Leadership
Martin Weinberg
Mr. Weinberg brings extensive private and public company experience, including development and implementation of growth and acquisition strategies, in Canada, the United States and Europe. Mr. Weinberg was previously founder, President and CEO of Assante Corporation and Loring Ward International Ltd. Until its sale in 2003, Assante was a TSX-listed wealth management company with a network of operations extending across Canada and the United States. A start-up company in 1995, Assante was sold for approximately $1 billion eight years later. Upon the sale of Assante, its U.S. operations were spun off into a new company, Loring Ward, where Mr. Weinberg served as Chairman & CEO.
Subsequent to his tenure at Loring Ward and its sale in 2007, Mr. Weinberg, together with his management team and a roster of experienced investors, established a private equity fund to create similar platform and add-on acquisitions in various industries. As the investments were liquidated, Mr. Weinberg and his team entered into the institutional consulting market. In just over seven years, the new venture, Pavilion Financial Corporation, became one of the top 15 consultancies in North America advising on over $700 billion in client assets. Pavilion’s U.S. institutional consulting operations were designated a Greenwich Quality Leader for three years in a row by Greenwich Associates. In 2018, Pavilion was sold to a dominant, global player which decided to retain hundreds of its employees and maintain the Pavilion brand.
In fact, in each of the businesses Mr. Weinberg has created and grown, the acquiring company retained the brand — a strong testament to the businesses that were built, their positions in the marketplace and the recognition of the services they delivered to their clients.
Mr. Weinberg started his career as an investment analyst and portfolio manager with one of Canada’s largest mutual fund companies, where he was also responsible for identifying and analyzing private equity and venture capital investment opportunities. Mr. Weinberg is a graduate of the University of Manitoba, earning a Bachelor of Commerce (Honors) in 1982. He received his Chartered Financial Analyst designation in 1986.
Daniel Friedman
Mr. Friedman’s career spans over 20 years. Most recently, he was President and CEO of Pavilion Financial Corporation, a global investment consulting and wealth management firm. In his role, he was responsible for the firm’s overall business including its acquisition growth strategy that transformed Pavilion from a local, small Canadian business into one of the fastest growing investment consulting firms globally, ranked in the top 15 investment consulting firms in the world, and recognized by the industry’s leading survey as top quality firm for three consecutive years. Mr. Friedman led the firm through the sale process to Mercer Consulting, the largest investment consulting firm globally and a wholly-owned subsidiary of Marsh McLennan. Prior to that, Mr. Friedman was Managing Director of a private equity fund and participated in sourcing and structuring transactions, monitoring investments and divesting fund investments. Before that, he was a founding partner of an investment management firm managing more than $6 billion in assets. Earlier in his career, he was the Executive Vice-President at Assante Corporation where he was responsible for the overall management of Assante’s U.S. operations, which included a multi-family office and wealth management division and turn-key asset management operations. He played an instrumental role as part of the corporate team responsible for the integration of over 20 acquired firms in both the U.S. and Canada.
Mr. Friedman holds a Bachelor of Law degree from Tel Aviv University and a Master’s of Business Administration from the University of Manitoba, where he was a Gold Medalist. Mr. Friedman is currently a director on the boards of Pavilion Global Markets and Wamberg Genomic Advisors. He is also on the volunteer boards of the Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra, where he also serves as the Chair of the Development Committee and The Winnipeg Foundation, Canada’s oldest and one of the largest community foundations, where he serves as the Chair of the Investment Committee.
Jon Kliewer, CA, CPA, CBV
Jon Kliewer has extensive C-Suite experience in the financial services industry including his current position with Halston Court Capital Inc. At Halston, he is responsible for the financial aspects of potential investments, accounting and finance functions, and serves on the board of investee companies. Prior to Halston, Mr. Kliewer served in several roles at Pavilion Financial Corporation (PFC). As CFO, he oversaw all finance and accounting functions of the company including raising debt capital and working with external debt financing partners. Mr. Kliewer led the finance aspect of PFC’s growth strategy where the corporate team negotiated and closed six acquisitions from 2010 to 2016. He was also critically involved in the transaction that resulted in the eventual sale of PFC in 2018 to Mercer, a division of Marsh & McLennan Company. Earlier in his career, Mr. Kliewer was a Director of a private equity fund and participated in the sourcing, acquisition and divestiture of a number of platform investments. As an extension of this role, Mr. Kliewer served as CFO and was a member of the board of directors of PGNX Capital Corp., an investee company. Mr. Kliewer also spent eight years with KPMG rising to the role of Senior Manager with KPMG Corporate Finance, advising clients on mergers & acquisitions, performing valuations and other engagements. Mr. Kliewer holds the Chartered Professional Accountant-Chartered Accountant and Chartered Business Valuator designations (CPA-CA, CBV) and was awarded the C.O. Gilmore bronze medal in the Chartered Accountant Uniform Final Examination in 2000. Mr. Kliewer holds a Bachelor of Commerce (Honours) from the University of Manitoba.
Deanna Allen
Ms. Allen is a pure practitioner of corporate marketing and communications. Working successfully across a number of industries including financial services, healthcare and agriculture, Ms. Allen has over 20 years of experience in branding, reputational management, corporate communications and marketing, media relations and advertising. Ms. Allen was most recently Vice President of Marketing & Communications with Pavilion Financial Corporation, which grew both organically and through six acquisitions prior to its sale to Mercer, a Marsh & McLennan Company. Ms. Allen was also responsible for stakeholder relations, public affairs and communications with a prominent health informatics agency and a Canadian-based international grain marketer. She was also Director of Communications with Assante Corporation, a TSX-listed wealth management firm with a network of operations extending across Canada and the United States. Ms. Allen holds an Honours Bachelor of Journalism degree (French minor) from Carleton University in Ottawa, studied at the Université de Savoie in Chambéry, France, and has completed the Canadian Securities Institute’s Partners, Directors and Senior Officer’s Qualifying Examination.