2023 Canadian ODD Community Roundtable

Chris Addy

President & CEO, Castle Hall Alternatives

Chris is the Founder and CEO of Castle Hall, where he leads a team of more than 100 professionals conducting operational, ESG, risk and cyber due diligence on behalf of more than 150 asset owners worldwide. Chris is one of the industry’s very first operational due diligence practitioners, beginning his ODD career in 1997.

Chris is a Fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales and is a CFA Charterholder.

John-Allan Dacres

Managing Director - Operational Due Diligence, CDPQ

John leads the team responsible for operational due diligence on CDPQ’s investment funds & external managers, across most asset classes and investment strategies. His role is to manage all business and operational risks, both in the pre and post investment phases, as well as to support fund structuring and investment implementation.

John joined CDPQ in 2002 and has an MBA from HEC Montréal.

Admas Mahdere

Partner & ODD Senior Analyst , Albourne Partners

Admas is Partner and ODD Senior Analyst, having joined Albourne in 2014.

Prior to joining Albourne, Admas worked at the Office of the Auditor General, Grand Cayman (Cayman Islands) as a Audit Project Leader and Ernst & Young, Grand Cayman (Cayman Islands) as an Audit Senior Associate.

Adams holds a MPAcc from the University of Saskatchewan, Canada and a Bachelor of Commerce from the University of Manitoba, Canada.

Brian Digney

Research and Content Director, SBAI

Brian Digney joined the SBAI in March 2023 in the role of Research and Content Director. He is responsible for content development and co-ordination of the ongoing and future working groups on a wide variety of topics, including valuation of private assets, ESG & carbon footprinting, governance, insurance linked strategies, digital assets, asset management regulation and compliance as well as new topics to be determined in the future.

Prior to joining the SBAI, Brian was the Head of Due Diligence & Governance Oversight at Innocap Global Investment Management (Ireland) Ltd (2018-2023) in Dublin, a subsidiary of Innocap Investment Management Inc., a US$50bn hedge fund platform. He acted as Designated Person for Operational Risk Management, a regulated role by the Central Bank of Ireland. He also sat on Innocap’s Irish Risk Oversight and Valuation Committees. In 2017, Brian joined Albourne Partners in London as a Senior Operational Due Diligence Analyst. From 2015 to 2017 he was employed as an Operational Due Diligence Analyst at Mercer Sentinel in London. From 2010 to 2015 he held various Associate level roles at Decura LLP, Morgan Stanley and Citi.

Brian holds an LLB Hons in Law with Criminology and an M.Sc. in Management and Corporate Governance from University of Ulster. Brian is a Chartered Alternative Investment Analyst.