The 2025 Sohn Montreal Conference took place on May 28 at the Four Seasons Hotel Montreal. The first of what organizers hope will become an annual conference will bring together some of the top investors and allocators in the world as they present their best and most interesting stock picks.
In an interview with Hedge Fund Alpha ahead of the event, Aaron Stern of Converium Capital and Anik Lanthier of Richter, who were instrumental in bringing the 2025 Sohn Montreal Conference together, shared a preview. Other members of the host committee include Francois Rivard of Innocap, Mario Therrien of CDPQ, and Eduard Van Gelderen of FCLTGlobal.
Related: See our coverage of the 2025 Sohn New York Conference here.
UPDATE: See our full coverage of the event towards the bottom of this post.
A first for Montreal
Stern has participated in seven previous Sohn conferences as a speaker, and both he and Lanthier are based in Montreal. They believe there is a great opportunity to bring together many investors for a great cause.
"I've always felt Montreal to some degree has been underrepresented in the global investment conference realm," Stern said. "… Anik and I are involved in fundraising for a number of hospitals in the city, so we thought it would be wonderful to bring a global conference to Montreal and raise money to support the pediatric hospitals in the city."
The host committee leveraged their relationships to attract a mix of the top global talent to speak at the event.
"It's been a great experience in the sense that this was the first time in Montreal," Lanthier added. "The Sohn Foundation is a U.S. organization, so we had to create a template in Canada and bring it to life from A to Z. It has been a great experience, and it's nice to showcase Montreal to the global investment universe."
Montreal's vibrant investment community
Of course, the Sohn conferences are very well known around the world, and Stern and Lanthier feel Sohn Montreal is a great platform on which to present Quebec asset managers. They're excited to partner with Nicolas Patard and his colleagues at the National Bank to co-host this year's conference, Lanthier said.
Stern spent most of his career in New York before returning to Montreal and building his firm there, and he's looking forward to hosting hundreds of investors in his home city.
"Montreal has a fantastic financial community," he said. "And we are excited to showcase that to international investors coming to Montreal. The conference is important for the city, and an opportunity to raise significant funds for these two pediatric hospitals. Anik and I have experienced our pediatric hospitals' outstanding care and treatment. The work that they do is incredible. And we know how meaningful every dollar we raise will be for The Montreal Children's Hospital and Sainte-Justine's Hospital."
Assembling the speaker lineup
In assembling the lineup for the 2025 Sohn Montreal Conference, Stern and Lanthier, along with Therrien, Rivard and Van Gelderen, tapped their long list of industry associates.
"From spending many years investing with great investment managers, I developed many contacts in the hedge fund and private market world," Lanthier said. "I used to be global head of Capital Markets at PSP Investments, global CIO at Fiera Capital and now CIO at Richter. The reception when we called managers to participate in the conference was very positive."
Of course, the potential speakers they spoke to already knew about the Sohn conference, given its incredible impact over its 30-year history.
"When you mix philanthropy with investing, that's where the magic happens," Lanthier added.
In fact, Stern said they had so many people respond and want to be part of the conference that they had to defer some of them until next year.
"The plan is to make this an annual conference, and the amount of inbound interest from speakers has been fantastic," he said.
Sports panel at the 2025 Sohn Montreal Conference
Although Lanthier is looking forward to hearing all the speakers at the 2025 Sohn Montreal Conference, one panel she highlighted that's of particular interest to her is the one on sports franchises, which she described as an "off-the-beaten-path panel."
"The beauty is it's global investors that are coming to talk about it," Lanthier said. "The moderator is also the founder of the women's soccer league in Canada and the owner of the Montreal women's soccer team, so it's nice being able to see women in entrepreneurship and investors coming together for a very interesting new asset class."
Sohn Montreal Conference To Feature Fireside chat with David Einhorn
Stern described this year's 10 best ideas speakers as a "really outstanding lineup;" he also highlighted the fireside chat with Greenlight Capital's David Einhorn.
