2020 Faculty
Your 2020 Faculty
The Advocis Banff School has always been known for its amazing Faculty. Did you know that in the 66 year history of the Advocis Banff School that we've never paid any of these amazing folks?
They come out and speak of their own accord because they believe in the school, and they believe in supporting those Advisors who are willing to invest in themselves by attending.
This year's Faculty is another amazing lineup of experts. Get ready to learn and be inspired!
Corry Collins
CLU, CHFC, CHS
Corry started his insurance practice in 1986 at the age of 24. He is an Honour Roll member of MDRT and has served many times as Chair for MDRT and Advocis committees and boards alike. He has been an invited speaker in 10 countries, has been a professional emcee for international conferences and has spoken at MDRT on 7 occasions. His insurance practice is focused on the needs of physicians. Corry and Susan live in Halifax.
Facebook: facebook.com/corry.collins.520
Company Facebook: facebook.com/Maritime-Wealth-189376831943857/
Website: maritimewealth.com
Email: Corry@maritimewealth.com
Jamie Golombek
Managing Director, Tax & Estate Planning - CIBC
Jamie Golombek is Managing Director, Tax & Estate Planning with CIBC in Toronto. As a member of the CIBC Financial Planning & Advice team, Jamie works closely with advisors from across CIBC to support their clients and deliver integrated financial planning and strong advisory solutions.
He received his B.Com. from McGill University, earned his CPA designation in Ontario and qualified as a U.S. CPA in Illinois. He has also obtained his Certified Financial Planning (CFP) and Chartered Life Underwriting (CLU) designations.
Jamie is quoted frequently in the national media as an expert on taxation, writes a weekly column called “Tax Expert” in the National Post, has appeared as a guest on BNN, CTV News, and The National and has been a regular personal finance guest on The Marilyn Denis Show.
Jamie is a recipient of CPA Ontario’s Award of Distinction, which honours those CPAs who have made an early impact, bringing distinction to themselves and to their profession through leadership and achievement in their professional, community and/or personal lives.
Jim Pittman
CLU, CFP, CLTC
MDRT - Past President
Insurance Consulting Services Inc. - President
Building upon his extensive insurance career, Jim Pittman founded Insurance Consulting Services, Inc. (ICS), in 2000. For more than 40 years, Jim’s philosophy has been to educate his clients, helping them make informed decisions about their risk management issues.
Jim is one of a handful of Licensed Insurance Consultants in the State of Oregon. In 2009, Jim was honored with the prestigious Bud Horn award from the Oregon Association of Insurance and Financial Planners. This award is presented periodically to a professional who has shown dedicated commitment and has made a significant positive impact on the insurance community.
Jim has been a sought after speaker, both domestically and internationally, for lawyers, CPAs, financial planners, and other industry groups on the structure and proper use of life, disability, and long-term care policies.
Jim graduated from the University of Oregon and received his MS in Tax and Financial Services from The American College in Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania. He is the past President of The Estate Planning Council of Portland, The Portland Chapter of CLU and ChFC, The OHSF Foundation Advisory Board, and he has served on the Planned Giving Committees of The Oregon Ballet Theatre and Loaves and Fishes.
Jim lives in Portland, Oregon, and has been married to his wife Karon since 1970. They have three grown children: Cameron, Morgan, and Reagan. Jim and Karon enjoy skiing, running, traveling, and spending time at the Multnomah Athletic Club. Jim is particularly involved in bicycling and can often be found riding his bike many miles from home.
Dave Patriarche
Mainstay Insurance Brokerage Inc. - President
Dave Patriarche founded Mainstay Insurance Brokerage in 1996 as a one-person shop specializing in providing employee benefits to small businesses in the Greater Toronto Area. Mainstay has grown substantially and now has clients across the country, including Canadian subsidiaries of U.S. based organizations.
Dave is a strong believer in continuing education and recognized the need for the group insurance industry to broaden its efforts in this area. In 2003 he started a small networking group, which evolved into regular breakfast meetings across the GTA, then into regular educational seminars.
He founded CGIB, the Canadian Group Insurance Brokers, an organization dedicated to supporting networking and continuing education for the group insurance industry. He is an accomplished speaker both with CGIB and at other industry events across the country. Dave has worked “behind the scenes” to support and act as an expert witness in cases involving employee benefits and is often chosen as the “go-to” expert for others in the business.
