Report to Members 2012-2013

REPORT TO MEMBERS 2012-2013

CFA SOCIETY OF SASKATCHEWAN Board of Directors 2012-2013

Officers and Directors

Jardin Schnurr, CFA President Chris Chernecki, CFA Vice President Ryan Thompson, CFA Secretary/Treasurer Heather Greenman, CFA Past President

Directors

Rene Benoit, CFA Membership Zhou (Joe) Zhang, CFA Education Jardin Schnurr, CFA Public Awareness C.A. Hatlelid, CFA Technology

Directors at Large

Gavin Preston, CFA Robert Davis

Administration

Lydia Mohoric Society Administrator

TABLE OF CONTENTS

1.0 President’s Report 3

2.0 Activity Report 4 2.1 Programs 4

2.2 Educational Programs 4

2.3 University Relations 6

2.4 Annual Forecast Dinner & Markets Outlook Dinner 6

2.5 Membership 7

2.6 Public Awareness 8

2.7 Treasurer’s Report 8

3.0 Officers and Directors for 2012 - 13 9

1.0 President’s Report

Another successful year has come to an end for the CFA Society of Saskatchewan.

The Board continued on its endeavour to hold high quality value add events and to bring in speakers that are relevant and timely. This was demonstrated by the record attendance that we had the Stephen Murchison, Deputy Chief, Bank of Canada luncheon in Saskatoon on September 12th, 2012.

In an ongoing effort to bring in high profile speakers for both our Forecast Dinner in Regina and our Outlook Dinner in Saskatoon we have formalized a sponsorship package for both events which was well received from the corporate world. A record $12,500 was raised through corporate sponsorship and will be used to continue to make the event bigger and better next year. This past year marked the first time the Board pursued corporate sponsorship at our Saskatoon Outlook and was encouraged by the response of two corporate sponsors which raised $4,000 to allow us to bring in professional MCs which we received rave reviews from attendees.

Some of our other key operational highlights for the fiscal year:  The 2013 Forecast Dinner in Regina drew a crowd of 316  The 2012 Outlook Dinner in Saskatoon was a huge success with 117 attendees  Financial Modeling course had 8 participants which took place over 2 days in April

I look back at the year and it isn’t without the support of my fellow board members that are really the driving force behind the accomplishments and successes this year. I would like to take the opportunity to recognize and thank the 2012-2013 Board of Directors for their ongoing contributions: Chris Chernecki, CFA (Vice-President), Ryan Thompson, CFA (Secretary/Treasurer), Heather Greenman, CFA (Past President), Rene Benoit, CFA (Membership Chair), Zhou Zhang, CFA (Education Chair), C.A. Hatlelid, CFA (Technology Chair), Gavin Preston, CFA (Member at Large) and Robert Davis (Member at Large). In addition, a special thank you goes out to Lydia Mohoric (Society Administrator) and her contribution and assistance in the society’s daily operations.

After two one-year terms as President of the CFA Society of Saskatchewan I will be stepping aside and Chris Chernecki will lead the Society in 2013-2014. I will continue to serve as Past-President to assist in our pursuit of our long-term goals of offering value added services to our membership. I look forward to seeing everyone out at one of our many events in the upcoming fiscal year.

Jardin Schnurr, CFA President, CFA Society of Saskatchewan

2.0 Activity Report

2.1 Programs

Luncheons/Breakfasts

The CFA Society of Saskatchewan is committed to provide our membership with various programs to enhance their knowledge and understanding of relevant issues within industry. Over this past fiscal year, there were a total of seven luncheons and breakfasts. Our society was privileged to have the following speakers:

September 6, 2012 – Stephen Murchison, Deputy Chief, Bank of Canada – “ToTEM as a Financial Forecasting Model”, Regina

September 12, 2012 – Stephen Murchison, Deputy Chief, Bank of Canada – “ToTEM as a Financial Forecasting Model”, Saskatoon

December 13, 2012 – Jeff Martin, CFA, Peters & Co - Themes in the Canadian Energy Market”, Regina.

May 29, 2013 – Craig Reynolds, Senior Vice President and CFA, Saskatchewan Roughriders– “Impact of the Roughriders on the Economy and the upcoming Grey Cup”, Regina.

