province. In that capacity, he led the Business Council’s work on economic, fiscal, tax, environmental, regulatory and human capital issues of interest to the business community. In 2021, Jock became a Senior Advisor to the Business Council, working on a half-time basis.

Jock holds a master’s degree in business from Yale University, undergraduate and M.A. degrees from UBC, and a post-graduate diploma in economics from the University of London. He received an honorary doctorate from Royal Roads University in 2014.

Jock previously served on the Boards of Directors of the Bank of Canada, the Institute for Research on Public Policy, Genome BC, the Canada West Foundation, Innovate BC, Invest Vancouver, and the Degree Quality Assessment Board of British Columbia. From 2007 through 2017, he was a member of the National Statistics Council.

Geordie Hungerford

Geordie Hungerford bring deep experience in finance and financial law, with experience as a senior investment product securities lawyer at the British Columbia Securities Commission, financial tribunal Chair and CEO at the Financial Services Tribunal (British Columbia), management consultant at McKinsey & Company and mergers and acquisitions investment banker at Broadview (now Jefferies). Geordie was also on the committee that recommended the creation of the Canadian Sustainability Standard Board.

Geordie holds an MBA from the Stanford Graduate School of Business and an MA (East Asian Studies/Chinese) from Stanford University, a law degree from the University of British Columbia, and an electrical and computer engineering degree from Queen’s University. He is proficient in Mandarin Chinese, having studied for a year at Tsinghua University in Beijing, China. Geordie is a CFA Charterholder, CAIA Charterholder and an Action Canada Fellow.

Bryan Yu

Bryan Yu leads a team that conduct macro- and regional economic analysis for Central 1 and the broader credit union system. He authors many of the team’s flagship economic and housing outlook reports and weekly notes. Bryan speaks regularly at credit union and industry events and is frequently contacted by media to provide national and provincial economic commentary. He also leads Central 1’s IFRS9 national platform business, and sits on various Central 1 risk and treasury committees. Bryan joined Central 1 in 2010, and previously worked as a housing economist for the BC Real Estate Association, CMHC, and conducted academic researcher in immigration economics. Bryan holds a MA in Economics from Simon Fraser University and a BA from the University of Manitoba. He currently serves on the boards of S.U.C.C.E.S.S., the B.C. Paraplegic Foundation, and the Canadian Association for Business Economics.

Derrick Lau

Derrick Lau serves as Vice President of Supervision of BC Financial Services Authority (“BCFSA”). Reporting to Chris Elgar, Derrick served as a Director of Credit Unions and was a key leader in developing and executing a strategy that modernized BCFSA’s regulatory framework to respond more effectively to the dynamic changes occurring in the macroeconomic environment.

Derrick is an entrepreneurial leader with over 20 years’ experience executing strategic initiatives, establishing strong partnerships, and strengthening organizational culture. He brings a strong background in risk management and finance to the role and will continue to advance BCFSA’s risk-based supervisory practices to better integrate safety and soundness with market conduct imperatives.

Prior to his regulatory roles, Derrick held senior management roles with multinational firms, including PricewaterhouseCoopers, Deloitte, and Ernst & Young. His areas of focus were to provide executive and board advisory services for merger and acquisitions, corporate restructuring, and risk planning purposes. He most recently served as director of finance for a national organization where he led a team responsible for treasury management, debt raising, and financial reporting.

Derrick earned a Bachelor of Commerce (Honors) from the University of British Columbia. He also holds the Chartered Professional Accountant (“CPA”), Chartered Financial Analyst (“CFA”), and Chartered Business Valuator (“CBV”) designations.

In the past he has served on the Board of Directors for Dixon Transition Society and volunteered for VSO International, based in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania.

Don Wright

Don Wright is a member of the board of directors at BCFSA and World University Services Canada.

Don previously served as deputy minister to the Premier, secretary to Cabinet, and head of the public service for the Government of British Columbia. Previously, Don was president and chief executive officer for Central 1 Credit Union and president of British Columbia Institute of Technology.

Hwan Kim

Hwan is a partner at Deloitte, advising financial institutions to thrive in the future of the industry. Hwan helps global financial institutions navigate the future landscape, craft strategic responses, and develop innovative offerings with differentiated value propositions.

Hwan is Deloitte’s Financial Services Innovation leader and leads its Open Banking practice. He has led Deloitte’s collaboration with the World Economic Forum to author the report The Future of Financial Services and frequently advises the boards and C-suites of global financial institutions on the topic.

