Real Estate

Paving the way for future females in finance

Passionate, forthright and dynamic, Julie Shipley-Strickland builds strong relationships with her valued clients by understanding their goals, supporting their concerns, and providing thoughtful and strategic solutions. As a Senior Wealth Advisor with Wellington-Altus Private Wealth and a Senior Insurance Advisor with Bergh Tatomir & Associates, Julie provides independent investment advice, financial planning, insurance solutions, and clear guidance to entrepreneurs, executives, and their families.

As one of Canada’s few female investment and insurance advisors, Julie is paving the way for future females in finance with her strong leadership and dedication to women-led businesses in the community.


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How this serial entrepreneur amassed $1 billion dollars in commercial real estate development assets

Frank Lonardelli is a “serial entrepreneur” who has been investing and developing Real Estate since he was 25 years old and built and sold two of his former companies to public entities by age 35.

Since launching ASI as his full-time focus in 2012, the company has amassed over $1 billion dollars in commercial real estate development assets and has attracted dozens of articles written about its successful strategy and projects from both regional and nationally recognized business and industry publications.

ASI owns some of the most high-profile development sites on and around Calgary’s 17th avenue corridor. ASI’s focus is the development of “Live, Work and Play” projects within these urban areas.

Committed to innovation, strategic thinking, transparency, accountability and performance, ASI has become a respected and sought-after real estate company. Winning multiple awards including the PCMA Commercial Real Estate Deal of the Year, Frank has also been recognized as one of Alberta’s 2016 Business Leaders of the Year and was recently named as an EY 2016 Entrepreneur of the Year Finalist.

ASI creates projects which generate significantly higher returns than traditional Real Estate investment options. The company exclusively raises private equity from their growing list of accredited investors, family offices and institutional investment houses.

Frank’s proudest achievement to date is the launch of the Arlington Street Foundation Scholarship Program in 2009. He intends to expand the program nationally within the next 5 years.

Frank is a graduate of the University of Winnipeg with a major in Political Sciences and has completed the Executive Master’s Program through the Sloan School of Management.


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Building a real estate empire one property at a time

Bob Dhillon is the Founder, President & CEO of Mainstreet Equity Corp, based in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. Mainstreet is publicly traded on the Toronto Stock Exchange (TSX:MEQ). As of Q1 2023, assets were valued at close to CDN$3B and MEQ reported its 23rd year of consistent, year-over-year, double-digit returns through its continued organic growth.

Year-to-date holdings currently consist of 16,802+ apartments across western Canada (British Columbia, Alberta, Saskatchewan, and Winnipeg, Manitoba). Along with its healthy balance sheet success, Mainstreet is a strong and proud champion of affordable housing.

In 2018, Bob gifted CDN$10M to the University of Lethbridge towards the creation of the Dhillon School of Business (DSB). Bob’s strong belief that education and entrepreneurship are the engines of national prosperity, along with his strong desire to give back to the province that provided him with so many opportunities, motivated his decision to make this substantial and transformative contribution. One of the primary areas of study at DSB is a world-class research and emerging technologies. Bob is also very proud of the fact that DSB was the first post-secondary institution in Canada to mandate an indigenous studies course requirement.

Bob is also the owner of National Payments, a Visa and MasterCard-approved merchant-processing business in the financial services sector.


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Innovative leadership style and strong entrepreneurial spirit

With an innovative leadership style and a strong entrepreneurial spirit, David Wallach has expanded Barclay Street Real Estate from a small local establishment with a handful of brokers to one of the most prominent and respected commercial real estate brokerages in Alberta.

David’s career started over 30 years ago in Israel where he owned a successful insurance brokerage and was President and GM of a professional basketball team. However, David saw bigger opportunities in his future when he, his wife and three children immigrated to Canada in 1999.

In 2000, David began his career in Canadian commercial real estate and was later invited to join a group of senior negotiators who bought an established real estate firm in 2001. In 2003, David assumed the leadership role of President with a rigorous business growth plan in mind, and in 2004 the brokerage was rebranded under the name Barclay Street Real Estate.

In a few short years, David has made strides in growing Barclay Street locally and internationally. In 2007, David added Property Management to Barclay Street’s portfolio of services and the division has grown dramatically in the last few years with properties throughout Alberta, managing today over four million square feet.

To expand Barclay’s national and global reach, David formed a partnership in 2011 with TCN Worldwide, a real estate services organization that serves more than 200 markets globally. As a member of TCN Worldwide, Barclay Street has the ability to service their customers on a local and international level through a network of over 1200 commercial real estate firms. Since 2012, David brings his commercial real estate knowledge to the international stage as a board member on the TCN Worldwide Board and as the Regional Vice President of the Canadian Region.

On April 2013 David received his CCIM – Certified Commercial Investment Member designation.

In June 2014 David launched a new venture, Triumph Real Estate Investment Trust. A private REIT focused on acquiring revenue-producing properties in defined markets both in Canada and the U.S.A. David is the founder and president and is responsible for all real estate matters of the Trust as well as involved in raising funds for Triumph.