2.2 Educational Programs

Society Scholarship Program

A recent change in the scholarship program is that we no longer offer Society Scholarships and the new scholarship is named as “Access Scholarships” administrated by the CFA Institute. Candidates will apply directly through the CFA Institute website. The Education Chair at the society level will participate in the selection process of scholarship recipients. In 2013 and 2014, CFA Institute has allocated 5 and 7 scholarships, respectively, to our society.

Pre Exam Support

The Society continued its strong support for candidates in preparing for CFA exams by teaming up with the Boston Security Analysts Society and offering all three levels of practice exams. This year 43 candidates participated in the Boston practice exam program. The Boston mock exams were made available to candidates to pick up both in Regina and Saskatoon in late April. We also organized mock exams at the University of Regina and University of Saskatchewan campus on April 27 and gave candidates the opportunity to practice the exam in a realistic test environment.

Post Exam Reception We celebrated the end of June 2013 exam season by hosting the CFA Exam reception at the Trifon’s Pizza located across the University of Regina campus on June 1. Candidates and members enjoyed refreshments and a light supper, and had the opportunity to discuss their exam experiences while networking with other members and candidates.

The Marquee Group Excel Financial Modeling Course For the second time the Society offered a two-day financial modeling course taught by the Marquee Group during April 2-3. Our members, candidates and university students who attended this short course expressed very positive feedback after the seminar. The seminar focused on using Excel to apply financial knowledge in a hands-on manner. The course covered several of the common methodologies that are used in current practice to project a business’s financial performance and determine its value, including discounted cash flow analysis. In the future, the Excel Modeling course is expected to be offered in our society once every two years.

Investment Research Challenge Our Society, partnered with the Paul J. Hill School of Business, University of Regina, participated in the 2012-2013 CFA Institute Investment Research Challenge (IRC) (Local level) hosted by the Canadian Prairies Societies in Calgary. The IRC is a competition between university-sponsored teams that research a designated publicly traded company (Enbridge was the designated firm for the Canadian Prairies Societies), prepare a written report and present their findings to a panel of judges. The competition has three levels: Local, Regional, and Global. Winners at the Local level advance to compete against Teams within their geographic region at the Regional level. Winning Teams at the Regional level advance to compete at the Global level. Dr. Zhou Zhang, CFA, served as Faculty Advisor. James Baldwin, CFA (Greystone Investments), served as Industry Mentor. Three students, Mitch Clarke (Team Captain), Steven Perlinger and Junting Zhou, represented our society participating in the competition. The Winning team at the Canadian Prairies Societies level is the Mount Royal University team.

2.3 University Relations

We grew our candidate base by strengthening our relationships with Saskatchewan’s universities. During the year, our executives and board members visited the University of Saskatchewan and the University of Regina several times to promote the CFA program to students. As a result, a large proportion of Level I candidates are either fresh graduates or completing the final year of their undergraduate programs. We also increased our interactions with Saskatchewan university students. For instance, many students in the UR Investing program volunteered at our events including the Annual Forecast Dinner. This interaction allows students to expand their network and also allows the Society to assist students in navigating their career paths.

2.4 Annual Forecast Dinner & Markets Outlook Dinner

Forecast Dinner The Society held the 21st CFASS Forecast Dinner on Thursday January 24th, 2013 at the Conexus Arts Centre in Regina. This year’s dinner drew 316 guests. The dinner is the Society’s signature event for members and the financial community. This year’s speakers were Derek Holt, Vice President of Scotia Economics and keynote Barry Ritholtz author of Bailout Nation and CEO of Fusion IQ. Master of ceremonies were Donovan Workun and Graham Neil. Our society collaborated with the CFA Society of Winnipeg this year to bring in Barry and we will look to collaborate with other local societies in the future to be able to bring in high profile speakers. For the second year in a row we incorporated corporate sponsorship which enables the society to continue to make this our signature event and we thank RBC Investor Services, Greystone Managed Investments Inc. and State Street for their participation.

