Management

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Jordan McNamee, Founder and CIO

Prior to founding Optimist Fund, Jordan worked at CI Global Asset Management where he was lead Portfolio Manager of the CI global smaller companies fund. Prior to being lead manager of the fund Jordan was Associate Portfolio Manager on the strategy focusing on the US small cap universe. Jordan’s career in the investment industry began when he joined Cambridge Global Asset Management (now CI Global Asset Management) in 2014 as an analyst covering the global technology, media and communications services sectors. He later joined the Cambridge small-cap team in 2019. Prior to joining Cambridge full time in 2014 Jordan went to Wilfrid Laurier University where he received a Bachelor of Business Administration. During his time at Laurier he was also a portfolio manager of the Laurier student investment fund and completed two co-op work terms at Gluskin Sheff and Associates as an Equity Research Associate. Jordan has also earned the Chartered Financial Analyst designation.

Jordan lives in Burlington, Ontario with his wife, two sons, and dog.

Contact: jordanmcnamee@optimistfund.com

Advisors

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Jonathan Bloomberg, CEO of BloombergSen

Prior to founding BloombergSen, Jonathan worked in the investment department of Burgundy Asset Management, first as an Investment Analyst and later as a Vice President. He worked on the U.S. Smaller Companies Fund and the U.S. Small and Medium Sized Businesses Fund and was Co-Portfolio Manager of the Canadian Small Companies Fund. Prior to that, he worked in New York as a Senior Analyst with SG Capital Partners, a private equity and venture capital investment boutique, and as an Analyst in the Corporate Finance Division of Salomon Smith Barney, where he worked on mergers and acquisitions as well as high-yield, secondary and initial public offerings.

Jonathan is an active member of the community, having chaired and founded a number of charitable fundraising campaigns throughout Toronto. Collectively, these initiatives have raised over $7 million for various organizations, including the Friends of Simon Wiesenthal Center, Camp Oochigeas, the National Ballet of Canada, the Canadian Opera Company, United Jewish Appeal and CJPAC.

Jonathan sits on the Board of Directors of Mount Sinai Hospital, is a Past Chair of the CJPAC Board of Directors and is a former board member of the Canadian Opera Company Foundation. Jonathan is also an active member of the Young Presidents’ Organization (YPO).

Jonathan holds an MBA from the Wharton School of Business and the Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) designation. He studied at Tufts University, where he earned his undergraduate degree in Economics, and also at Oxford University.

Jonathan lives in Toronto with his wife and their four children.

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Sanjay Sen, President and CIO of BloombergSen

Prior to founding BloombergSen, Sanjay worked for Cumberland Private Wealth Management, where he focused on research and analysis of U.S. equities, and for Burgundy Asset Management, where he was the Lead Analyst on the U.S. Small Cap Value Fund and analyzed Canadian and U.S. companies from diverse industries across all levels of market capitalization.

Sanjay sits on the Board of Directors of the African Parks Foundation of America.

Sanjay holds a B. Comm. from the University of Toronto and the Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) designation.

Sanjay lives in Toronto with his wife and their four children.

Mo Nezarati, Angel Investor and Technology Entrepreneur

Mo is a product visionary with strong business acumen and the holder of 5 US patents.  He is an angel investor and advisor to a number of startups in Canada and the US and leverages his experience on corporate change and how to best pivot to take full advantage of changing market trends. One of Mo’s many strengths is his ability to identify and leverage technology and disrupt established business models.

Mo currently acts as the Chief Strategy Officer at Aizan Technologies, as well as strategic advisor to Usable Machines and Marine Rescue Technologies.  Previously, Mo was the President of Products at Subspace, EVP Products-Strategy at Sangoma, VP of Cloud Applications at Avaya as well as the General Manager of Zang, at Avaya Company. Prior to that, Mo was the founder and CEO of Esna Technologies which was acquired by Avaya in 2015.  Mo, an early proponent of software as a service, also founded Aizan Technologies, a pioneer in -the-cloud telecommunications as a service company.

He is an Industrial Engineer, holding a Bachelor of Applied Science from the University of Toronto.