• Canada ICI Capital has appointed Margaret Paproski as chief operating officer. She has already assumed the role. , Paproski has 20 years of experience in investment banking, structured finance, legal advisory, and financial operations, She most recently served as founder and COO of InvestDEFY Technologies. Her career includes roles at Lehman Brothers’ Investment Banking division, Felesky Flynn LLP, Midnight Sun Financial, and KPMG LLP, where she specialized in financial structuring, transaction execution, tax strategy, and operational leadership.

• Savills has expanded its Montréal office with a new investment sales team, enhancing its advisory services in the region. Jean-Pierre Gagnon and Robert Metcalfe join as executive vice-presidents, alongside Noémie Lefebvre as senior director and Olivier Dufault-Gagnon as associate. The team will leverage Savills’ global platform to grow its capital markets presence, advising clients on portfolio strategy and managing investment sales transactions. Gagnon and Metcalfe were previously principals in the capital markets group at Avison Young, while Lefebvre was a director and chartered appraiser at Altus Group.

• The Ontario Real Estate Association (OREA) has appointed Belleville-based realtor Cathy Polan as its 2025 president, following the association’s annual general meeting. Polan will represent Ontario’s nearly 100,000 realtors, focusing on enhancing professional standards, improving consumer protection, and addressing housing affordability. Meanwhile, Sault Ste. Marie-based realtor Kimberly Fairley, has been elected as 2025 president-elect and provincial director for Northern Ontario.

• Roselyn D’Ascanio, senior director of marketing and communications at Salthill Capital, has been honoured with a 2025 Peak emerging leader award for 2025. Peak awards recognizing young leaders shaping Canada’s economy, culture, and society. With a decade of experience in real estate marketing, her expertise encompasses branding, marketing strategy, and communications across multiple asset classes. At Salthill Capital, D’Ascanio leads a national team of marketing professionals, overseeing both asset-level marketing operations and corporate marketing strategy and communications. She also chairs the organization’s Connection Committee, focusing on team member events and community engagement. Active in the industry, D’Ascanio serves on local and national ICSC committees and manages marketing strategies for non-profit organizations, including The MaKin Foundation and the Association of Toronto Italians in Real Estate. She co-founded Content & CRE, a Toronto-based peer group connecting marketing professionals in the commercial real estate sector. Recently, D’Ascanio was selected for the ICSC Next Generation Leadership Network 2023-2024 cohort and received a Connect 2024 Next Gen award.

• Starlight Investments will serve as the presenting sponsor for the Princess Margaret Cancer Foundation’s Journey to Conquer Cancer for the fourth consecutive year. The event, scheduled for Sunday, June 15 at Varsity Stadium in Toronto, invites participants to walk or run distances of 1 km, 3 km, or 5 km to raise funds for cancer research at the Princess Margaret Cancer Centre. Starlight has been a dedicated partner of this initiative for over a decade, contributing more than $250,000 through employee participation, fundraising, and sponsorships.

• Vancouver law firm Clark Wilson has appointed Jennifer Tseng as an associate in its commercial real estate group. With a decade of experience in both private practice and as in-house counsel at a national bank, and holding a Bachelor of Commerce degree in finance, Tseng offers clients a blend of financial insight and legal expertise. Her practice encompasses acquisitions, sales, and financings of commercial real estate properties; commercial leases; contract drafting, review, and negotiation; corporate transactions; drafting land-related agreements; due diligence; financing and private mortgage loan agreements; and development projects across residential, retail, office, industrial, and mixed-use sectors.

• Siskinds LLP has appointed Matthew Wilson as a partner in its London, Ontario office. Since joining the law firm in 2018, Wilson has led the real estate department, focusing on residential, commercial, and complex property transactions, land development, and mortgage financing. Recognized as a certified specialist in real estate law by the Law Society of Ontario, he also serves as an elected bencher of the law society and volunteers with organizations such as Western University and London Health Sciences Centre. Siskinds’ London office has also named Vivian Iron as a partner. Her diverse practice includes real estate.

• The federal government is accepting proposals for the Canadian Apprenticeship Strategy’s Investments in the Training Equipment $20-million funding stream. Through funded projects, Ottawa will support the purchase of modern, up-to-date training equipment and materials that meet industry standards, and will help improve the quality of training for apprenticeships in Red Seal trades. “Eligible organizations include unions representing Red Seal trades workers, organizations managing their own training funds, and training providers that provide technical training to apprentices as part of a recognized apprenticeship program or a Red Seal trade,” says the government. There is no end date for requests for proposals. They will be considered on an ongoing basis. Organizations can submit their applications electronically via the Grants and Contributions Online Services (GCOS) portal.

• A new Canadian Real Estate Women chapter has opened in Ottawa. Sarah Crouch is the new chapter’s president. With the addition of Ottawa, CREW has 86 chapters about 15,000 members globally. CREW Ottawa was established to address “a notable” gap, said the governing global CREW Network. The nation’s capital lacked a dedicated group for women in commercial real estate. Crouch is the manager of business development at First Onsite Property Restoration.

• Minto Group has promoted Rory Perusits to senior manager of financial analysis and reporting operations. He has been with Minto for about six years, advancing to progressively senior positions.

• MCAN Financial has appointed Derek Sutherland as President and CEO, effective April 1. Sutherland has served as Interim CEO for the past four months and as board chair since 2020. He will resign as chair, with Lead Director Gaelen Morphet assuming the position to maintain independent governance. MCAN is a residential and commercial real estate lender. Sutherland previously held various other leadership roles with the company, including chief risk officer. He has extensive experience in finance, risk management and governance.

• Brad Hoffman has been promoted to managing partner for Canada at Panattoni Development Corporation. Hoffman has been with the company for 19 years. He previously served as Panattoni’s executive vice-president for Canada.

• Starlight Investments has promoted Federico Vaccaro to executive vice-president of investments. He moved up from his previous position as senior VP of investments. Vaccaro has been with the company for about 12 years. He joined the firm as an asset management analyst in 2012.

• Krishna Chavda has joined OPUS Corporation as a leasing manager in Calgary. She moved to the company from Orange Group. Chavda has about 12 years of commercial real estate experience.

• Michel Brisebois has been promoted to chief human resources officer at industrial investment, development and management firm Logistec. He has held various human resources-related roles since joining the company in 2019. In another move, Logistic has elevated Katia Weyburn to VP of communications. She spent her first year with the firm as strategic communications director.

• Unceded: Voices of the Land, a groundbreaking Indigenous-led contemporary architecture exhibition, will be showcased at Edmonton City Centre until June 21. Originally created for the 2018 Venice Architecture Biennale, Unceded is the first exhibition of its kind to be presented on the world stage, celebrating Indigenous architecture through the perspectives of 18 Indigenous architects and designers from across North America. More details are available at Unceded.org.

supply challenges.”

Join Canada’s leading CRE owners, investors, developers, brokers, financiers, and more at Connect Canada on May 28 at Malaparte in Toronto. Register now to catch forecasts from Canadian CRE leaders on market challenges and opportunities, insights into international investing with evolving market dynamics, the outlook for multifamily housing, and much more. www.ConnectCanada2025.com