Meet Our Partners

Andrea Heard brings over 19 years of experience in the financial industry to her role as Private Banker. For the last 13 years, she has been a Financial Planner with RBC Royal Bank and brings strong relationship management skills to her high-net-worth clients in Waterloo and Southwestern Ontario.

As your dedicated Private Banker, Ms. Heard will take the time to discover what is important to you and your family, as well as your personal financial goals. Along with her team, who include a Private Banking Associate and a Manager, Credit Structures, she will create a strategy and make recommendations on a plan of action that is right for each client situation. She also has access through the RBC network to call on a further team of specialists, in Canada and in key markets worldwide. This team enables her to provide a complete range of services – including delivering comprehensive, integrated financial solutions to help meet clients’ goals through investments, business banking, estate planning, and domestic and international trusts.

Ms. Heard graduated from Wilfrid Laurier University and soon after earned her designation as a Personal Financial Planner (PFP). As a long-time resident of the Waterloo Region, she enjoys volunteering in her community and attending local fundraising events. Most recently she joined the committee of a local organization that recognizes people in the community doing amazing things.

When not working, she enjoys spending her time with her husband and two sons. In her leisure time, she is often is found reading, biking, golfing or entertaining family and friends.

As a Private Banking Premier Advisor, Monica Gonsalves provides tailored financial solutions for the banking and credit needs of select high-net-worth clients that work with RBC's Wealth Management partners in the Guelph, Cambridge, Kitchener, Waterloo, and Orangeville communities.

As a part of this relationship, Monica will access specialists from across RBC in order to work collaboratively to provide a complete range of complementary services that include credit and leverage strategies to support individual short and long term goals.

Monica offers an extensive background in client relationship to her role as a Premier Advisor, drawing on 12 years of experience within RBC, consisting of a wide range of Insurance, Leadership and Advisory positions.

Monica attended Seneca College, completed a number of Coaching and Communication courses, and has continued to deepen her knowledge and expertise through the Canadian Securities Institute with key industry designations such as IFIC, PFSA and FP1. She was the head coach to the Guelph Knights U12 and U13 basketball teams for two years, and continues to volunteer her time in the community.

Away from the office, Monica enjoys spending time at the family cottage in Bayfield, practicing yoga and playing guitar.

As a Premier Advisor with RBC Wealth Management Private Banking, Iron provides personal service and tailored advice to help clients save time and effectively manage their day to day banking needs.
Working as a single point of contact, Iron will access specialists from across the organization in order to provide a complete range of complementary services to support the individual short and long term goals of our Wealth Management clients in the day to day banking areas. Iron takes great pride in building long-term relationships and leverages the multiple channels with our communities to bring the best of RBC to his clients.

Iron attained his bachelor degree in business administration from Guangdong University of Foreign Studies, China. He currently holds Financial Services Advice accreditation through the Canadian Securities Institute, and is focused on delivering an Exceptional Advice Experience for high net worth households that work directly with our Wealth Management partners.

He is committed to giving back and is actively involved in his local community. Iron is a volunteer mentor at the YMCA Mentorship Program, a guest speaker at Conestoga College, and a leader of RBC Employee giving campaigns.

As a Premier Advisor with RBC Wealth Management Private Banking, Marian provides personal service and tailored advice to help clients save time and effectively manage their day to day banking needs.

Working as a single point of contact, Marian will access specialists from across the organization in order to provide a complete range of complementary services to support the individual short and long term goals of our Wealth Management clients in the Waterloo/Guelph-Cambridge-Orangeville area.

Marian draws on 16 years of experience within RBC. She was recently a Financial Advisor in our North Guelph community for 8 years and prior to that, she worked at Dominion Securities for 2 years as an Investment Advisor Assistant. She had the opportunity to engage in several aspects of our retail growth and client retention helping drive RBC's direction for the future and foster long-term client relationships across multiple channels within our Communities.

Marian has successfully attained her Bachelor's Degree in Psychology and currently holds accreditations through the Canadian Securities Institute which includes IFIC, PFSA and FP1. Her focus is to deliver an Exceptional Advice Experience for high net worth households that work directly with our Wealth Management partners.

Marian resides in Guelph with her husband and 2 children.

Scott brings his 33 plus years of financial services experience to the clients he meets, including 18 years in public practice (six years as a Partner) with a local CA firm. He has worked with clients in the areas of tax, estate and business strategy including family business succession planning.

Prior to joining RBC Family Office Services, Scott provided services for four years to RBC clients as a Commercial Account Manager, focused on owner- managed business and agriculture clients, and four years as a Private Banker, assisting high net worth clients with personal banking, credit and financial planning needs.

Scott is member of the Chartered Professional Accountants of Canada, the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Ontario, and the Financial Planners Standard Council. He is a Canadian Association of Family Enterprises trained family business facilitator, a Family Business Advisor and graduate of the University of Guelph with an animal science and agriculture business degree. He is also a member of the Canadian Association of Farm Advisers and holds a CAFA designation, (Certified Agriculture Farm Advisor).

Scott will work with your advisors to prepare and present a comprehensive Compass Financial Plan specific to you.

For over 30 years, Steve has helped families and business owners develop a framework using integrated wealth planning solutions. Clients and their advisors trust Steve’s ability and expertise to develop a solution based on client-centred needs and a values-based approach.

Steve examines insurance planning differently and recognizes that each client situation is unique. His approach is to plan first and then educate clients about their options, so they can make an informed choice best suited to their goals and objectives. Whether it be protection needed during income-earning/business-building years, the preservation of capital or ability to transfer accumulated wealth, Steve is there to help implement a solution that addresses your personal and corporate needs in a tax-efficient manner.

Evaluating the various insurance offerings from Canada’s top-ranked insurance providers, Steve will work together with your professional advisors to ensure you receive high-quality, cost-effective insurance solutions.

As a Senior Trust Advisor, Susan Macdonald serves clients throughout Western Ontario and is located in the Hamilton office. With a career focused on client relationships, she is dedicated to her clients and provides a personalized service tailored to their specific needs. She provides a wealth of knowledge relating to trusts and their administration. Susan has continued to deepen her knowledge and expertise with key industry designations such as Member, Trust Institute (MTI) and Trust and Estate Practitioner (TEP) designations.

Susan works with individuals, families and businesses to provide customized estate, trust and incapacity solutions. Whether it is helping someone to settle an estate, establishing a trust to ensure the successful transfer of family assets, or arranging to assist with the administration and responsibilities for a power of attorney, Susan can help.

With more than 20 years of industry experience, Susan brings to each client the necessary skill set to provide both the technical expertise as well as the genuine understanding of the emotional complexities that underlie these issues. Susan understands that no two clients are the same and so together with her RBC Royal Trust partners she can find the solution that’s right for you.

Shannon worked in private practice for ten years before joining RBC in 2010.

She specialized in the areas of Wills & estate planning, estate administration and real estate. Shannon graduated from the University of Guelph with a Honours B.A. and received her LL.B. from the University of Toronto in 1998. She is a Member of the Law Society of Ontario.

Shannon lives in Woodstock, Ontario with her husband and three kids.