Sarah Alexander

Sarah Alexander has nearly 20 years of experience in civil engineering, land development and financial strategy in the private and public sector, most recently as the Director, Real Estate and Business Operations at the City of Burnaby. Prior to this, she was director of a startup land development company on Vancouver Island, where she led both the engineering and planning departments resulting in exponential growth of the company and expansion across Canada. While at the City of Calgary, she was responsible for strategic oversight of an annual $150M fund for infrastructure investment and for developing innovative funding and financing solutions to enable land development. Sarah is a professional engineer and has an MBA with a specialization in financial strategy.

Brendon Ogmundson

Brendon Ogmundson is the Chief Economist for the BC Real Estate Association. He holds an MA in Economics from Simon Fraser University and is a CFA Charterholder. Brendon specializes in housing market analysis and macroeconomic forecasting and is a member of the BC Ministry of Finance’s Economic Forecast Council, a contributor to the Philadelphia Federal Reserve’s Survey of Professional Forecasters. Brendon was also recently named one of the most influential economists in BC by Business in Vancouver.

Tsur Somerville

Dr. Tsur Somerville is an associate professor and holder of the Real Estate Foundation Professorship in Real Estate Finance at the Sauder School of Business at UBC. He served for 15 years as the Director of the UBC Centre for Urban Economics and Real Estate, where he is now a Senior Fellow. His academic research includes work on housing market policies, housing supply, mortgage and real estate finance, and housing affordability. Tsur has worked with all levels of Canadian government on the effects of immigration, capital flows, money laundering, and government policies on housing affordability and housing supply. Tsur received his PhD in Economics from Harvard University and his BA in Economics and East Asian Studies from the Hebrew University.

Thomas Taller

Thomas Taller is BCFSA’s Director of Policy. He is responsible for overseeing policy matters across BC’s Financial Services Sector. Prior to his current role, he served as the Managing Director, Policy and Oversight at the Office of the Superintendent of Real Estate. Thomas has spent his career in the public sector providing strategic policy advice at both the federal and provincial levels. He holds a Masters of Arts in Public Administration from Carleton University and a Bachelor of Business Administration Honors from Simon Fraser University.

Chris Chopik

Chris is a climate strategist, writer, and researcher. He is an expert in real estate, sustainability, and how climate change impacts the way we work, earn, and live around the world.

Chris’s recent work Property Value in an Era of Climate Change examines the impact of natural hazards on property values across North America. He is well versed on the intersectional issues of climate adaptation, climate mitigation, housing, and finance. He holds a master’s degree in strategic foresight and innovation from OCAD University. 

Kathryn Bakos

Kathryn is the director of climate finance and science at the University of Waterloo’s Intact Centre on Climate Adaptation where she works to advance the business case for climate adaptation and understand the intersection of climate change and finance.

Kathryn has pioneered research to quantify the impact of flooding on Canada’s residential real estate and mortgage segments, develop an innovative framework to mitigate flooding risk, and embed climate preparedness into decision-making for institutional investors.

Kathryn is a member of the Canadian General Standards Board, ISO Technical Committee on Biodiversity, Ontario Biodiversity Council, Oak Ridges Moraine Land Trust, and Canadian Association of Farm Advisors.

Rob O’Brien

Rob O’Brien is BCFSA’s Manager of Policy, Financial Institutions. He leads a team of policy analysts that have concluded several major regulatory projects in recent years, including issuing new Liquidity Management, Information Security and Outsourcing guidelines. Rob is manager of the Credit Union Prudential Supervisors Association Secretariat and Chair of the Canadian Council of Insurance Regulators (“CCIR”) Assuris & PACICC Standing Committee. Rob Co-Chairs the Federal / Provincial / Territorial information sharing forum on Earthquake Risk. Rob is also Co-Chair of the CCIR Climate Change, Natural Catastrophes and Consumer Awareness Working Group which recently published a position paper on the role of insurers and insurance products to better protect Canadians’ personal property against the risks posed by natural catastrophes and a changing climate.

Prior to his current role he worked for the BC Government for over 15 years, including positions with Ministry of Finance and Ministry of International Trade. He has a master’s degree in public policy from Simon Fraser University.

Michael McKnight

Michael McKnight is a noted leader in the not-for-profit community and has dedicated his career to community service. He is the president and CEO of United Way British Columbia and has led the organization in implementing an impact agenda focused on creating a healthy, caring, and inclusive community. Under Michael’s leadership, United Way has raised more than $500M to support services in British Columbia.

Michael has worked with other non-profits, including as the vice chair of the YMCA of Burlington-Hamilton and co-chair of the Vancouver Fireworks Festival Society, which presents the world’s largest annual offshore fireworks competition.

Michael’s education has focused on social responsibility – with undergraduate degrees in social work and communications from Carlton and York Universities as well as a master’ degree from McGill in non-profit management. He is also a certified corporate director.