Our Team

Vanora McLay holds a Bachelor of Business Administration (BBA) from the British Columbia Institute of Technology. She also is a Certified Financial Planner (CFP) and is Insurance Licensed.

Vanora joined iA Financial Group in 2009 and has held various positions within the BC Sales and Marketing team. Most recently, she held the role of Director of Living Benefits Sales for British Columbia. Her diverse experience has allowed her to develop the ability to communicate and manage complex issues. Prior to joining iA in 2009, Vanora worked in compliance with a Vancouver-based IIROC brokerage firm.

Ross Cook is a Certified Financial Planner (CFP) with over 15 years of industry experience. His experience in a variety of insurance and estate planning advisory roles with major companies has allowed him to develop an effective approach and leading-edge expertise.

Mr. Cook joined iA Financial Group in 2017 to develop the company’s sales in Western Canada and was promoted to Sales Director, Large Case and National Accounts in 2021. In this role, he works closely with advisors to build optimized solutions tailored to the sometimes complex needs of high net worth clients, while presenting everything in a simple and pragmatic manner.

Eric Orr graduated with a bachelor’s degree (B.Comm) in Finance and Entrepreneurship from McGill University. He subsequently obtained his Financial Planner (F.Pl.) designation in Quebec and his Chartered Life Underwriter (CLU) and Certified Health Insurance Specialist (CHS) designations. He also holds an insurance license in several provinces.

Eric began his career in 2002 as an advisor and quickly moved into management where he specialized in training and coaching advisors while leading a sales team in Montreal. In 2015 he moved to Toronto and began specializing in insurance and working on large, complex cases, as well as estate planning focused on individual life insurance and living benefits. He focused on helping simplify the large case process by educating advisors and their clients. He briefly led a national team of financial planning consultants focusing on full planning before joining iA in 2025 as Large Case Sales Director for Ontario.

Perry Villanueva began his career with a Bachelor of Science degree in Medical Technology (BSMT), before moving into the financial services industry and earning a Chartered Life Underwriter (CLU) designation. He is also an Agency Management Training Course (AMTC) graduate from LIMRA.

He has over 30 years' experience in the financial services industry as a financial planner, MGA and being a part of the executive of a consolidator. He is driven by his passion for helping advisors excel in their profession. Having experienced both aspects of the job himself, he understands the challenges of both selling and wholesaling. Mr. Villanueva is currently Sales Director for the Advanced Financial and Tax Solutions team.

Nicolas Vaudreuil holds a bachelor’s degree in biochemistry and a master’s in business administration (MBA) with a concentration in pharmaceutical management, from the Université Laval. He joined our Career network in 2002 as a financial security advisor. Since 2005, Nicolas has been developing sales concepts and products in his various positions on the marketing team. He has also had the opportunity to work on niche concepts and products with our distribution networks across Canada.

Since 2020, in his latest role as a Regional Sales Director, he now dedicates himself to the Career network advisors on our team. Nicolas helps them support their high-net-worth clients by offering estate planning advice and recommending beneficial financial and tax strategies.

Michel Assouad earned a master’s degree at UQAM and has a bachelor’s degree in business administration (B.B.A.). He has over 25 years of experience in the life insurance industry and has held various positions as a financial security advisor, financial centre manager and advanced sales strategy consultant for large international companies. He has several recognized professional designations, such as Conseiller agréé en avantages sociaux (certified employee benefit consultant), Chartered Life Underwriter, Financial Planner, Trust and Estate Practitioner (TEP) and Certified Financial Planner (CFP).

Mr. Assouad joined iA Financial Group in 2021 as Sales Director, Large Case and National Accounts. He provides advisors and their high net worth clients with estate planning advice and offers financial and tax strategies that include corporate life insurance.

Pierre Lafontaine has a bachelor’s degree in business administration and a master’s degree in project management. He has thirty years of experience in financial services and financial planning with major financial institutions, including London Life and Sun Life. He has contributed to the launches of several new advanced financial planning products and services in insurance and wealth management over the course of his career, in addition to managing and building teams of financial, sales and marketing experts.

Since joining iA Financial Group in 2021, Pierre has directed the team of analysts and consultants supporting the iA Large Case Solutions program for more complex cases in addition to developing concepts and training associated with this service.

Pierre-Philip Garneau is a lawyer and member of the Quebec Bar and holds a master’s degree in taxation, tax planning option from the University of Sherbrooke. He has over ten years of experience in national and international accounting and legal firms. His practice is primarily focused on tax restructuring for companies and estate planning.

