CEO & Chief Investment Officer

Julian Klymochko

Julian is the CEO and Chief Investment Officer of Accelerate. Prior to founding Accelerate in February 2018, Julian was the Chief Investment Officer of Ross Smith Asset Management where he managed a number of alternative investment strategies for nearly a decade. He founded and managed a top performing Canadian alternative fund in 2017. Julian also managed a 6-time award winning market neutral hedge fund and founded an award-winning event-driven arbitrage fund. Prior to Ross Smith Asset Management, he was an Analyst at BMO Capital Markets. He attended the University of Manitoba where he graduated with a Bachelors of Science (Engineering) and a Bachelors of Commerce (Finance). Julian is a Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) charterholder.

He is the author of the book Reminiscences of a Hedge Fund Operator and host of the Absolute Return Podcast.

CFO & Head of Capital Markets

Michael Kesslering

Mike is the CFO & Head of Capital Markets of Accelerate. Prior to Accelerate, he was a Senior Analyst and Trader at Ross Smith Asset Management and prior to that, an Investment Banking Analyst at FirstEnergy Capital. He assisted in managing an award-winning market neutral hedge fund and a top performing Canadian alternative fund in 2017. Mike attended the University of Regina where he graduated with a Bachelor of Business Administration (Distinction), majoring in Finance. He is a Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) level 3 candidate.

CTO and Vice President, Investment Management

Derek Euale

Derek is Vice President of Investment Management and Chief Technology Officer at Accelerate. He is a highly analytical capital markets professional with deep experience spanning multi-asset quantitative analysis, trading, investment research & risk management. Previously, Derek delivered novel proprietary trading strategies, structured products and processes at BMO Capital Markets and CIBC World Markets. He was Manager of Investment Risk & Research for a large public pension plan, and was critically involved in quantitative trade and market risk management at Suncor. Derek graduated from the University of Waterloo with a Master of Mathematics degree in Applied Mathematics and from McMaster University with a Bachelor of Science degree in Math & Physics.

COO & Chief Compliance Officer

Michael Lee Hing

Michael has 22 years of financial and investment experience including roles in fund valuation at BMO and Dejardins, risk management at BCE Inc., and Chief Compliance Officer for Auspice Capital, Ross Smith Asset Management ULC and most recently Carecana Management Corp. Michael attended the University of Concordia where he graduated with a Bachelor of Business Administration and then a Masters of Business Administration.

Executive VP

Frederick Mannix

Frederick Mannix is the Executive Vice President at Accelerate. He is also a director at Chinook Valley Inc. and Gryphon Corp. Gryphon is a private family bank based out of Barbados. Frederick graduated from Florida Atlantic University with a degree in Business Administration. He holds the Chartered Investment Managers (CIM) designation.

Marketing Communications Coordinator

Sabrina Torres

Sabrina is the Marketing Communications Coordinator at Accelerate. Prior to Accelerate, she has helped startups and small businessesin various industries gain online traction with her knowledge and hands-on experience of digital advertising, brand management, and graphic design. She graduated with a Bachelor of Business Administration degree from SAIT where she also attained a BA diploma two years prior and has completed graphic design courses from ACAD.

Quantitative Analyst

Charles Sam

Charles is the Quantitative Analyst at Accelerate. He has three years of experience in the banking industry. He was part of a team that won Straight Through Process (STP) Excellence Award from Deutsche Bank, USA for two consecutive years whiles working at Stanbic Bank Ghana as Outward Payments Office. Charles is currently in his fourth year of PhD program with specialization in Actuarial Science at the University of Calgary. He graduated from the same university with a Masters degree in Statistics. His research interests are Credit Risk Models, Loss Distribution Models and application of Machine Learning techniques to financial and insurance data.

CEO & Chief Investment Officer

Julian Klymochko

Julian is the CEO and Chief Investment Officer of Accelerate. Prior to founding Accelerate in February 2018, Julian was the Chief Investment Officer of Ross Smith Asset Management where he managed a number of alternative investment strategies for nearly a decade. He founded and managed a top performing Canadian alternative fund in 2017. Julian also managed a 6-time award winning market neutral hedge fund and founded an award-winning event-driven arbitrage fund. Prior to Ross Smith Asset Management, he was an Analyst at BMO Capital Markets. He attended the University of Manitoba where he graduated with a Bachelors of Science (Engineering) and a Bachelors of Commerce (Finance). Julian is a Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) charterholder.

He is the author of the book Reminiscences of a Hedge Fund Operator and host of the Absolute Return Podcast.

Board Member

Jai Hawker

Jai is the Executive Vice President of Accelerate. He has nearly 20 years of experience in capital markets including roles in corporate finance at RBC Dominion Securities, merchant capital at Enron Canada, equities research at Peters & Co, and 13 years at FirstEnergy Capital, most recently as a Director supervising their Private Client Division. He is the former VP Business Development at Ross Smith Asset Management. Jai attended the University of Washington with a Bachelor of Business Administration.

Board Member

P.L. (Lonny) Tetley

Lonny Tetley is a Director and the Corporate Secretary of Accelerate. Currently, he is a partner at Burnet, Duckworth and Palmer LLP. Mr. Tetley serves on the Board of Certarus Ltd. and Beyond Energy Services & Technology Corp. He is also a member of the Private Funds Independent Review Committee of Deans Knight Capital Management Ltd.

Mr. Tetley attended the University of Calgary where he graduated with a Bachelor of Commerce (with Distinction) and a Bachelor Of Laws (Gold Medalist). He is a Member of the Law Society of Alberta, Canadian Bar Association and the Calgary Bar Association.

Board Member

Thomas J. Simons

Thomas (“Tom”) J. Simons is a Director of Accelerate. Mr. Simons currently serves as Director, President and Chief Executive Officer of TSX-listed CES Energy Solutions Corp. and its predecessor since March 2006.

Advisor

Jim Beqaj

Jim Beqaj is an Advisor of Accelerate. Mr. Beqaj is the founder of Beqaj International Inc. and a trusted advisor to CEOs. Prior to founding Beqaj International, he was a Vice Chair of BMO Capital Markets and prior to that, President & COO of CIBC Wood Gundy.

Advisor

Tyler Stuart

Tyler Stuart is an Advisor of Accelerate. Mr. Stuart is a Managing Director and Co-founder of Green Acre Capital, a leading cannabis private equity investment firm.

Special Advisor

Richard Kang

Richard is a Special Advisor at Accelerate. He is currently a Managing Director at Sigma Analysis & Management, a Toronto based alternative investment management firm catering to institutional investors. He is an Index Committee Member for EMQQ, the Emerging Market Internet & E-Commerce ETF which is listed on the NYSE. Richard is also a member of the Country Classification Committee at FTSE Group and a member of editorial board for both the Journal of Index Investing and the Journal of Impact & ESG Investing. Richard is a serial entrepreneur having started and led various asset management and fintech businesses. Previously, he co-founded Emerging Global Advisors, a NYC based firm managing emerging/frontier market ETFs. Founded in 2008, the firm was sold to Columbia Threadneedle (the investment arm of Ameriprise Financial) in the summer of 2016. While in New York, Richard taught the “Fundamentals of Portfolio Management” course at NYU.