Career Trajectories Virtual Speed Networking
On March 3, 2022, Perimeter Institute's Career Trajectories Group will host a virtual speed networking event intended to connect young researchers with physicists and others working in data and finance. The event is open to current Perimeter PhD students, postdoctoral researchers, and PSI students.
Event Schedule
- 10:30-11:00 am: Keynote - Natacha Altamarino
- 11:00-12:00 pm: Speed Networking (Morning Session)
- 12:00-12:30 pm: Lunch and Chat Session with Mentors (optional)
- 12:30-1:30 pm: Speed Networking (Afternoon Session)
Keynote Speaker
Natacha Altamirano, Birch Hill Equity Partners
Natacha is a Director in the Data Science team at Birch Hill Equity Partners. Birch Hill is a Private
Equity Firm based in Toronto, investing primarily in mid-market Canadian companies with over
$5 billion in capital under management. Since 1994, Birch Hill has made over 68 investments,
including MLSE, CCM Hockey, SleepCountry, Softchoice, and Constellation Software. Today,
their 16 partner companies collectively represent one of Canada’s largest corporate entities
with over $8 billion in total revenue and more than 32,000 employees.
The Data Science Team focuses on creating value for Birch Hill Companies by enabling data-
driven decision-making through timely data and advanced analytics. Portfolio companies
optimize their competitive positioning and profitably grow with the appropriate information,
systems, and processes. Natacha partners with portfolio companies to plan and execute
strategic initiatives focused on unlocking revenue growth and cost reduction. Her projects
include sales forecasts, sales enablement and logistic optimization.
Previously to Birch Hill, Natacha obtained her Ph.D. in Theoretical Physics from the University of
Waterloo and Perimeter Institute. Her research was focused on understanding the
observational implications of gravitational decoherence on quantum systems. In addition, she
studied the missing baryon problem leveraging data from the Planck satellite.
Natacha was part of the 2012-2013 cohort of the PSI master’s program where she studied
phase transitions of higher-dimensional black holes. She is originally from Argentina, where she
did her undergrad in Physics at the National University of Cordoba.
Mentors
Information on additional mentors will be added soon.
Masooma Ali, Sesh
Masooma completed her PhD from the University of New Brunswick in 2019 in quantum gravity and held an NSERC fellowship at PI from 2019-2021 working with the quantum gravity group. After her postdoc, she transitioned to industry to work with Sesh, a startup in the affective computing space. She is currently a Senior Data Scientist at Sesh and focuses on natural language processing and audio analysis.
Kelty Allen, Stripe
Kelty Allen is a mathematician-turned-data-scientist currently working at Stripe with the Radar team, using machine learning and statistics to understand and prevent fraud in online payments. She completed her PhD in Logic and the Methodology of Science at UC Berkeley in 2014 before becoming a data scientist via the Insight data science fellowship. Her earlier roles include time at Microsoft and Stitch Fix, working on a variety of data science projects focusing primarily on natural language processing and machine learning solutions.
Sudheer Bhargavan, Sun Life
Sudheer leads Sun Life’s Data and Analytics Delivery teams based in Canada and India, with the responsibility to engineer, build, and operationalize modern data solutions for Sun Life’s Business and IT teams. The data solutions cover a wide range to applications, from data integration for on-premise and cloud data stores and data lakes, to development of advanced data visualization and AI/ML data science models. Since joining Sun Life in 2016, Sudheer has led multiple key initiatives to evolve the data platform to a scalable cloud based data and analytics ecosystem, and deliver business capabilities that allow Sun Life to offer personalized and proactive services to our clients. Prior to Sun Life, Sudheer held consulting roles with Deloitte and Accenture delivering large scale systems integration and technology solutions for Healthcare, Retail and Financial services clients in US and Canada. Sudheer holds a Bachelor’s Degree from the University of British Columbia and a M.S. from University of Texas, Arlington.
