August 9th Minutes re Seminar with Murina Chan:   

Xiaobo Wang introduced briefly about Murina Chan.


WCM and her personal life

Murina Chan first became involved with WCM eight years ago. She attended events and joined the membership committee before becoming a director on the board 3 years ago.  She was recently appointed to the role of WCM Vice President in May 2007.

Aside from work and personal activities, she also likes to give back to the community through volunteer work and fund raising for charities.

She enjoys focusing on personal develop and building people skills to expand her scope and learn more. She achieved this through her time spent on WCM, especially during her time on the board.

She values “balance” throughout her career. She started to focus more on her balanced life after starting on the fixed income trading desk at the Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan. She started to workout during the morning time and paid more attention to a healthy lifestyle. Now she has completed marathons in different locations, such as New York, Chicago and she is currently training for a marathon in Hawaii.

She also loves traveling as she travels for work purposes as well as for pleasure. 


Career Life

She completed her economics degree from The University of Western Ontario. She was shy at a young age being one of five girls in her family. To overcome her shyness, after university, she backpacked around Europe for a few months and lived abroad working in an accounting firm in London. A year later, she moved back to Toronto, joined National Bank, and started her CFA studies. Later on, she switched to OTPP to join the Finance Department in Swaps & Derivatives with a focus on financial reporting and valuations.


Moving up within OTPP

She started to build up her work relationships while she was in the finance group at OTPP. Two years later, she switched to the Research and Economics department doing programming and testing of regression models.

During her time in the research group, she was also responsible for the board report which allowed her to communicate to many of the VP from different departments. She then landed her position in the fixed income department – trading floor after two years of proving her knowledge, people skills and work ethics in the research area.

Being on the trading floor desk is different from reporting, valuation and programming work as it is more male-dominated the focus is on trading and making strong returns for the portfolio.


Careers Tips

Suggestion One: Communication styles differ among various departments. On the trading floor, do not take any comments personally as sometimes handling the traders communication style can be a challenge. Speak up to make sure you are being heard.

Suggestion Two: Be an expert on something, i.e., knowing & owning a certain skill and proving your value (knowledge).

Suggestion Three: Be “on top mind” of your boss so you can be noticed and remembered.  Book time with your boss on an on-going basis and let them know what you are working on. However, be professional and respectful of their time availability. When trying to discuss issues or when presenting a problem,  do convey the facts but also offer solutions/alternatives and the benefits of the resolution.  Be sure to offer value in your solutions.

Suggestion Four: Get coaching. She started to have a life/career coach to help in attaining her goals in her career, such as moving to the next position level.  Also, while at WCM, she participated in the mentorship program and found a great mentor to help support her and offer suggestions in her development.


What she is doing now?

Murina has been at OTPP for 11 years and has worked in three different departments. She is currently the Assistant Portfolio Manager for the External Manager Fixed Income portfolio.  They analyze hedge funds and private equity style funds with a holding period for 5 to 7 years. Strategies in the portfolio may include buying distressed debt funds who invest in companies going through corporate restructurings and leveraged loan funds investing in companies going through a refinancing or M&A. The fixed income department has plenty of exposure in US, Europe and Emerging Market, and now looking for more opportunities in Asia.

When selecting the fund managers, she looks for managers with experience, long track record and strong expertise in their strategies as it is the skill set and pipeline that is a key success factor. Also of importance is to examine when profit was made during certain market conditions, as well as the way losses were handled. 

Legal and operational due diligence is performed on all funds. It may take a few months before a deal is closed because developing a long term strategic relationship is important in finding managers with similar investment styles consistent with the portfolio’s objectives.

She also maintains contacts and builds relationships with the managers. It is critical through monthly calls and monthly reports to obtain full transparency on all the investments held in a fund. When investing in the manager, she needs to focus on the underlying assets, while most of the time the managers are not willing to share the information of the assets.  Though it can be challenging at the beginning, she is able to negotiate the full disclosure requirements by ensuring the information is used for risk monitoring purposes and the focus is on the risk of the fund’s exposure.

She also sits on some of the funds’ investment committees to evaluate the credit quality of the investment names and approves deals that are allowed to be invested on behalf of the portfolio.


OTPP and the market

In the last few years, the fund and its portfolios have experienced superior returns. However, given the recent volatility in the markets, opportunities have shifted to take advantage new buying opportunities

OTPP is comfortable with the short term volatility as the market does present some buying opportunities and it is confident in the long term outlook.

CCFA participated in China's "Chunhui Project", and is sending a delegate to Baotou, Inner Mongolia, for training Chinese bankers.
The delegate has six members: Maggie Jiang (Barclay Capital Markets), Lee Huang (BMO), Ken Chen (CIBC), Michael Wang(CIBC), Houben Huang (BMO) and Ti Wang (RBC Capital Markets).
The delegate will visit Baotou City Commercial Bank and run a seminar on modern financial products and risk management. The training will be between Aug. 27 and 30, 2007.
On Aug. 20, Consul General Mdm Zhu Taoying met the delegate and wished a successful visit.

