Karen is a Chartered Professional Accountant (CPA) and Certified Financial Planner (CFP). She obtained her Bachelor of Mathematics and Master of Accounting degrees from the University of Waterloo and has completed the CPA Canada In-Depth Tax course.
Prior to joining RBC, Karen worked at a leading global accounting firm where she specialized in providing tax advisory services for high-net-worth individuals and private company business owners. She has many years of experience helping clients navigate through personal and corporate tax issues as well as trust and estate planning.
Karen’s role is to work with and support your advisor in preparing and presenting your comprehensive Compass Financial Plan and to identify and assess any related financial planning concerns you may have.
Connie Freitas, BA, LL.B
Vice President and Will & Estate Consultant, Family Office Services, RBC Wealth Management
Connie obtained a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Toronto and a Bachelor of Laws degree from Osgoode Hall Law School. She was called to the Bar of Ontario in 1994.
Prior to joining RBC in 2012, Connie practised law for 18 years. As a partner in a mid-sized full-service law firm, her practice was varied and covered the areas of corporate/commercial law, real estate, and Wills, trusts and estates law. In that role, Connie advised her owner-manager clients on a broad range of business and personal needs, from purchases and sales of businesses, to shareholder agreements and corporate reorganizations, to Will and estate planning.
For many years Connie taught the Business Law section of the Bar Admissions Course and was involved with preparing the licensing exams for Ontario lawyers. Throughout her career, Connie has been involved in her broader community, serving on many non-profit boards as well as providing pro bono legal services.
Andrew loves the insurance business. It’s not the products, it’s the opportunity to learn about you, your family and your life as a whole and how insurance may help you to reach your most cherished goals. That accounts for Andrew’s core purpose: to focus on people and provide the optimal solution for their unique circumstances.
Fundamentally, Andrew is an educator. He says, “If I hadn’t chosen the insurance business I would probably be a teacher. As an Estate Planning Specialist, my role is to educate clients on which situations these products are for, and how you make them work.” It is not about the sale. It’s about helping people discover an insurance solution that works for them, if any. It’s always about people, not product.
Andrew has been an Estate Planning Specialist since 1993. He lives in Toronto with his wife, daughter and their dog. An amateur boxer until 1992, he was the Ontario middleweight champion. Now he’s an avid squash player and fisherman.
Prashant Patel, CFP, TEP
Vice-President, High Net Worth Planning Services, Family Office Services, RBC Wealth Management
Prashant has assisted high-net-worth and ultra-high-net-worth families with tax, estate and retirement issues since 1992.
His guidance supports clients in their relationships with their external professional advisors, with whom he frequently interacts.
His expertise includes tax and estate planning for executives, business owners, retirees, sports professionals and individuals with U.S. issues. He also assists individuals facing significant financial events (sale of business, financial windfall, retirement, job loss, moving to Canada, leaving Canada, etc.)
Prior to joining RBC in 1999, Prashant honed his expertise by working as a Canadian and U.S. tax specialist for two of the big four accounting firms in downtown Toronto.
Prashant is a Certified Financial Planner, Associate of the Society of Actuaries and member of both the Society of Trust and Estate Practitioners and Canadian Tax Foundation.
James Wong, CPA, CA, CBV
Vice President, Business Owner Specialist, Family Office Services, RBC Wealth Management
As a member of the RBC Family Office Services team, James, together with your RBC advisor, can help you explore your business succession options. James understands the specific concerns faced by business owners and has extensive experience addressing their more complex needs.
For the past 25 years, James specialized in developing best practices around business succession planning and in the process helped several families achieve their business succession vision. He also authored a book, The Transition Experience: What every Canadian family should know about business succession planning.
His process not only focuses on technical matters such as business valuation, sale of business planning and tax planning, but also recognizes that business succession has a profound impact on a business family. As such, much of James’ process also involves assisting members of the family with the softer issues of planning, including post-succession and wealth.
James is a Chartered Professional Accountant and Chartered Business Valuator and is a frequent presenter on business succession planning. He obtained his degree, Master of Commerce, from the University of Canterbury in New Zealand and is currently a member of the Family Firm Institute.
As a private banker with RBC Wealth Management, Tina Jamison provides comprehensive wealth management and financing strategies to high-net-worth business owners, executives, professionals and their families.
Based in Toronto, Tina works with a select number of clients in the Greater Toronto Area to address their often-complex banking, credit and wealth management needs by providing tailored seamless banking and financial solutions.
When necessary, she can access specialists from across RBC in order to work collaboratively to provide a complete range of complementary services, from investment management to estate and legacy planning, and trust services to sophisticated credit and leverage strategies to support individual short- and long-term goals.
Tina offers an extensive background in client relationship to her role as Private Banker. She draws on over 17 years of experience within the banking industry, consisting of a wide range of roles in retail banking, leadership, and most recently, commercial banking. She holds an MBA from Wilfred Laurier University specializing in strategic management and has continued to deepen her knowledge and expertise with key industry designations such as Investment Funds in Canada. She is also working towards achieving the Personal Financial Planner designation.
Tina is married with two young children, a vizsla dog, and resides in the beautiful city of Burlington. In her spare time, she enjoys traveling, hiking with her family and is a huge fitness enthusiast and passionate about healthy eating.