Speaker Biographies

Domenic Mandato
InvestPlus Reit
Domenic Mandato is the President and Chief Executive Officer of both the Trust and the Administrator for InvestPlus REIT. He is a real estate investor and entrepreneur specializing in the acquisition, renovation and value enhancement of commercial, industrial, and multifamily buildings in 5 cities and 3 different provinces. He has successfully acquired, managed and sold multi unit residential properties in British Columbia, Alberta, Ontario and Quebec over the last 21 years. Mr. Mandato has spent the last 18 years building and managing InvestPlus, a highly successful real estate investment and management company. The REIT now has approximately $90 Million assets under management located in 5 cities in 3 different western Canadian provinces.

Chris Skelton
BizSold
Chris Skelton has been assisting clients with franchise growth, sales, and operations for the past couple of decades. With a wealth of experience in assisting investors and franchisors, Chris has come to quickly identify what business opportunity aligns best with the right candidate.

Ahsan Ansari
TD Canada
Ahsan has been in his current role with as Regional Manager, Franchise Banking for 2 years at TD Bank, and with franchise industry for over 8 years. As Regional Manager, Ahsan is one of TD's franchise industry experts and is responsible for growing TD's franchise banking portfolio while ensuring that franchisee customers are provided with legendary customer service. Ahsan also brings to the table over 15 years of lending experience from Commercial and Small Business at TD. He enjoys collaborating with both franchisors and franchisees to assist them with all of their credit and Banking needs.

Terry Thrower
TD Canada
With 20 years of banking experience, Terry has extensive experience in Personal, Small Business, and Commercial Banking.
As National Manager, TD Franchise Banking, Terry acts as the franchise industry expert and is responsible for growing the Bank’s franchise banking portfolio in Canada while ensuring that franchise customers are provided with legendary customer service.
Terry manages high profile franchisor relationships and provides ongoing support to ensure that franchisees are provided with the credit and cash management products that best meet their needs.

Chad Hughes
Bloom IT Solutions
Chad Hughes is the founder of Bloom Intuitive Technology Solutions, a platinum Oracle reseller recognized as the fastest-growing in North America. We provide and manage restaurant solutions from coast to coast in Canada and are currently expanding our reach into the U.S. market. Our commitment to excellence and innovation sets us apart in the industry.

Scott McCarthy
Franchise Marketing System
Scott has extensive experience in the Canadian franchise landscape working with some of the most well-established brands in Canada and the United States. Scott began his career at Tim Hortons as a multi-unit franchise owner/operator. After ten years with Tim Hortons, Scott expanded his horizons and joined Kelsey’s as a Franchisee owner/operator.
Scott made a deliberate move to apply his talent and knowledge to corporate operations, joining companies such as Sunoco, McDonald’s, Medicine Shoppe/Rexall Inc., Luxottica Retail and Pearle Vision Canada. From 2014 to 2017, Scott held the position of Vice President of Operations at Mary Brown’s Famous Chicken & Taters.

Mohamed Thaver
TD Insurance
Mohamed brings 26 years of insurance experience in both commercial and personal lines experience.
His experience includes Leadership, Sales and Underwriting for leading insurance companies and brokerage such as Royal Sun alliance and Marsh Canada over that time. Over the last 15 years he has helped placed insurance policies for both publicly traded and privately owned companies in Canada across many different sectors.
In May 2022 he joined TDI to help launch a commercial lines product offering on a national basis as Senior Manager Sales and Service Distribution for small business insurance. During this time operations were ramped up to hire approx.. 40 insurance advisors to provide small business insurance product solutions for business owners across Canada. His contributions to the business included acting as a subject matter expert, assist in the development of underwriting, pricing and product development while also helping to maintain a culture of risk management.
In March 2024 Mohamed has transitioned over to our Affinity Market Group as a Business Development Manager with a new mission to help the business grow organically through existing partnerships and to help TD enter new market segments to promote their product offerings.