About Us
Tamils in Finance is a network of Canadian Tamil executives and emerging leaders in investment, commercial and retail banking, asset management, private equity, venture capital, and at other financial institutions. Our goal is to provide our members with a unique opportunity to mentor and support each other, purposefully grow their professional networks, and increase the collective influence of Tamils in Canada’s financial services sector.

Board of Directors

Krish Karunakaran

President and Chair

Krish Karunakaran is a management professional with well over 20 years experience within the Investment Fund Industry with extensive expertise in institutional asset management, building client-focused organizations through strategic business transformation and leadership. He is currently the Canadian Head of Operations at Mercer Global Investments and previously served as Vice President of Investment Operations at AGF Investment Inc. Krish began his career at Scotiabank and went to join State Street in 1999 progressively holding senior positions within their Canadian and Alternative Solution businesses. He graduated with a BA (Hons) in Economics from the University of Toronto.

Suganya Tharmalingam

Vice President – Internal and Treasurer

Suganya Tharmalingam has over 20 years of financing, accounting, and deal-making experience in Private Equity. She has held various positions, including the most recently Managing Director, Chief Financial Officer, and Member of the Investment Committee at Kensington Capital Partners. Prior to joining Kensington, Suganya was a Vice President at Deerfield Capital Management, Chicago based fixed-income investment adviser. Suganya is a Certified Public Accountant (U.S.), Chartered Professional Accountant, Certified Valuation Analyst, and holds a BComm in Management and Economics from the University of Toronto.

Akilan Karuna

Vice President – External and Secretary

Akilan Karuna recently joined Munro Partners where he is responsible for growing their asset base and providing exceptional client service to our partners in North America. Prior to Munro, he was at CI Global Asset Management where he oversaw the Institutional Marketing and Business Development support team and worked directly with the Head of Institutional to build, drive, and execute on the overall sales and marketing strategy. Prior to joining CI, Akilan held a variety of Product roles at global asset manager Invesco. He has a BCom in Finance & Accounting from Ryerson University, a Master of Finance from the Smith School of Business (Queen’s University) and holds the Chartered Financial Analyst designation.

Niro Ganesanathan

Director, Partnerships

Niro Ganesanathan has held progressively senior roles over a period of nearly 10 years at the National Bank of Canada where he is currently Director, Interest Rate Derivatives with a focus on hedging solutions for Infrastructure, Government, and Mortgage Derivatives sectors. He has a BASc in Mechanical Engineering and an MBA in Finance from the Rotman School of Business at the University of Toronto.

Gajan Kulasingam

Director, Sponsorship

Gajan Kulasingam has more than 15 years of financial industry experience, covering corporate finance, private equity, and public equities. He is currently Portfolio Manager at Goodwood Inc prior to which he was Vice President and Senior Portfolio Manager with Sentry Investments and had also worked at one of the leading mid-market private equity firms focused on mezzanine lending and minority equity investments. Gajan’s investment philosophy is governed by the principles of applying a private equity approach to investments. He has a BComm from the University of Toronto, and holds the Chartered Financial Analyst and Chartered Professional Accountant designations.

Kumaran Nadesan

Director, Public Affairs

Kumaran Nadesan has more than 15 years of experience in strategic communications in the education, legal, financial services, government, and non-profit sectors. He is currently on sabbatical from the Ontario government as Chief Strategy Officer of 369 Global Inc. Kumaran is an active community animator in Canada and abroad and has seeded several strategic initiatives aim at building long-term capacity of the Canadian Tamil diaspora, including as Founding Chair of comdu.it, and as Co-founder of Tamils in Finance, Tamils in Public Service, and Tamil Entrepreneurs Organisation to name a few. He has a BA (Hons) in English and Psychology from the University of Toronto Scarborough and an Executive Certificate in Strategic Public Management from the Schulich School of Business (York University).

Sri Thanabalasingam

Director, Leadership

Sri Thanabalasingam is an Economist for TD Bank Group. In his role, Sri tracks macroeconomic developments across all major economies including the United States, Canada, Euro Area, and China. He regularly provides data commentaries and produces analysis on a wide variety of macroeconomic issues. Prior to joining TD, Sri was a Senior Economist at the Bank of Canada, where he covered the U.S., China, and other large Emerging Economies. His research has been published in academic forums, and he has presented his work at conferences across both Canada and Europe. Sri received his BSc from the University of Toronto and his MA in Economics from Wilfrid Laurier University.

Vim Thasan

Director, Networking

Vim Thasan is Vice President and Portfolio Manager at Beutel Goodman Investment Counsel. Vim has over 20 years of industry experience, and over a decade of investment management experience. Prior to joining Beutel Goodman, he was a Portfolio Manager for 1832 Asset Management L.P (Scotiabank), where he co-managed several Canadian-focused dividend mandates. Vim holds a BCom from York University and earned an MBA from the Schulich School of Business (York University). He also holds the Chartered Financial Analyst designation as well as the Fundamentals of Sustainability Accounting credential awarded by the Sustainability Accounting Standards Board.

Umesh Vallipuram

Director, Mentorship

Umesh Vallipuram is a results-oriented finance executive with 20+ years successful track record of corporate development, investments, and deal execution. He started his finance career with PwC before spending much of his career at AMG, a US-based public global asset management firm where he was, most recently, Vice President, Affiliate Development. Umesh recently co-founded BisRing, a start-up prop tech platform. He has volunteered with various community organizations over the last 20 years, mainly with the goal of helping the next generation strive. Umesh has a BA in Accounting and Finance from the University of Waterloo and holds the Chartered Professional Accountant and Chartered Accountant designations