"At the Conference, there will be a wide range of strategies presented, from equity long/ short to distressed debt, multi-strategy and macro managers from all over the world. One keynote will be Mario Therrien interviewing David Einhorn. David is a pioneer in the industry and is always very insightful, so his discussion with Mario should be a treat."
Also see 2025 Sohn Hong Kong Conference: Stock Pitches From Palliser, Arisaig, Oasis, Apeiron & More
Full coverage of the 2025 Sohn Montreal Conference at Hedge Fund Alpha
The 2025 Sohn Montreal Conference was nearly booked up to full capacity, with nearly all the tickets having been sold between sponsorships and online sales. If you don't have a ticket, Hedge Fund Alpha has complete coverage of the 2025 Sohn Montreal Conference
Lanthier was also happy to say that they are on pace to achieve their fundraising goal for the hospitals they're supporting. This year's beneficiaries are the Montreal Children's Hospital Foundation and the CHU Sainte-Justine Foundation.
Speakers at the 2025 Sohn Montreal Conference
Here's the full list of speakers at the 2025 Sohn Montreal Conference
- Chris Arsenault, Inovia Capital – As co-founder of Inovia Capital, Arsenault created the Inovia venture capital platform and the firm's growth funds. He has supported companies like AppDirect, Lightspeed Commerce, Luxury Retreats, Poka and Super.com through his commitment to the Canadian technology landscape.
- Gavin Baker, Atreides Management – Baker is managing partner and chief investment officer of Atreides Management and handles the firm's day-to-day portfolio management. Before founding Atreides in 2019, he was at Fidelity Investments, helping spearhead the firm's VC investing arm between 2013 and 2017.
- Matt Botein, Gallatin Point Capital – Botein is a co-founder and managing partner at Gallatin Point. Before co-founding the firm in 2017, he was chief investment officer for alternatives and co-head of BlackRock Alternative Investors. Before BlackRock, Botein was at Highfields Capital Management.
- Isabele Chevalier, YPO, EEB Coach – A seasoned entrepreneur and investor with more than 25 years of experience in health, science, retail and sports, Chevalier was previously CEO of Bio-K+ International, a pioneer in the probiotics space. She co-launched the first professional women's soccer club in Quebec and the first professional women's soccer league in Canada.
- Clarisa Desjardins, Ph.D., Congruence Therapeutics – Desjardins founded and is CEO of Congruence Therapeutics, a Montreal-based biotech that works at the intersection of experimental and computational drug discovery.
- Jean-Guy Desjardins, Fiera Capital – Desjardins founded Fiera Capital in 2003 after co-founding TAL Global Asset Management, which was acquired by a financial institution in 2001. Before that, he served as a financial analyst and portfolio manager for an insurance company
- Alex Duran, Permian Investment Partners – Duran is a co-founding partner and portfolio manager at Permian Investment Managers, which launched in 2008 and invests in new, best-in-class, highly incentivized CEOs in the process of turning around mismanaged businesses, mostly in western Europe. Before Permian, Duran was at Brahman Capital as an investment analyst.
- David Einhorn, Greenlight Capital – President of Greenlight Capital, Einhorn utilizes deep research to discover market opportunities. He is well known for questioning Lehman Brothers' books during the financial crisis, accusing the investment bank of being evasive about its risks. He also founded the Einhorn Collaborative, a non-profit organization that aims to help Americans build stronger relationships, embrace differences and rediscover shared values and humanity.
- Seth Fischer, Oasis Management – Fischer is the founder and chief investment officer of Oasis Management, a Hong Kong-based investment manager that invests globally across capital structures. He founded Oasis in 2022 after spending seven years at Highbridge Capital Management.