Outlook Dinner The Society held the seventh annual CFASS Outlook Dinner on Thursday June 13 at TCU Place in Saskatoon. This year’s dinner drew 117 guests from the financial community. Speakers were Ed Carlson, author of George Lindsay, the Art of Technical Analysis and Tony Crescenzi, Executive Vice President of PIMCO. As a result of the positive feedback we had from the MC’s at our Forecast dinner in January we again used Donovan Workun and Graham Neil who added some humour to the dinner. We continue to be optimistic about growing this event going forward and making it our Society’s signature event in Saskatoon and incorporated corporate sponsorship for the first time. The addition of corporate sponsors going forward will enable the Society to continue to make investments in this dinner and grow this event for the future. We thank SaskWorks Venture Fund Inc. and Greystone Managed Investments Inc. for their participation.

2.5 Membership

In addition to providing general contributions to the Board, the Membership Chair is also responsible for processing new Society membership requests and status changes.

As of June 2013, the CFA Society of Saskatchewan has 151 members, up from 142 in 2012. Of the total membership, 141 are charterholders up from 118 last year. The rest of the membership is comprised of either affiliate members or candidates who are in the process of completing the CFA Program. 15 new memberships were approved this past year (1 upgrade, 13 new and 1 retiree). This compares to 15 last year.

116 individuals sat for the June 2013 exam. This is up from 2011 when 111 individuals sat for the June 2012 exam. A total of 50 individuals also registered for December 2012 L1 exam. This is up from 47 in December 2011.

2013 Exam Candidates  A total of 50 individuals registered for December 2012 L1 exam  A total of 116 individuals sat for June 2013 exam (L1 – 47, L2 – 49, L3 – 20). This compares to 111 individuals sat for the June 2012 exam (L1 – 47, L2 – 40, L3 – 24).

Candidate Kickoff Events where held in both Saskatoon and Regina in late February. The attendance at both events was good and comparable to 2012 which was about 20 in each location.

A charter recognition event was held in early December to recognize new charterholders. Aaron Brown, CFA, Presidents council representative presented the charters. The society welcomed the following new charterholders in 2012/2013.

Michael Allen Bekker, CFA Derek Bissonnette, CFA Ningyu Geng, CFA Syed Hussain Haider, CFA David N Keil, CFA Aaron Peter Lang, CFA Christopher Olfert, CFA Jarvis Patrick Rein, CFA Johanna Salloum Shawn Edward Solonunko, CFA David Tallman, CFA Travis John Wetsch, CFA Paul Schuck, CFA Tara Ramsay, CFA Tim Kent, CFA

Top Employers

Saskatchewan has a broad range of companies who employ charterholders. The following is a list of the Top 10 employers of CFA charterholders in Saskatchewan:

1. Greystone Managed Investments (37) 2. Concentra Financial (6) 3. Farm Credit Canada (6) 4. PFM Capital Inc. (5) 5. Government of Saskatchewan (4) 6. Addenda Capital Inc. (4) 7. Aon (4) 8. Lex Capital Management Inc. (4) 9. Westcap Management (4) 10. Dundee Wealth (3)

2.6 Public Awareness

In May 2013, the Society of expanded its web-based presence to the LinkedIn social media web site at www.linkedin.com/company/cfa-society-of-saskatchewan. Providing a society platform through social media is intended to support: facilitating interaction and networking among our constituents; promoting society events and increasing attendance; and recruiting more volunteers. CFA Society of Saskatchewan currently has 38 followers.

2.7 Treasurer’s Report

For the Fiscal Year ending June 30, 2012, the Society generated a gain of $9,057. This increased equity to $61,897. Equity consists of $62,856 in cash of which $45,000 is invested in a cashable rate riser GIC; accounts receivable of $1,520 and accounts payable of $2,479. The Society has no other debt obligations.

The financial statements are reviewed by Berger Belanger Chartered Accountants.

3.0 Officers and Directors for 2012-13

The following paragraphs describe the professional background of the officers and directors for 2012-2013.

Jardin Schnurr, CFA, President Jardin is Portfolio Manager on the US Equity team at Greystone Managed Investments. In that role he oversees the US Energy, Industrial and Utility sectors for the US portfolio. Prior to joining Greystone in 2006, Jardin held an analyst position at Scheer, Rowlett & Assoc. Investment Management in Toronto. Jardin has served the community on various organizations, most notably he is the co-founder of the Tour de Lumsden, a 58km bike race, raising funds for Regina Palliative Care Inc. Jardin obtained his Bachelor of Management & Organizational Specializing in Finance from University of Western Ontario and earned his Chartered Alternative Investment Analyst (CAIA) designation in 2008 and the CFA Charter in 2010.

