About Neil

When he is not helping students, Neil is carrying out his duties as Director, Emerging Risk, for Royal Bank of Canada (RBC). He leads a team responsible for the identification, assessment, and reporting of top and emerging risks for the enterprise. Among other things, the team has performed “deep dives” on a wide range of emerging risk issues — such as COVID-19, trade wars, market volatility, quantitative easing, low interest rates, inflation, household indebtedness, climate risk, and digital disruption.

Neil started his career as a Policy Analyst for the Ontario Ministry of Finance. In this role, he conducted research and developed policy advice on securities regulatory policy issues, such as corporate disclosure, market fragmentation, negotiations for a national securities commission, and the proposed rules and agreements of the Ontario Securities Commission.

Most of Neil's career, however, was spent at the Ontario Financing Authority (OFA) — the agency responsible for managing the funding and liquidity of the Province, and for advising the Provincial government and the broader public sector on financing policy issues and transactions.

After spending a year as a Risk Analyst at the OFA, Neil joined the Corporate Finance Division, the department responsible for the policy and transaction advisory mandate of the agency. Over roughly ten years, he assumed successive roles, culminating as Senior Manager, Financial Advisory Services. During this time he advised on and developed policy on high-profile issues — broader public sector financing, the financing of infrastructure, and the financing and management of Provincial assets — and led a number of complex, politically sensitive financing transactions.

Before joining RBC, Neil worked as a Senior Manager in BMO Financial Group's Financial Strategy and Corporate Treasury areas, where he led business valuation, option valuation, financial forecasting, funds transfer pricing, funding strategy, and stress testing initiatives.

Neil holds a Bachelor of Business Administration (BBA) in Finance from York University's Schulich School of Business, as well as an MBA from the University of Toronto's Rotman School of Management. He has also completed the Canadian Securities Institute's Canadian Securities Course (CSC).