CCFA had a very successful BBQ on Aug 11.
Over 100 people showed up. Thanks for Charles Cai, Mark Li, Juliana Ding, Huice Zhou and many others who organized the event. Also, students from York University, Brock University and other schools demonstrated big interests in CCFA and its programs.


Please go to http://s243.photobucket.com/albums/ff158/the_ccfa/CCFA2007BBQ/
for photos.

各在外留学人员社团组织及个人:     
     第二届“春晖杯”创业大赛自2007年4月6日启动以来，在海内外中国留学人员中引起了强烈反响。现应广大中国留学人员的要求，大赛组委会决定将第二届 “春晖杯”中国留学人员创新创业大赛的报名截止时间顺延至北京时间2007年7月30日，以便参赛者更好地完善商业计划书等报名材料，特此公告。有意参赛 的中国留学人员请抓紧时间在线报名，并于报名截止日期前提交参赛项目。第二届“春晖杯”创业大赛期待着更多留学人员的参与。 烦请贵会将此消息向会内外的中国留学人员广为宣传，推动更多有着回国创业梦想的中国留学人员报名参赛。我办特随函附上此通知,以供贵会宣传发文使用。
      感谢贵会对大赛的支持与推动！ 大赛报名网站：中国留学网 www.cscse.edu.cn, www.cscse.com.cn
     大赛组委会办公室：教育部留学服务中心投资处
      联系人：汪天洁、张凤宇、戴争鸣
      电话：0086-10-82370953、0086-10-62317331
     传真：0086-10-82370953
     电子信箱：cyds@cscse.com.cn, cyds@cscse.edu.cn
 
                                                               “春晖杯”创业大赛组委会办公室
                                                                               2007年7月5日

Jacqui Szeto is the VP and Director at TD Securities Fixed Income Sales. She is an amazing chinese lady with enthusiasm and talent in all her endeavour. Besides her job in TD Securities, Women in Capital Market association, and as a young mother at home, she even founded her own small business that was ranked as Canada’s top 50 small businesses by Globe and Mail 2006. She brings together 16 years of working experience on the trading floor in Toronto and Hongkong, broad connections in the finance industry, and deep insights on how to move up the corporate ladder as minority.

She has shared with the CCFA her career development  including how she:

        * struggled to merging with Canadian culture cos she is not allowed to talk with Chinese students in high school when she just came to Canada,

        * broke into the trading floor by proactively buying traders coffee to sit with them and observe their work as an mid-office intern student,

        * relocated to TD Hongkong in order to jump from retail, commercial to institutional money market sales, and working with central banks in Asia;

        * came back to Toronto, perfecting English, and again proved that hard working is able to make her succeed not only in Hongkong, but also in Toronto;

        * saw prospects in debt market and switched career to restart the client base in debt market from the scratch, always push up her limit;

 Because she encounter the same systematic barrier for minority in finance industry, here is her tips :

        * When in Roman, do as Roman's do. Blend into the western culture by watching 'American idol', making friends with non-chinese, and always improving English;

        * Find a mentor, be proactive in looking for senior people's honest feedback, in canada, no boss will tell you why you are bypassed by promotion or where to go;

        * Look out on how to brand yourself, try to jump out of Chinese's stereotype that 'quiet, work by himself, job security first, no need for promotion';

        * Dress well and social well at work,  networking and softskills put people ahead of others in the long run;

        * Be creative in solving problems for the boss, avoid throwing the boss unsolvable problems, never take things for granted or just do whatever told to do...

Also she would like to recommend the following books   

       Straight from the Gut - Jack Welch ( former CEO of GE)

       The Tipping Point

       Good to Great

       Nice girls don't get the corner office/ Nice girls don't get rich

She also recommend an innovative way to read as audio books since we can listen on the way to work or while excercising . these business related audio books are available online for itune stores or at the SpokenWords audio book store.

Another accomplishment of Jacqui's is her own  small business: a shopping website www.goneshopping.ca

It is nominated as Canada's top 50 small business in 2006, and now is again nominated as 'The SavvyMom Mompreneur of the Year Award'. If you like her speech yesterday, please go to the following link and give her your vote!  www.mompreneuraward.ca/MomBio.aspx?momID=209