Rogelio Cuevas Saavedra, Sun Life
Anju Dhadwal, Sun Life
Jacqueline Eaton, Sun Life
Jacqueline is a Practice Manager in Sun Life’s Data and Analytics team. As a Practice Manager Jacqueline ensures that employees are receiving the training and guidance that they require, helps to guide career paths, and supports employees in achieving their goals. The role of Practice Manager makes sure that we have the right set of skills on our teams, and that our best practices are communicated to our team. Jacqueline joined Sun Life in 2014 in the Project Management space leading multiple projects on the Corporate Applications team. In addition to managing projects on the Corporate Applications team Jacqueline also led a team of co-ops, and new grads. Developing the co-op and new grad program within her team Jacqueline was able to bring multiple young professionals into Sun Life, and help them to develop a successful career path. Jacqueline holds a Bachelor’s Degree in English Literature from the University of Western Ontario, and a MBA from Wilfrid Laurier University.
Rob Hong, Sapling Financial Consultants
Rob is a co-founder and the CEO of Sapling. After indulging his penchant for learning about anything and everything in his earlier university days, he “wisened up” and found a job in investment management. While at Artemis Investment Management, a $2 billion Bay Street investment firm, Rob developed deep financial modelling skills through researching over 100 publicly-traded companies. He also oversaw more than $150 million of client money. His successes saw him promoted twice, ending as Associate Portfolio Manager.
After three years at Artemis, Rob joined KPMG LLP as a Senior Consultant in their Strategy & Operations group, with the hopes of being closer to actual business decisions. There, he applied his modelling skills to a high profile engagement while deepening his expertise in database analytics. When he got tired of seeing the inside of a plane every Monday and Friday, Rob joined Bell Canada Finance, supporting the Wholesale business unit, where he and a colleague built most of the financial models setting Wholesale’s pricing on big deals with telecom resellers.
“Modelling brings together the financial and operational, so it is like a ‘control center’ for the entire business. The best thing about being a financial modelling consultant is that you get to learn about so many different types of businesses. We have built a model for a non-alcoholic brewer, a health & fitness club, a leather jacket maker, a builder of touchscreen kiosks, a social media ‘market’, and a sports drink company. Needless to say, it’s always interesting!”
Rob’s university education began with a Bachelor of Arts at the University of Toronto. This was followed by a Master of Theological Studies, where he became adept at arguing the finer points of ecclesiology and soteriology. Rob went on to attain the Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) designation, and completed his Master of Finance from Queen’s School of Business. His education continues, whether it’s database query optimization, cost accounting or Civil War history. If he’s not staring at a computer screen, you can probably find him on the squash court, running on one of the few remaining new routes from his North Toronto home, or worrying about the world’s declining biodiversity.
Linda Keliacius, Sun Life
Alan Manning, RBC
Alan Manning is an Associate Director of Data Science and Portfolio Analysis on RBC’s Environmental & Social Risk team. His work addresses two main questions. First, how does climate change and the transition to a low-carbon economy pose a risk and an opportunity to the bank and its clients? Second, how does the bank’s activities contribute to climate change, and how can RBC achieve its 2050 net-zero lending commitment? Alan joined RBC three years ago after completing a PhD in physics from UBC, where his research focused on solid-state NMR of brain tissue. Outside of work, he enjoys cooking and learning about ancient history.
Mark has recently joined the private sector. After receiving his PhD from Oxford University, followed by four years as a postdoc in mathematical physics, he now works at Scotiabank, as Manager, Market Risk Management.
Anders Stjarne, Sun Life
Qingwen Wang, Deloitte
Qingwen Wang is a physician-turned-quant currently working at Deloitte with the Market Risk team, using mathematics modelling and statistics to develop pricing models. She completed her PhD in strong gravity at Perimeter Institute in 2020 before becoming a quant via self-learning. Outside of work, she enjoys Ultimate and music.