- Suzanne Gibbons, David Kempner Capital – Gibbons is a partner and head of research at Davidson Kempner, overseeing the investment research, quantitative research and knowledge management teams. Before joining the firm in 2007, she served as an associate at Montgomery & Co. Gibbons serves on the board of directors of Her Justice, a non-profit that provides free legal help to poverty-stricken women in New York City.
- Dylan Haggart, Fivespan Partners – Haggart is managing partner and chief investment officer of Fivespan Partners. Previously, he was a partner at ValueAct Capital and a private equity investor at TPG Capital.
- Tasso Lagios, Richter LLP – Lagios is managing partner at Richter, where he has worked for more than 30 years.
- Marc Lasry, Avenue Capital – Lasry co-founded Avenue Capital Group with Sonia Gardner in 1995. As a pioneer in the distressed debt market, Lasry has successfully invested in the public and private debt and equities of companies across various industries. Before Avenue Capital, Lasry and Gardner co-founded Amroc Investments.
- Robert Lewin, KKR – Joining KKR in 2004, Lewin currently serves as the chief financial officer. Before taking on that role, he was a private equity investor at the firm, co-leading its credit and capital markets businesses. Lewin helped launch KKR's Asia business in Hong Kong.
- Nicole Musicco, Square Nine Capital – Musicco recently returned to the credit markets by co-founding Square Nine Capital. She previously served as chief investment officer at CalPERS.
- David J. O'Connor, Arctos Partners – With a long track record in private equity and leadership in professional sports, O'Connor is a managing partner at Arctos Partners, leading value creation and sourcing and executing and managing investments for the sports strategy. He also directs the firm's business strategy, governance and leadership team. Before co-founding Arctos Partners, O'Connor was president and CEO of the Madison Square Garden Company.
- Andre Perold, HighVista Strategies – Perold is a co-founder, partner and chief investment officer at HighVista. Previously, he served as the George Gund Professor of Finance and Banking at Harvard Business School.
- Francois Rivard, Innocap – Appointed president and CEO of Innocap in 2013, Rivard was previously head of the Financial Product Group at National Bank of Canada, one of Innocap's parent companies.
- Lloyd M. Segal, biotechnology – After resigning from Repare Therapeutics in April, Segal is currently pursuing other opportunities. Before co-founding and serving as president and CEO of Repare, he was a managing partner at Persistence Capital Partners, a health-care private equity firm.
- Wen Shi, Wellington Management – Wen Shi is a global industry analyst at Wellington, where he conducts fundamental research on biotechnology companies. Before joining Wellington in 2015, he was a senior research associate for biotechnology at Sanford C. Bernstein.
- Marc-Andre Soubliere, Trans-Canada Capital – Soubliere is senior vice president of fixed income and absolute return at Trans-Canada, overseeing all fixed income portfolios and tactical asset allocation. Before joining Trans-Canada, he managed pension assets portfolios for large para-public organizations.
- Aaron Stern, Converium Capital – Stern is a managing partner and the chief investment officer at Converium, a multi-strategy opportunistic investment manager based in Montreal. Before founding Converium, he was a partner and managing director at Jeffrey Tannenbaum's Fir Tree Partners.
- Mario Therrien, CDPQ – Therrien is head of investment funds and external management for the public markets at CDPQ, leading the team that handles alternative strategies, external stock market management, fixed income liquid funds and operational due diligence. He has also served as the firm's senior managing director and head of strategic partnerships, having joined CDPQ as an analyst in 1993.
- Adam Vigna, Sagard – Vigna is a co-founder, managing partner and chief investment officer of Sagard, being involved in all investment decisions and handling the firm's overall investment activities. Before Sagard, he spent almost 10 years at the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board, where he served as managing director and global head of the Principal Credit Investments Group.
- Nancy Zimmerman, Bracebridge Capital – Zimmerman is a co-founder and managing partner of Bracebridge Capital and a pioneer in absolute return investing. Before co-founding Bracebridge in 1994, she managed Goldman Sachs' global interest rate option group.
