Leadership

Cameron MacDonald has been President and Chief Executive Officer of Aventus since April 2009 and director since December 2008. He is the former Chairman of the Goodwood Advisory Committee (2012-2014) and former President and CEO of Goodwood Inc. (2000-2012). Prior to Goodwood Inc., from 1990 through 1999, he was a Director, member of the Research and Executive Committee, and shareholder of Connor Clark Private Trust. From 1983 through 1990 he held various positions at CIBC Wood Gundy in Credit, Operations, and thereafter as an Account Executive (Vice President). Mr. MacDonald holds a Bachelor of Arts (Economics) from Wilfrid Laurier University and is a CFA Charterholder.

Matthew Skurbe has 30 years of experience spanning a wide range of roles in investment management finance. He currently serves as the President and COO of Aventus, as well as the COO of CCaventus. Prior to joining the firm, he was senior managing director, COO, and CFO of CC Capital. He was also a managing director in finance and the treasurer for Blackstone, chief operating officer for Blackstone Liquidity Solutions, and a member of that firm’s Valuation and Enterprise Risk committees. Before joining Blackstone in 2009, Matthew was the CFO for Merrill Lynch Bank & Trust, a $35 billion bank housing several of Merrill Lynch’s consumer lending and banking businesses. He was a member of the bank’s Asset Liability and Market Risk, Finance and Product Control, and Credit committees. Earlier in his career, Mr. Skurbe spent seven years supporting Merrill Lynch’s treasury function and had previous roles with Amerada Hess and Arthur Andersen.

Matthew received a BS in accounting from Rutgers University and achieved the CPA and CTP certifications. He is a board member for Project Sunshine and the Children’s Specialized Hospital Foundation.

Richard DiBlasi is a Senior Managing Director at CC Capital, where he has been a key member of the investment team since 2016. With over 15 years of private equity experience, he has played a leading role in several of the firm’s most significant transactions, including the acquisition of Fidelity & Guaranty Life by CF Corp., the take-private of Dun & Bradstreet, and the strategic investment in Aventus to build an integrated insurance and asset management platform. He currently serves on the Boards of Aventus and CCaventus and was appointed Chief Strategy Officer of Aventus. Prior to CC Capital, Mr. DiBlasi was with Blackstone’s Private Equity Group, focusing on investments in financial services, technology, and business services. He began his career at FTI Consulting in the Global Risk and Investigations Practice. Mr. DiBlasi holds a B.A. in Political Science from Yale University.

Ms. Klassen brings more than 15 years of financial leadership experience and expertise in accounting policy, advisory, and public company operations. She joins Westaim from Mount Logan Capital Inc., where she served as Chief Financial Officer and Corporate Secretary. At Mount Logan, she played a key role in the firm’s transition from the Toronto Stock Exchange to the NASDAQ, including oversight of the U.S. listing process and S-4 filing. Earlier in her career, she served as Managing Director and Head of Accounting Policy at Silicon Valley Bank and also held senior accounting policy roles at Galaxy Digital and American Express.

Deanna Mulligan is the Strategic Advisor at Ceres Life and a transformational leader in the insurance industry, known for driving growth and innovation. As former CEO and Chairman of Guardian Life, she led the company through more than a decade of substantial expansion and introduced forward-thinking initiatives, including a digital insurance marketplace. Now at the helm of Ceres Life, Deanna leverages her deep industry relationships and regulatory expertise to build a modern life insurance company.

She has served on the boards of DuPont, Vanguard, Arch Capital, and Ethos Financial. Deanna holds a B.S. with High Distinction from the University of Nebraska and an MBA from the Stanford Graduate School of Business.

Cameron MacDonald has been President and Chief Executive Officer of Aventus since April 2009 and director since December 2008. He is the former Chairman of the Goodwood Advisory Committee (2012-2014) and former President and CEO of Goodwood Inc. (2000-2012). Prior to Goodwood Inc., from 1990 through 1999, he was a Director, member of the Research and Executive Committee, and shareholder of Connor Clark Private Trust. From 1983 through 1990 he held various positions at CIBC Wood Gundy in Credit, Operations, and thereafter as an Account Executive (Vice President). Mr. MacDonald holds a Bachelor of Arts (Economics) from Wilfrid Laurier University and is a CFA Charterholder.