Since 2010, he has been serving as a legal advisor and tax expert for iA Financial Group. Specifically, he provides expertise in the development of insurance solutions for high net worth clients within the Advanced Financial and Tax Solutions team. He is also responsible for tax guidelines for policyholders and, in this capacity, for the development of insurance products and individual annuities.

Carl Blackburn has a bachelor’s degree in business administration (B.B.A.) with a concentration in accounting and is a Registered Life Underwriter (R.L.U.). He has over 25 years of industry experience as a financial planner, financial security advisor, group savings representative and accountant for companies with various profiles. His background has led him to devise training plans for advisors on business clienteles and develop specific expertise in creating effective tools and spreadsheets.

Mr. Blackburn has been with iA Financial Group for many years and is now a senior advisor for the Advanced Financial and Tax Solutions team. His main role is to design tools, calculators and client presentations to meet all the needs of the advanced case team.

Mylène Cousineau is a tax expert and holds a master's degree in taxation from Sherbrooke University. She has three years of experience in tax planning (corporate reorganization, eligibility and multiplication of the capital gains deduction, estate planning, etc.) as an auditor with the Ministère du revenue du Québec. She also worked in financial institutions for 14 years , including nine years as a financial planner serving wealthy clientele.

Since 2022, she has been practicing as a tax specialist in the Advanced Financial and Tax Solutions team. In addition to completing and optimizing the strategies put in place by the advisors, she collaborates directly with the clients' professionals as needed. She also participates in drafting and developing reference documents and new tax products.

Amin Njonkou Kouandou is a lawyer and a member of the Quebec Bar and holds a master's degree in taxation from Sherbrooke University. He has more than ten years of experience in accounting and legal firms where he practiced transactional and corporate law, tax litigation, tax reorganization and estate planning for companies and their shareholders.

Since joining iA in 2022, Amin has been practicing as a legal advisor and tax expert. More specifically, he supports high net worth clients who require more complex financial strategies in terms of taxation, sales concepts and optimization of individual insurance and savings products. He also participates in drafting and developing reference documents and new tax products.

Philippe Guillemette holds a Bachelor of Business Administration (BBA) in Finance and a Financial Planner designation. Starting his career at iA Financial Group as a student in 2018, his versatility has allowed him to touch on different aspects of the financial field while having very good skills with data.

Philippe has been part of the team since its inception and has served as a financial planner since 2023. His main duties are to provide advice to sales managers and to optimize the performance of insurance and savings products through advanced case concepts. He also contributes to the creation of certain computer tools and materials for the development and promotion of the team.

Ranjit Malay is a Chartered Professional Accountant (CPA) and a Certified General Accountant (CGA). He has also completed the in-depth tax program offered by CPA Canada. With over fifteen years of experience in major accounting firms, he advised private companies and shareholders on a broad range of accounting, taxation and business matters in the context of tax and estate planning. He also worked as a tax auditor at the Canada Revenue Agency auditing small to medium sized private businesses.

Ranjit joined iA in 2024 as a tax specialist. He supports advisors on advanced cases for high-net-worth clients and shareholders of private companies and analyzes their financial and tax situations in order to propose optimized and innovative insurance and savings strategies. He also contributes to the drafting and development of technical documents related to corporate taxation and iA’s product range.

Andy Yip is a lawyer and a member of the Ontario Bar, holding a Juris Doctor degree from Osgoode Hall Law School. With over four years of experience as a tax lawyer, he has gained experience in working with high-net-worth clients. He has also provided counsel to business owners, particularly in the areas of corporate reorganization and tax planning. He also has experience in tax litigation and dispute, as well as mergers and acquisitions transactions.

Andy joined iA in 2024 as a tax expert and legal advisor. He specifically supports high-net-worth clients and businesses requiring more complex insurance strategies. Additionally, he participates in drafting and developing technical documents related to taxation and legal concepts.

Noémie Savard holds the title of financial planner and has worked throughout her career as a mutual fund representative serving wealthy clientele. She also holds a bachelor’s degree in translation (B.A.) and has worked for various institutions and ministries as a legal and financial translator.

Noémie began her career at iA Financial Group in 2021 and joined the Advanced Financial and Tax Solutions Team in 2024. As a financial planner, her main responsibilities are to analyze and provide optimization solutions to support sales directors in complex cases. She participates in the creation, writing and development of reference documents in financial and tax planning.