David holds a strong belief that a company and individual are only as strong as the community and clients they serve. With that in mind, Barclay Street takes part in many community initiatives including sponsoring local music festivals.

With the leadership philosophy of “leading by example”, David has created a culture of mutual respect and care for his employees that transcends beyond the office wall so every client receives top-quality service and should not expect less when dealing with a Barclay Street employee. With family-centric ideals, David ensures Barclay Street employees and clients feel like they are dealing with family, not just coworkers or a commercial real estate broker.


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The importance of family is at the root of everything the Couillard Group does

Jessica Theroux joined the Couillard Group in 2014 coming from a background in commercial real estate. She successfully completed a Bachelor of Commerce degree at the Haskayne School of Business as well as her Certified Financial Planner (CFP) designation and Chartered Life Underwriter (CLU) designation.

Jessica is the founder of a not-for-profit foundation, Souls for Sisters, and is passionate about women’s rights and education around the globe. She is also a registered yoga instructor and donates her time teaching weekly providing support to Souls for Sisters.

Outside of work, Jessica spends her time with her husband Greg, two boys, Bennett and Austin and her daughter Aidah. She is passionate about yoga, food and travel!


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Decarbonizing and electrification of buildings with carbon-free heat pumps

Belinda Gilbey is a woman entrepreneur, green building enthusiast and market leader in heat pump technology. Her graduation from the University of Ottawa with a Bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering kick started her successful professional journey that was fueled by her passion for clean technologies. For several years, she worked in sales and consulting helping commercial property owners, operators, and developers with their mechanical equipment needs, with a focus on improving efficiencies and reducing building energy consumption and operating expenses. While working in the solar and heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC) industries, she gradually developed a true passion for creating cost-effective decarbonization solutions for a better tomorrow, which brought her to co-found and become President of Bondi Energy. Since then, she’s been raising awareness on the positive effects that these technologies provide, not only from an environmental point of view but also from a cost reduction angle. Under Belinda’s guidance, Bondi is now aiming to decarbonize as many buildings as possible across North America. Belinda is co-founder of US-based Gigawatt Heat Pump Supply (2021), which sells efficient heat pump and electrification equipment for new-build and retrofit applications.

Aaron Graben is the co-founder and Vice President of Bondi Energy. Shortly after its inauguration in 2019, Bondi became a market leader in energy efficiency retrofits of multifamily and commercial buildings. Aaron, along with his partner Belinda, have accelerated the market uptake of heat pump technology across North America. Aaron’s background in commercial real estate gives him a unique understanding of how energy affects building values and their owner’s decision-making process.

Bondi Energy Corp (Bondi) is a turnkey project management firm specializing in decarbonizing and electrification of multi-residential and commercial buildings with energy efficient, carbon-free heat pumps.


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Taking the stress out of real estate

Ryan Mracek, founder of Keylo Inc. (Canada-wide) and the broker of Keylo.ca in Edmonton, had a vision years ago to make it so anyone could buy and sell at home at a fair market value instantly and painlessly. Mracek was originally an accountant then moved into construction before settling on a career in real estate.


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Focusing on world-class performance through values-based leadership

AJ Slivinski is an accomplished author and award-winning team leader. He wrote “The Leadership Code” which focuses on world-class performance through values-based leadership – real-life principles and strategies he executed while heading an international-based corporation and leading their team to #1 for customer service in the contact center industry after just four years.

AJ is a visionary with his focus on values, leadership, and service. His current vision as President of Mayfield Management Group Ltd (MMG) is to lead a world-class organization specializing in residential property management services, that is focused on continuously exceeding customers’ expectations with an incredible team of diverse professionals.

AJ brings a wealth of experience and decades of knowledge from senior marketing and sales positions and has a unique perspective on what owners and property managers want (and more importantly, what they need) as he has owned/managed apartment buildings for over a decade and served on several condominium boards.


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Run your own business, and see results happen as you work hard

Eric Klein and Evan Klein are twin brothers, experts in the crypto, metaverse and real estate industry and young Canadian entrepreneurs who have launched MetaSpace REIT – the first tokenized metaverse real estate investment group whose mission is to provide accessibility for users to get involved with real estate in the metaverse. Eric Klein is the founder and CEO of MREIT and KleinCap Investments. Eric has over ten years of combined experience in real estate and crypto and has led expansion for numerous funds and companies in Canada. Additionally, he has worked on the formation of a traditional REIT in his early 20’s. Evan Klein is the COO at MREIT and oversees MREIT’s strategic operations and brand vision. Evan has worked with major companies like Compass, KW, and Sothebys.


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Make sure people are the core of whatever you’re doing

As co-founder of Vancouver-based real estate software company, Spark, Simeon Garratt has been responsible for landing some of Spark’s top real estate clients in North America. Years of living abroad in Asia and building his experience in the real estate industry fueled his ultimate vision — to transform and streamline how new developments are managed and sold. With an extensive background in selling and marketing property, Simeon has been involved in the sales of over 1,000 homes internationally which helped bring Spark into more than 80 cities worldwide. Recently, Garratt has been nominated to President of the BC Real Estate Tech Association, where he looks forward to sharing his expertise and institutional knowledge of the fast-changing industry.


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