Matthew Skurbe has 30 years of experience spanning a wide range of roles in investment management finance. He currently serves as the President and COO of Aventus, as well as the COO of CCaventus. Prior to joining the firm, he was senior managing director, COO, and CFO of CC Capital. He was also a managing director in finance and the treasurer for Blackstone, chief operating officer for Blackstone Liquidity Solutions, and a member of that firm’s Valuation and Enterprise Risk committees. Before joining Blackstone in 2009, Matthew was the CFO for Merrill Lynch Bank & Trust, a $35 billion bank housing several of Merrill Lynch’s consumer lending and banking businesses. He was a member of the bank’s Asset Liability and Market Risk, Finance and Product Control, and Credit committees. Earlier in his career, Mr. Skurbe spent seven years supporting Merrill Lynch’s treasury function and had previous roles with Amerada Hess and Arthur Andersen.

Matthew received a BS in accounting from Rutgers University and achieved the CPA and CTP certifications. He is a board member for Project Sunshine and the Children’s Specialized Hospital Foundation.

Menes Chee was a Senior Managing Director of Blackstone Inc. until he retired in 2024 after 15 years with the firm. He was a founding member and member of the investment committee of Blackstone’s Tactical Opportunities Group. Prior to joining Blackstone, Mr. Chee was a hedge fund manager at TPG-Axon Capital and a private equity investment professional at Texas Pacific Group. He began his career at Donaldson Lufkin & Jenrette in the Leveraged Finance and Merchant Banking groups. Mr. Chee has extensive experience investing in financial institutions, including insurance companies, asset managers, and insurance distribution companies, and has previously served on numerous public and private boards. He graduated magna cum laude from the University of Pennsylvania with a B.S. in Economics from the Wharton School and a B.A. from the College of Arts and Sciences, where he was elected to Phi Beta Kappa.

Chinh Chu is the Founder and Senior Managing Director of CC Capital, a private investment firm focused on investing in and operating high-quality businesses for the long term. He was the architect behind CC Capital’s strategic investment into Westaim, which catalyzed the company’s transformation into an integrated insurance and asset management platform. He brings significant experience investing in and creating value in the insurance space. In 2017, he led the acquisition of Fidelity & Guaranty Life (F&G) for approximately $1.8 billion. He served as Executive Chairman of the Board and as the control party for the Form A filing. F&G has grown significantly and currently has ~$4.1bn of book value and ~$54bn in assets. Most recently, Chinh led CC Capital’s formation of Ceres Life Insurance Company (“Ceres Life”), an advantaged, cloud-native and scalable annuity platform. Ceres Life combined with Aventus and CCaventus a growing and diversified global institutional asset manager, to create a unified platform expected to generate a powerful value-creation flywheel.

In addition to F&G, Chinh has spearheaded CC Capital’s investments into Wilshire, Utz Brands, E2open, and Getty Images. He also led CC Capital’s effort to take Dun & Bradstreet private in a $7.2 billion acquisition that closed in February 2019. Prior to founding CC Capital, Chinh spent 25 years at Blackstone, where he served as Senior Managing Director, Co-Head of Private Equity, and a member of the firm’s Executive Committee. Mr. Chu began his career at Salomon Brothers in the M&A group and holds a B.S. in Finance from the University of Buffalo.

Ian Delaney has been Director of Westaim since 1996. He is the former Chairman of Sherritt International Corporation, and served as Director (1995-2013) and Non-Executive Chairman (2009-2013). Mr. Delaney was also Sherritt’s President and Chief Executive Officer (2009-2011), Executive Chairman (2004-2008) and Chairman (1995-2004). Prior to joining Sherritt, he served as Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Viridian Inc., President and Chief Executive Officer of The Horsham Corporation, and President and Chief Operating Officer at Merrill Lynch Canada Inc. Mr. Delaney is currently Chairman of Ornge and Director of Arena. Mr. Delaney has also served as a director of a number of other companies including Dynatec Corporation, EnCana Corp., Gerdau Ameristeel Corp., Cenovus Energy Inc., Goldcorp Inc. and MacMillan Bloedel Limited and as a trustee of Royal Utilities Income Fund.

