Susan Wood, CPA, CA

Director and Senior Wealth Strategist

Susan Wood has over 25 years of experience in the financial services industry. Her background includes experience in public practice, investment banking, commercial banking, private banking and financial planning. Working throughout Eastern Canada, she collaborates with advisors, accounting/legal professionals and their affluent clients to provide in depth and customized planning solutions.

In her role as Wealth Strategist, she provides comprehensive financial planning information and recommendations to clients with specific emphasis on tax optimization, will, estate and trust planning.

Mark Defalco, CFP, F.Pl.

Financial Planning Specialist

Mark is a Financial Planning Specialist with CIBC Private Wealth Management working with the Advisory teams at the Ottawa Main, Kanata & Kingston Wood Gundy branches. Mark joined CIBC in 2020, and has over 16 years’ experience in financial advice and planning. He believes in a holistic and comprehensive approach to financial planning. Mark has extensive experience working with high net worth clients, both personal and corporate, to help them achieve their financial goals.

Fred Kyriazis, CPA, CA

Estate Planning Specialist

I am an Estate Planning Specialist with CIBC Private Wealth Management. As a Chartered Professional Accountant, my focus over the years has been working with private business owners, professionals and farmers in developing strategies to help minimize their tax burden at various stages in their lives, including business transitions and estate planning.

I have developed a holistic approach to estate planning and provide my clients with solutions that will help them achieve their goals as it relates to their estate by minimizing the impact that taxes can have on a family’s estate.

Karen West-Taylor

Senior Trust and Estate Consultant

As a CIBC Senior Trust and Estate Consultant, Karen believes that a key component of any wealth management plan is an estate plan that protects your assets, preserves your legacy and ensures your estate is distributed. She offers services as a professional executor, power of attorney for property or trustee. She can also support someone else you appoint for these roles.

Effectively administering a trust or acting as an attorney can require time and an understanding of investments and taxes. Karen has the expertise to execute or assist others to execute that role effectively and efficiently.

Jamie Golombek, CPA, CA, CFP®, CLU, TEP, FCPA

Managing Director Tax and Estate Planning

As CIBC’s tax expert, Jamie supports CIBC Wood Gundy investment advisors in delivering integrated financial planning and advisory solutions to our high-net-worth clients. Jamie is quoted frequently in the national media and writes a weekly National Post column called Tax Expert.

Avery Shenfeld, PhD

Managing Director & Chief Economist, CIBC Capital Markets

Avery Shenfeld is Managing Director and Chief Economist of CIBC Capital Markets. He has been with CIBC since 1993 and is widely recognized as one of Canada's leading economists for his perceptive analysis and insight on economic developments and their implications for financial markets.

He is a repeat winner of the Dow Jones Market Watch forecasting award and has received awards for forecast accuracy on the U.S. and Canadian economies by Bloomberg Markets. He has also been consistently ranked as one of the top Canadian economists by institutional investors.

His prior background includes experience in management consulting. He was on the economics faculty at the University of Toronto and in the summer program at Harvard's John F. Kennedy School of Government. He has addressed numerous business groups and has been quoted in the media in the United States, Canada, Asia and Europe.

Dr. Shenfeld holds a PhD in Economics from Harvard University.