About Us
Our Firm
Equate Asset Management takes a scientific approach to investment management. We believe that by following a disciplined investment strategy founded on empirical analysis and testing we can deliver higher risk-adjusted returns to our clients. Prior to founding Equate in 2016, each member of our senior management team already had decades of experience in a broad range of areas of quantitative finance such as institutional quantitative research, portfolio management, and data analysis and infrastructure. It is our complementary skills and extensive experience that sets us apart. Since the early adoption of quantitative finance in Canada, we have observed numerous market cycles and have witnessed considerable growth and evolution in the field. We feel that now more than ever it is important to take a process-driven approach to portfolio management as the noise and false signals have increased over time making it harder for investors to navigate financial markets.
Our Team
Chad McAlpine, CFA, CMT
Chad founded Equate Asset Management in 2016 with the goal of providing investors with access to innovative investment strategies based on empirical market research and rigorous statistical testing.
For more than half of his 25 years in the industry, Chad served as the Head of Quantitative Research at RBC Capital Markets. In his role at RBC, he was responsible for designing, building and implementing rules-based investment strategies.
Chad received his Bachelor of Science (Honours) in Physics from the University of Guelph in 1996. He was awarded the CFA charter in 2002 and is a member of the Toronto Society of Financial Analysts. In 2014 he was granted the CMT charter, and he is an active member of the Market Technicians Association.
David Fruitman, MBA, CFA
David is a co-founder of Equate and is responsible for the hands-on investment decisions as well as research and trading activities. David has more than 25 years of experience developing and managing top performing quantitatively-oriented investment portfolios.
Prior to joining Equate, David was Vice President and Portfolio Manager at STYLUS Asset Management, where he was one of the founding members of the investment team. David has contributed to numerous articles that have been published in leading Canadian newspapers and magazines.
David received an MBA (Finance) from McMaster University. He was awarded the CFA charter in 1998 and is a member of the Toronto Society of Financial Analysts.
Brennan Carson, CFA
Brennan joined Equate in 2019 and works with the investment team to create solutions for our clients. Brennan has almost 20 years of experience working with private clients, investment advisors and institutional investors on a wide range of equity portfolios.
Prior to joining Equate, Brennan was Vice President of Client Service and Sales at STYLUS Asset Management, where he guided clients through the investment management and financial planning process. Brennan was also responsible for client communication through articles, newsletters and educational presentations.
Brennan received a Bachelor of Arts (Honours) from Queen’s University. He was awarded the CFA charter in 2004 and is a member of the CFA Society of Toronto.
Mike Bentz, CFA, FRM
Mike co-founded Equate Asset Management in 2016 and is the Chief Operating Officer and the Director of Compliance. Mike brings more than 18 years of investment management experience to the executive team.
Prior to joining Equate, Mike was the Director of Quantitative Infrastructure and a Partner at Picton Mahoney Asset Management. Mike honed his skills in the areas of Risk Management and Quantitative Investing.
In addition to managing the daily operations of Equate, Mike is also responsible for the information technology platform, communications systems and compliance supervision.
Mike earned his Bachelors of Arts – Economics from The University of Western Ontario in 2001. He is a CFA charterholder, and has earned the Financial Risk Management (FRM) designation.
Chris Cupidio, CFA
Chris joined Equate Asset Management in 2017 as Director of Finance, and brings with him more than 25 years of investment experience and accounting expertise.
Chris worked as a Senior Accountant with the accounting firm KPMG prior to transitioning into the investment research field where he became the Manager of Research with C.P.M.S. Computerized Portfolio Management Services Inc. and subsequently the Director of Equity Data with Morningstar Canada. Chris moved back into the accounting field in 2014 and started his own company, which tracks the finances of individuals, families and small businesses.
Chris received a Bachelor of Mathematics degree from the University of Waterloo in 1992. He was awarded the CPA designation in 2000, the CFA charter in 2002 and is a member of the Toronto Society of Financial Analysts.
Rod Burylo, CIM, FCSI
Rod joined Equate in 2023 and works with the investment team with a focus on private market investments. Rod has over 30 years of experience throughout the capital markets including client advisory, business development, compliance, and leadership roles.
Prior to joining Equate, Rod was Manager, Capital Markets, for Pinnacle Accounting and Finance and provided consulting services to a variety of investment dealerships and private capital issuers. Rod also served as Chief Compliance Officer for Exempt Market Dealerships.
Rod Burylo received a Bachelor of Arts from University of Calgary, with a specialization in ethics and jurisprudence. He maintains CIM and FCSI designations, and has participated in a variety of professional associations.
Raluca Bentz
Raluca Bentz has worked in multifaced roles in the investment sector for over 20 years with emphasis on administration, client servicing and translations. Prior on joining Equate in 2021, Raluca worked at Franklin Templeton as a Bilingual Sales Specialist assisting Advisors in the management of client’s accounts, servicing the investor communications and Sales, Legal and Marketing
Raluca earned a Bachelor of Arts in French Linguistics and Translations from University of Toronto, then received her Business Administration Diploma from Centennial College followed by her CSC (Canadian Securities Course).
Our investment process is strategic and tactical, and is founded on decades of empirical analysis. We believe that superior returns can be achieved by understanding the factors that consistently differentiate the strongest performing investments.
Our Philosophy
Our firm’s name reflects our approach to investing: We combine Empirical research in the areas of Quantitative and Technical analysis to design and build each of our investment solutions.
Quantitative Analysis involves examining the specific factors that drive stock prices. Our investment strategies are constructed on a foundation of decades of testing to ensure that we use only those factors that provide consistent, superior performance through the course of full market cycles. We adhere to the guidelines provided by our strategies to ensure that we stay disciplined and avoid the pitfalls of emotional bias.
We recognize that markets evolve. A key component of our team approach is being adaptive to changing market conditions and investor behaviour by always examining the efficacy of our process. We believe in being accountable to our clients by creating a transparent style of communication – providing a straightforward understanding of our strategies and respective performance.