Dr. Bruce Lund
For over a decade, Dr. Bruce Lund has trained thousands of professionals all over the country.
Bruce earned a PhD in Human Performance at age 29, and was hired as one of the youngest ever program directors in the Texas A&M System. He was then recruited back into corporate America helping grow a multi-million dollar coaching business as Director of Sales before launching 90-Day Sales Manager, the P90X of Sales Training.
Bruce's 5-Habits of Highly Effective Salespeople is sweeping the nation and quickly changing people's lives both personally and professionally. He's spoken on stages all over the world specific to banking, insurance, and financial services including the Million-Dollar Roundtable annual meetings in Los Angeles and New York City.
Helen Hirsh Spence
Following her 35 years of increasingly senior leadership positions in both the public and private education sectors, Helen embarked on a journey of entrepreneurship. She recognized the need to raise awareness about the upcoming demographic shift and how it would impact Canada’s future prosperity. As a result, she founded a social enterprise, Top Sixty Over Sixty (T60 Strategies) which provides thought leadership, consulting and training on age inclusion and diversity.
Helen is an energetic, creative and solutions-oriented individual who has worked in rapidly changing environments as both a leader and a team player, consistently focusing on strategy, stakeholder needs and high performance outcomes for the organization. She advises and trains on how to unlock the potential of all employees, transforming the multi-generational workforce into productive intergenerational teams. In her consulting capacity, she participates in think tanks and facilitates retreats; presents at conferences and seminars on wide ranging topics: from organizational culture, talent management, stakeholder engagement to how businesses develop branding, benefits and policies that are age-friendly. All her work is grounded in best practice and research.
Website: topsixtyoversixty.
Faceboook: facebook.com/
Sharon Hartung
Captain (Ret’d), PEng, PMP, TEP, CD
Sharon Hartung is the Founder and Principal of Your Digital Undertaker. With over 30 years of experience in IT management, project management and consulting, she brings a multi-disciplinary approach to better understanding the role of managing digital assets in estate planning and estate administration. Sharon has built and maintained large enterprise systems for public sector and financial clients––starting as an aerospace engineering officer with the Canadian Forces before retiring as a Captain. Joining IBM Global Services, Sharon spent her career as an executive and consultant in Project Management. Sharon’s book, Your Digital Undertaker - Exploring Death in the Digital Age in Canada, has recently been published. Sharon holds an MSc in Management of Information Systems, as well as a Project Management Professional (PMP)® certification and is a Professional Engineer. Sharon is a Society of Trust and Estate Practitioners (STEP) member and committee member of the STEP Global Digital Assets Special Interest Group.
Twitter: twitter.com/UndertakerTech
Website: yourdigitalundertaker.ca
LinkedIn - linkedin.com/in/sharon-hartung-982918123/
Russell Shaw
Senior Director, Individual & GSI Underwriting and New Business Ops
RBC Insurance Company
As the Senior Director of Individual & GSI Underwriting and New Business Operations, Russell Shaw is responsible for the risk decisions and operations for RBC Insurance’s individual life and health businesses.
Like many professionals in the insurance industry, underwriting was not his first career choice. After graduating from the University of Toronto with a Bachelor’s degree in Criminology, Russ worked with, “youthful offenders” at a detention and custody facility with a longer term vision of pursuing a career in the field of probation and ultimately law school. Four years later, he found himself in search of new challenges and in 1998, took a job as an underwriting trainee with Paul Revere/Provident, now RBC Insurance. He has occupied several roles within the RBCI organization in Underwriting, Corporate Underwriting, “subject matter expert” for a large scale project, and most recently, Underwriting Director. Russ is active in the underwriting community and is a past board member of the Canadian Institute of Underwriters and the Canadian Association of Living Benefits Underwriters. He is a current member of the Canadian Living Benefits Seminar board of directors.
While this may not have been Russell’s initial career choice, given the opportunity to do it all over again, he would not change a thing. He’s passionate about underwriting and passionate about the insurance business.