Chris Chernecki, CFA, Vice President Chris is Director of Client Service for Greystone Managed Investments. Prior to Chris’ career at Greystone he worked in the commercial finance industry for the BDC and GE Capital. He currently serves as Secretary –Treasurer for the CFA Society of Saskatchewan. Chris has a Bachelor of Commerce Hons. from the University of Manitoba and is a CFA charterholder.

Ryan Thompson, CFA, Secretary-Treasurer Ryan is an Investment Analyst at Lex Capital Management Inc. (Lex Capital), an energy-based private equity firm. In that role, Ryan is responsible for the due diligence, underwriting and monitoring of private and public investments. Prior to joining Lex Capital, Ryan was a Senior Analyst at the Ross Smith Energy Group in Calgary, a boutique independent oil and gas research shop. Ryan obtained his CFA Charter in 2007 and has earned a Bachelor of Administration from the University of Regina.

Heather Greenman, CFA, Past President Heather Greenman is a Portfolio Manager, Canadian Equities at Greystone Managed Investments Inc. With 10 years’ experience in financial markets, Heather oversees sector coverage of Energy, Pipelines and Utilities for Greystone’s Canadian Equity Portfolios. She is an active member of the community, most notably in her involvement with the Canadian Arthritis Society. Heather has served as a member of the Board for 4 years, covering positions including Treasurer, Vice President and President. She has also been active in her role as Chair of Regina’s Annual CFA Society of Saskatchewan Forecast Dinner. Heather obtained her bachelor of Administration degree from the University of Regina and also holds the Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) Designation.

Rene Benoit, CFA, Membership Chair René is a Senior Investment Manager at PFM Capital Inc. where he is responsible for originating, due diligence, underwriting and managing private debt and equity investments. Prior to joining PFM, he worked in the Saskatchewan Credit Union system, including Concentra Financial in the Corporate Finance area. René obtained a Bachelor of Administration degree from the University of Regina and also holds the Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) designation.

C.A. Hatlelid, CFA, Technology Chair C.A. is a Vice-President with Credit Union Deposit Guarantee Corporation. He provides executive leadership and strategic direction to instill public confidence in Saskatchewan credit unions, prudently regulate credit unions, and guarantee deposits. C.A. also oversees the management of an investment fund to support the Corporation’s deposit guarantee. He has 20 years of financial industry experience working with Crown Investments Corporation, Farm Credit Canada and the credit union system. C.A. earned his CFA charter in 2002, has a Bachelor of Administration degree from the University of Regina, and is a designated Certified Management Accountant and Financial Risk Manager.

Zhou Zhang, CFA, Education Chair Dr. Zhou Zhang is the Associate Professor and Viterra Faculty Fellow in Finance at the Paul J. Hill School of Business, University of Regina. He received his Ph.D. in Finance from the University of Manitoba. He also worked for China Construction Bank during 1997-1999. He holds the Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) designation and currently serves as the Education Chair and Board of Directors for the CFA Society of Saskatchewan. His research interest is primarily in capital raising and internal control over financial reporting. He has published papers in the Journal of Corporate Finance and Financial Review.

Robert Davis Robert is the Manager of Treasury and Balance Sheet Management at Conexus Credit Union. In that role, Robert leads the treasury operations of the credit union, including investment portfolio, balance sheet, and financial risk management. Prior to this role, Robert was a Capital Markets Analyst at Farm Credit Canada. He currently serves as the Treasurer on the Association for Financial Professionals of Canada – Regina Board. Robert obtained a Bachelor of Business Administration from the University of Regina and is a candidate in the CFA program.

Gavin Preston, CFA Gavin Preston has worked in the investment management industry for over 7 years. He currently is an Investment Analyst with Westcap Mgt. Ltd., which he joined in late 2011 after working for a number of years at Calgary-based Mawer Investment Management Ltd. There he worked with and advised high net worth private and institutional investors and also played a key operational role to enhance client service. Gavin is also a founder of a few local start-up companies. Gavin received the Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) designation in 2008 and a Bachelor of Science degree from the University of Calgary in 2004. He is currently on the Board of Directors for the CFA Society of Saskatchewan.

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