Financial Literacy Committee Chairs

Lesya Balych-Cooper
Co-chair, Financial Literacy Committee

Lesya Balych-Cooper produces innovative revenue sources with clients who directly commit these proceeds to charitable foundations and not-for-profit organizations.  For over 23 years, Lesya has been a successful executive in line, staff and consulting functions across the legal, financial, philanthropic and government services industries.  She has led personal and commercial banking regions, private banking and trust operations, developed and led strategic management, marketing and communications units in investment banking and human resources, as well as enterprise-wide leadership of corporate values, diversity and workplace equity, employee relations, employee assistance programs, employee surveys and metrics.  Lesya graduated with both a Bachelor of Arts degree in History and a Bachelor of Laws (LLB) degree from the University of Saskatchewan, her home province.  She continued to study international financial law and completed a Master of Laws (LLM) degree at the London School of Economics and Political Science degree at the University of London (England).  She is admitted to the Ontario Bar.

Nicola Browne
Co-chair, Financial Literacy Committee

Nicola Browne is a Senior Project Manager at TD Canada Trust in the Operations and Technology division.  In this role she is responsible for managing a portfolio of programs and projects that support and drive value for personal, small business & commercial customers.  Nicola has over 15 years of experience in the financial services industry, primarily in retail, wealth management, operations and project management. 

Nicola has been an active member of the Urban Financial Service Coalition since 1998 through leading the membership committee and holding various board positions.  In 2005, Nicola was privileged to be elected as President.&

Nicola holds a Bachelor of Arts and a Masters of Business Administration from the University of Toronto. She attained the Project Management Professional (PMP) designation in 2007.

Gavin Douglas
Co-chair, Financial Literacy Committee

Gavin Douglas is a Vice President with Marsh Canada Limited and has worked in the Financial Institutions Industry Practice since joining the company in 2003.
 
Gavin currently works on a variety of the Financial Institution and Professional Service based accounts in both a broking and client management role.  Gavin is responsible for the servicing of various small, midsize, large and international clients including Chartered Banks, Life Companies, Pension Plans, Mutual Fund companies and Professional firms.  He is regularly involved in the negotiation and placement of those coverages that are unique to the financial and professional services industry practice.

"There are several organizations in existence that serve our community. Few have a mandate specifically for minorities within the Financial Services community.  Even fewer have a mandate that is as fulsome as the UFSC and for this I am thankful to be a part of the organization.  It is my mandate to use my 15+ years of experience in the Financial Services industry coupled with my many years of local community involvement to contribute to this organization as I continue to learn from being a part of the UFSC."

Gavin was the 2008 UFSC Toronto President and currently sits on the UFSC Board as President Emeritus and is also a Co-chair of the Financial Literacy Committee.

Kurankye Sekyi-Otu
Co-chair, Financial Literacy Committee

Kurankye Sekyi-Otu has over 15 years of investment industry experience. Currently, Mr. Sekyi-Otu is President of Soho Financial Services Inc., a consulting company servicing the Canadian investment fund industry and the capital markets. Prior to forming Soho Financial, Mr. Sekyi-Otu was Executive Vice-President, Sales for frontierAlt Capital Corporation from the firm’s inception in 2003 through 2008. At frontierAlt, he established and was responsible for the development, sales and marketing for the firm’s retail investment funds. Prior to frontierAlt, he was Regional Vice-President, Sales for Mackenzie Financial responsible for sales among bank-owned dealers in the Greater Toronto Area. Previously, Mr. Sekyi-Otu was Director, Debt Capital Markets at CIBC World Markets where he was responsible for marketing fixed-income securities as well as equity and interest rate structured products through CIBC Wood Gundy investment advisors. Mr. Sekyi-Otu’s fixed-income experience also includes trading US-Pay strip and US Treasury bonds at CIBC World Markets. He earned an Honours Bachelor of Arts Degree in Economics from York University and holds the Canadian Investment Manager (CIM), Fellow of the Canadian Securities Institute (F.C.S.I) and Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) designations.