Jay Bala, CFA is a co-founder, CEO and Senior Portfolio Manager of AIP Asset Management. He holds the position of Board of Director at several publicly listed companies. He has prior experience working at a large family office, Equity Research at an Investment Bank and a prominent private debt fund. Jay holds a Bachelor of Commerce from the University of Toronto and is a CFA charter holder. In 2014, Jay was a nominee for the Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year Award.

Alex Kanayev, MBA, CPA, ICD.D is a co-founder & Chairman of AIP Asset Management and a Member of the Advisory Board. He sits on the board of several companies and is Managing Partner at AIP Private Capital. Previously, he was the SVP at a prominent Private Debt Fund and Portfolio Manager at BMO Financial Group. Alex received his MBA from Schulich School of Business at York University and is a CPA charter holder and has an ICD.D designation from the Institute of Corporate Directors. In 2014, Alex was a nominee for the Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year Award.

Karl Lohwater, JD, LLM (Taxation) is the CCO of AIP Asset Management. Previously, Karl was General Counsel of two of the world’s largest actuarial and human resources consulting firms, Towers Perrin (now Willis Towers Watson) and Buck Consultants (now Buck Global). He was also the President, CCO, and Financial and Operations Principal of broker-dealer subsidiaries of Mellon Financial Corporation (now Bank of New York Mellon). Karl received his J.D. from Columbia University Law School and LLM (Taxation) from New York University Law School.

Karim Mecklai is the CFO & Vice President of business development at AIP Asset Management. Previously, Karim worked at Portfolio Strategies Securities Inc. (PSSI), B2B Bank, Beacon Wealth Management, Dundee Wealth and Assante Wealth Management.  During his time at Assante, Karim was registered as a Regional Vice President (RVP) for Central Canada region. Karim holds a Bachelor of Arts in Economics from the University of British Columbia.

Chris Blake, CFA. Mr. Blake has over 20 years of experience in the investment industry at both bank-owned and boutique investment dealers with a focus on small-midcap cap growth companies. He has experience across various sectors including Industrials, Infrastructure, Consumer Products, Cannabis, Beverage Alcohol, Gaming, Power, Consumer Products and Oil and Gas services.  During his career he has supported many successful companies in their life cycles with capital and structuring advice. He holds the Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) designation and a Bachelor of Economics degree from the University of Western Ontario. He is a member of the CFA Institute and CFA Society of Toronto.

Alexander Kanaev, CIM. Alexander is an Portfolio Manager and has been with AIP since 2015.
Alexander has buy-side experience in the private and public markets. Prior to joining AIP, Alexander spent over 10 years in Automotive and Dealership Finance. Alexander holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Business and Auto Finance, holds a CIM designation and is working towards his CPA designation.

Raphael Song. Raphael joined AIP Asset Management in the spring of 2020. He graduated from Western University with an Honors Specialization in Finance for MOS and has completed the CFA level 1. As part of the SMA team, he helps with the analysis and construction of client portfolios, as well as providing quarterly market commentaries and operational tasks required to service AIP’s clients.