When he’s not working, Russ enjoys travelling, cycling and snowboarding
Rod Burylo
Rod Burylo has been providing education for professionals as a writer, speaker and teacher for over 30 years. He specialized in applied ethics and jurisprudence at University of Calgary, including post-graduate-level research in bio-medical ethics, before entering the financial services industry. He has worked for a wide variety of companies, including Royal Bank, Investors Group, and Pinnacle Wealth Brokers, in roles that have included Associate Regional Director, Vice President of Business Development, and Chief Compliance Officer. Along the way, he earned CFP, CIM, and FCSI designations, and is currently an Associate Portfolio Manager and Manager of ESG Integration for Croft Financial Group. Rod volunteers as Director of Foundation for the Advancement of Entrepreneurship, and of Public Business Accountants Society of Alberta. He has written 3 books, is a Canadian Advisor of the Year Award winner, and is a 2019 IFSE Institute Award for Financial Literacy Champion Finalist.
Angelina Hung
BA, CFP, CLU, CHS, EPC
Insurance and Tech Nerd
With over 15 years experience in the financial services, marketing and tech industry and having earned CFP, CLU, CHS and EPC designations, Angelina works closely with financial advisors to provide them with professional in-depth insurance and investment content combined with the latest digital marketing strategies to help them grow their business.
Because of this unique background, her company Financial Tech Tools can save an advisor a minimum of 40 hours of time when putting together a website, content, email and social media strategy.
She was also featured as one of the top "50 Women of Influence in Canada" in The Insurance and Investment Journal.
Website: financialtechtools.ca
LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/angelinahung
Facebook: facebook.com/FinancialTechTools/
Twitter: twitter.com/Tweets4Finance
Rob Eby
CFP
Vice Chair - Advocis
Rob is Executive Financial Consultant at Rob Eby & Associates Private Wealth Management with Investors Group. Previously he was Manager of Sales Technology Research, Development, and Training with Investors Group. He has also been VP of Strategic Business Development for Emerging Information Systems Inc. (EISI). Rob served on the Advocis Chapter Leadership Council from 2012 – 2015 and was the 2010 – 2011 President and 2007 – 2009 Treasurer of the Advocis Winnipeg Chapter.
Jack Shaffer
BA, CLU, CH.F.C.
Corporate and Personal Estate Planning Specialist
Jack was born and raised in Vancouver and graduated from the University of British Columbia in 1967 with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Economics. Soon afterwards, he entered the life insurance industry with London Life. Since that time, he has been an agent, general agent, manager, advanced case consultant and independent broker. He has been a Life and Qualifying Member of the Million Dollar Round Table with several qualifications at the Court of the Table and Top of the Table. He attained his CLU in 1979 and his CH.F.C. in 1989. Jack is also a graduate of the Family Enterprise Advisor program given by the Sauder School of Business at UBC.
For the first 15 years of his career, Jack operated as a general practitioner focusing mainly on working with young professionals. Since then he has specialized primarily in the corporate insurance market. Today, in addition to his private practice, he acts as a consultant working with other financial advisors assisting with more complex individual and corporate estate planning cases.
During his many years in the insurance industry Jack has lectured extensively to professional groups including the B.C. Institute of Chartered Accountants, as well as individual accounting and legal firms. He has also addressed several insurance industry meetings in both Canada and the U.S., including the Million Dollar Round Table, Top of the Table and the Conference of Advanced Life Underwriting.
Website: jackshaffer.com
Doug Dvorak
Doug Dvorak is the Founder & Managing Principal of The DMG International, a worldwide organization that assists clients with sales productivity training other aspects of sales and marketing management. Mr. Dvorak’s clients range from entrepreneurs to fortune 500 companies including, IBM, Marriott, Subway and Unilever, just to name a few.
Mr. Dvorak has delivered over 2000 customized sales training keynotes, presentations and workshops on over 5 continents in 107 countries to over 1 million people and growing. He has also earned an international reputation for his powerful sales training, educational methods and motivational techniques.
His background in sales, leadership, management and customer experience and loyalty has allowed him to become one of world’s most sought after speaker, trainer and consultant. This vast experience has helped him shape and determine his philosophies on success which he now shares annually with thousands of individuals through keynote presentations, syndicated writing, television, seminars & 8 bestselling books.