     由教育部、科技部共同主办的第二届“春晖杯”中国留学人员创新创业大赛今天在大连宣布大赛报名正式开始，报名时间为2007年4月6日至7月10日。即日起报名者可登录“中国留学网（www.cscse.edu.cn）”在线报名。
第 二届“春晖杯”创业大赛承办单位是教育部留学服务中心、科技部火炬中心、中国留学人员广州科技交流会组委会办公室、大连高新技术产业园区管委会、威海经济 技术开发区管委会；协办单位由北京、上海、广州、南京、大连、苏州、西安、威海等八个城市的12家留学人员创业园以及IDGVC技术创业投资基金等三家风 险投资机构、欧美同学会商会、神州学人编辑部等共17家单位组成。中国驻外使（领）馆教育处（组），海外留学人员联谊会、协会、学会等社团组织为大赛支持 单位。中国辽宁（大连）海外学子创业周将为“春晖杯”创业大赛参赛项目提供新的对接平台。
 
    教育部国际司司长助理张宁在今天的新闻发布会上说，教育部最近发布了《关于进一步加强引进海外优秀留学人才工作的若干意见》，决定今后定期举办“春晖杯” 中国留学人员创新创业大赛活动，希望通过“春晖杯”创业大赛，充分调动海外优秀留学人员回国创业热情，鼓励海外留学人员积极申报创新创业项目，创造条件支 持参赛者与留学人员创业园、大学科技园和企业进行项目对接，推动留学人员回国创办高新技术企业。期望第二届“春晖杯”中国留学人员创新创业大赛将发掘出更 多的优秀人才和创新项目，培育更多的成功企业。
科技部火炬中心孵化器处副处长李志远表示，对“春晖杯”创业大赛获奖后回国创业的项目将优先给予创业辅导、资金支持和政策倾斜。
教 育部（中国）留学服务中心主任方茂田说，举办“春晖杯”创业大赛，是为了更好地配合国家实施人才强国战略和自主创新战略，是吸引留学人才特别是高层次留学 人才回国工作的一项积极措施，是“鼓励回国”的一项重要内容，是建设创新型国家、增强我国自主创新能力的必然要求。首届“春晖杯”创业大赛的成功举办，充 分表明了这是一个政府搭台、相关部门通力协作，留学人员、专家、机构、企业唱戏的成功案例。

    记者从大赛组委会了解到，首届“春晖杯”创业大赛迄今取得了显著效果。首届大赛共受理了201个参赛项目，经过风险投资机构、创业园、企业三方面专家的初 审、复审、通审，评出163个入围项目，并对入围项目进行了公示。2006年12月底，“春晖杯”创业大赛入围参赛者在“春晖计划”的资助下汇集广州，进 行创业交流和项目洽谈、对接。在短短三个月时间里，已有10余个参赛项目在国内正式启动，还有许多项目正在进一步做好创业准备和项目对接工作。参赛者路万 里在启动制备药物中间体项目的同时，还与他的团队写出了《中国生物医药发展战略的建议》，为我国科技发展建言献策。参赛者肖楠在风险投资机构的建议和引导 下，大赛结束后一个月，即回国加盟深圳某公司，担任该公司首席信息官(CIO)，并兼任技术总监，迈出了回国创业的关键一步。


附：第二届“春晖杯”中国留学人员创新创业大赛组织单位

主办单位：教育部、科技部

承办单位：教育部留学服务中心、科技部火炬中心、广州留学人员科技交流会组委会办公室、大连高新技术产业园区管委会、威海经济技术开发区管委会。

协 办单位：北京市留学人员海淀创业园、北京中关村国际孵化园、上海张江国家留学人员创业园、留学人员广州创业园、大连海外学子创业园、清华留学人员创业园、 北京科大留学人员创业园、中国南京留学人员创业园、苏州留学人员创业园、上海莘闵留学人员科技创业园、威海留学人员创业园、西安留学人员创业园、 IDGVC技术创业投资基金、大连海创投资有限公司、北京中海投资管理公司、欧美同学会商会、神州学人编辑部。

支持单位：驻外使（领）馆教育处（组）、海外留学人员联谊会、协会、学会等社团组织。

会长致辞

我仅代表“加中金融协会”欢迎您光临本网站。
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您将通过网站内容充分了解“加中金融协会”的宗旨和性质，以及如何加入协会或成为本网站 的会员。除了了解协会的新闻发布、活动预告等，在这里您还可以向我们提出意见和建议，和其他会员建立联系，就当前热门话题展开讨论等。您也可以贡献您的文 章、图片和消息，介绍中国的最新发展和反映加拿大华人在金融界的创业、生活等相关信息。协会会员还将接触到当前市场用人信息等。
让我们为加、中友谊添砖加瓦，为华人事业成功共同努力。

祝您工作顺心，身体健康，生活愉快。

“加中金融协会”会长 王体



Message from the President

Welcome to CCFA’s web. This is where you can find about what the CCFA is, how to become a member of CCFA or just a web member, and how to participate in CCFA’s activities. Further, you can make suggestions and comments to CCFA, communicate with fellow members, and participate in various forums. You can post news, links or photos. As a CCFA member, you can access the member-only areas such as job posting, etc.

Let us help each other and contribute more to our community and the Sino-Canada friendship and ties.

All the best,

Dr. Ti Wang

President of CCFA