The case for alternative investments in 2025

Chris is a multi-faceted professional with over 20 years of experience in the financial services industry, specializing in insurance, investments, and mortgages. 

Prior to joining CMI, Chris founded a successful startup in the mortgage education and marketing space, which grew to be recognized as the industry’s premiere learning and development streaming service. He has also held leadership roles at Street Capital Bank of Canada and Freedom 55 Financial, where he spearheaded sales, marketing, and recruitment efforts. Chris is known for his collaborative approach to building sales teams and his commitment to excellence in all endeavors. He is educated in radio and television broadcasting and is a certified professional speaker, having spoken at mortgage and insurance industry events across North America. Outside of work, he enjoys coaching competitive baseball and holds certifications as a coach developer with Baseball Canada and Baseball Ontario.

As National Team Lead of Skyline Wealth Management, Mustafa Bukhari is responsible for managing Skyline Wealth Management’s sales team and sourcing new business opportunities to expand the firm’s investor base across Canada. Mustafa was recently named one of Wealth Professional’s Top 40 Under 40 Rising Stars for 2024, an honour recognizing professionals making a significant impact in the Canadian financial services industry. 

Ray is a strategic and innovative investment management executive with expertise in private wealth, asset management, and multi-asset portfolio construction. With over 25 years of industry experience, he is known for building transformational businesses and leading high-performing teams. He has a proven track record of driving success through strategic opportunities and long-term partnerships.

At Equiton, Ray leads the organization’s efforts to develop wealth channel distribution and platform availability, strengthen advisor relationships, and establish a standardized onboarding and service approach for National Dealer Relationships. Prior to joining Equiton, he was an integral member of the senior leadership team for one of Canada’s fastest-growing independent wealth management organizations and has served in a leadership capacity with a number of leading wealth management and asset management organizations.

Ray holds an MBA from York University’s Schulich School of Business, an Honours Bachelor of Commerce & Finance degree from the University of Toronto’s Rotman School of Management and is a CFA Charterholder.

Brendan began his career in public accounting and holds his CPA but later transitioned to pursue his passion for finance and markets. Brendan has been with Fidelity since 2018 working in Advisor Sales for 5 years and is familiar with the many challenges advisors face on a day-to-day basis. Brendan transitioned to exclusively covering our Alternatives lineup in 2023 as an Alternative Strategist, working closely with our Alternative Portfolio Managers to stay abreast on their current outlook and fund updates. Brendan is responsible for staying on top of industry trends and works closely with our Fidelity Sales teams across the country to support conversations around an ever-changing alternative landscape.

Kevin Press is Editorial Director of Advisor.ca and Investment Executive. His career in financial journalism began in 1996. He was part of the editorial team that launched Advisor’s Edge in 1998. In the years since, Press has covered and worked in multiple industry segments, including group and retail insurance, institutional and retail investing, employer-sponsored benefits and retirement programs.