Mr. Dvorak is a certified sales trainer, management consultant and corporate humorist. Mr. Dvorak holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in Business Administration and a Master of Business Administration in Marketing Management. However, Mr. Dvorak’s sense of humor is no less refined, as he is a graduate of the Player’s Workshop of the Second City, one of the oldest and most prestigious improvisational comedy schools in the world.
Mr. Dvorak’s dedication to success & sales excellence led him to be named one of the “Top Ten Sales Professionals in America” by Personal Selling Power Magazine. In August 2014, Doug was inducted into the Motivational Speakers Hall of Fame. Only 68 other Motivational Speakers have been asked to join this prestigious society. Other luminaries include, Zig Ziglar, Ronald Reagan, Dr. Wayne Dwyer, Bill Clinton, as well as many other business, civic & political dignitaries. Mr. Dvorak’s vision & leadership were recognized when he was honored with introduction into several prestigious National & international Who’s Who organizations, including: Who’s Who in Professional Speaking.
Mr. Dvorak is an active member of the National Speakers Association & is also a Certified Speaking Professional (CSP) the highest earned designation from the National Speakers Association (NSA). Mr. Dvorak has served as an Advisory Board Member of “Best Buddies International, Inc.", which is dedicated to enhancing the lives of people with intellectual disabilities.
Twitter: twitter.com/
Facebook: facebook.com/doug.
Instagram: instagram.com/
YouTube: youtube.com/user/
Christine Perry
Christine Perry is a partner in Gowling WLG's Toronto office.
Christine's practice focuses on domestic and cross-border tax and estate planning for high-net-worth individuals, including trust taxation, personal tax planning, asset protection, insurance planning, estate administration, and tax dispute resolution. Christine is licensed to practice law in both Ontario and New York.
She has rich experience in immigration and emigration tax planning, as well as with matters involving foreign ownership of Canadian and US property.
Christine was the recipient of the 2012 Widdifield Award for excellence in legal writing in the area of trusts and estates law. She has written several articles featured in the National Post, Investment Executive and Estates, Trusts and Pensions Journal . She has also appeared as a guest speaker on the CBC Radio program The Current.
Alex Lucas
MBA, CFA
SVP and Head of Insurance Manulife Insurance
Alex heads up the insurance business in Canada and is responsible for driving Manulife’s efforts to regain a leadership position in the insurance market. He oversees Insurance product and pricing, underwriting, sales, strategy and planning, and special projects. Collectively, the team is committed to leading insurance modernization in Canada by:
· Modernizing our advisor and customer experience
· Balancing our product portfolio, and
· Increasing our return on investment (ROI)
Before joining the Retail Markets management team in 2013, Alex was the VP of Product and Marketing at Manulife Bank where he led advertising, strategic planning, communications and product development activities. He has also held roles in Group Savings, and Affinity. Early in his career, Alex worked in mutual fund sales, product management and strategy at one of Canada’s largest banks.
Alex is a family man and spends his time outside of work trying to keep up his four young children. He has a passion for skiing and hiking, and once dreamt of making the NBA. When that didn’t work out, he earned a Master’s Degree in Business Administration (Financial Services) from Dalhousie University. He also has a Bachelor of Commerce (Management Economics) from the University of Guelph and is a Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA).
Nic Pascoe
Head of Retail Accounts, Individual Insurance Sales
Nic Pascoe is the Head of Retail Accounts. In his role he provides sales ideas, helps design marketing plans and strategies tailored to his client’s individual needs. His main goals are to help our Distribution partners grow their insurance sales and build positive working relationship between their firms, our sales teams and Manulife.
Nic was born in Toronto and moved to Waterloo to complete his Bachelor of Arts in Economics from Wilfrid Laurier University.
Nic initiated his career with Manulife Financial in 2003 and has held various positions in dealer relations, internal wholesaler roles for both life and wealth management sales teams along with an external wholesaler position on our Insurance sales team. These experiences were very beneficial to him as he learned how many advisors and Distribution partners like to be supported on both the life and wealth management aspects of their business. Nic’s insight along with his enthusiasm for the business has been a benefit to the clients he works with.
Nic has contributed to his community as an active volunteer for his church and Waterloo Minor baseball. He is a fan of the Toronto Blue Jays and enjoys camping in his free time with his wife Candace their two children and Great Dane.