Richard DiBlasi is a Senior Managing Director at CC Capital, where he has been a key member of the investment team since 2016. With over 15 years of private equity experience, he has played a leading role in several of the firm’s most significant transactions, including the acquisition of Fidelity & Guaranty Life by CF Corp., the take-private of Dun & Bradstreet, and the strategic investment in Aventus to build an integrated insurance and asset management platform. He currently serves on the Boards of Aventus and CCaventus and was appointed Chief Strategy Officer of Aventus. Prior to CC Capital, Mr. DiBlasi was with Blackstone’s Private Equity Group, focusing on investments in financial services, technology, and business services. He began his career at FTI Consulting in the Global Risk and Investigations Practice. Mr. DiBlasi holds a B.A. in Political Science from Yale University.

Douglas Newton is a Senior Managing Director and Co-Founder of CC Capital, where he brings over two decades of experience in both public and private market investing. At CC Capital, Mr. Newton has played a key role in leading major transactions, including those involving Dun & Bradstreet, E2Open, Fidelity & Guaranty Life, Getty Images, Westaim and Wilshire.

Prior to founding CC Capital, Mr. Newton was a Founding Partner of The WindAcre Partnership, LLC, an investment firm that owns a concentrated, long-term portfolio of global public equities and takes a private equity approach to public market investing. Earlier in his career, he held investment roles at Seneca Capital and DLJ Merchant Banking Partners, and began his career in investment banking at Credit Suisse First Boston and Donaldson, Lufkin & Jenrette. Mr. Newton holds an A.B. in Economics from Dartmouth College and an M.B.A. from the Stanford Graduate School of Business.

Kevin Parker is currently the Managing Partner at SICM. He has over 35 years of investment experience. Prior to SICM, Kevin was a Member of the Management Board of Deutsche Bank for 10 years and the former Global Head of Deutsche Asset Management from 2004 to 2012. In this role, he was responsible for more than $750 billion dollars invested across a broad range of assets including Equities, Fixed Income, Real Estate, Infrastructure, Private Equity, Hedge Funds, Sustainable Investments and other businesses. Also at Deutsche Bank, Mr. Parker served as the Global Head of Institutional Equities from 2000 until 2004 and from 1997 until 2000 was responsible for building and developing Deutsche Bank’s Equity Derivatives, Prime Brokerage Services, Equity Trading and Equity Proprietary Trading Businesses. Prior to Deutsche Bank, Mr. Parker was a Managing Director at Morgan Stanley and served in a variety of positions, including Head of Asian Derivatives, Global Head of Equity Derivatives Trading and Chief Information Officer. Mr. Parker holds a Bachelor of Science in Finance from New York University.

Michael Siegel is Chief Executive Officer, Legeis Capital, LLC. From August 2009 to January 2020, Mr. Siegel was a Managing Director of RBC Capital Markets, LLC (an investment bank) and from January 2017 to January 2020, he was the President and Chief Executive Officer of RBC Alternative Asset Management, LLC (an affiliate of RBC Capital Markets, LLC).

Bruce Walter is currently Chair of Nunavut Iron Ore, Inc., a position he has held since 2011. From 2008 to 2023, he served as Vice Chair of Centerra Gold Inc. From 2002 until 2007, he was a director and officer of Dynatec Corporation, initially as Vice-Chair and from 2005 as President and Chief Executive Officer. Prior thereto Mr. Walter’s career included serving as President of Sherritt Inc., President and Chief Executive Officer of Plaintree Systems Inc., and Managing Director and Co-Head of the Media, Telecom & Technology investment and corporate banking group at BMO Nesbitt Burns. Mr. Walter also served as Vice-President of Horsham Corporation and was a partner in the predecessor law firm to Davies Ward Phillips & Vineberg LLP. Mr. Walter received his Juris. Doctor (J.D.) and Master of Business Administration degrees from York University in 1981. He received his PhD in law in 1985 from the University of Cape Town.