Walter GAM’s team of seasoned investment professionals combines extensive industry expertise with impressive track records.
Our founding partners are accomplished executives benefiting from a wealth of experience, notably as key contributors in building one of North America’s leading global asset management firms.
Our team possesses complementary expertise across the investment industry and exclusively focuses its efforts on asset management, offering a unique ability to maximize value creation for investors and portfolio partners.
Our approach leverages our principals’ deep industry knowledge, serving as an extension to our affiliates’ teams, and enabling them to achieve their strategic ambitions.
Management team
Brosseau
Dufresne
Lalonde
Lemay
Touze
Sokolova
Board of directors
Johnson
Brosseau
Somers
Somers
Fournier
Dufresne
Sylvain Brosseau has served as Chief Executive Officer and Founding Partner of Walter Global Asset Management since the company was founded in 2018. His proven expertise in generating growth allows him to support independent asset management firms in reaching new heights.
Mr. Brosseau has over 25 years of experience in the investment management industry, including his tenure as Global President and Chief Operating Officer of Fiera Capital from 2003 to 2017. Under his leadership, the company grew its assets under management from $5 billion to $120 billion and its market capitalization from $20 million to over $1 billion. He also spearheaded the firm’s international expansion, overseeing more than 15 acquisitions across Canada, the United States and Europe and the opening of new offices throughout North America and Europe.
Before joining Fiera Capital, Mr. Brosseau served as Executive Vice-President, Institutional Markets at TAL Global Asset Management Inc. and as Executive Vice-President at TAL International, where he oversaw worldwide distribution and operations. His experience also includes terms as Vice-President of Marketing and Vice-President of Technology and Operations at Talvest Mutual Funds.
Mr. Brosseau is a current member of the board of directors for several organizations, including Equisoft and many of WGAM’s underlying portfolio partners. He has also sat on the board for numerous other organizations in the past, such as Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec, Fiera Capital Corporation, Centria Commerce, Fiera Properties, Bel Air Investment Advisors, Charlemagne Capital, Fiera-Axium Infrastructure and Fundserv.
He graduated with a Bachelor of Science (Magna Cum Laude) from the University of Vermont and a Master of Science from McGill University. A member of YPO, he also regularly participates in numerous fundraising campaigns in support of Montréal charities.
Martin Dufresne joined Walter Global Asset Management in 2019 as President and Managing Partner. An outstanding manager with extensive experience in finance, he leverages his expertise to grow the firm’s portfolios and asset management companies.
An early stakeholder in Fiera Capital, Martin spent more than 16 years there in senior management positions. He was responsible for nearly $75 billion in assets under management as Executive Vice-President and Head of Institutional Markets. Prior to this appointment, he served as Vice-President and Senior Portfolio Manager, Small Cap Equities as well as Senior Vice-President and General Manager, Quebec, Institutional Markets. Before joining Fiera, Martin was an analyst for a number of major Canadian portfolio management companies.
Martin earned a master’s degree in finance from the Université de Sherbrooke, as well as a bachelor’s degree in business administration from HEC Montréal (majoring in finance and economics). He is also a Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA).
Martin serves on the board of directors of LFIS Capital, Umalia, a firm that inspires and enables businesses to create a more sustainable world, and Educaid, an organization that rewards student perseverance in school, and is a past board member of Fiera Private Lending.
Julie Lalonde joined Walter Global Asset Management as a managing partner in early 2020. Over two decades working with pension funds and asset managers, she acquired a broad range of expertise in both institutional and retail markets. She has an in-depth understanding of investment processes, coupled with strong experience in marketing, client service and strategic planning. At Walter Global Asset Management, she draws on this wealth of experience to identify potential investments, participate in business development and support the growth of portfolio companies.
Julie previously held senior management roles with Fiera Capital for more than 10 years. As Executive Vice President, Strategic Investment Partnerships and Retail Markets, she sat on the executive management committee, led business development and client service for investment advisors and was responsible for maintaining relationships with the firm’s most important strategic partners, which represented over $25 billion in assets under management. She also previously served as Vice President, Client Service, Marketing & Investment Strategies, Institutional Markets. Earlier in her career, Julie acquired nearly 10 years of extensive experience in management roles with the pension funds of the multinational corporations Abitibi Consolidated (now Resolute Forest Products) and Bombardier Inc. She began her career as an analyst for two financial institutions.
Julie has earned a bachelor of commerce degree in finance and holds the CFA (chartered financial analyst) and chartered director (C.Dir) designations. She currently serves on the boards of directors of Bonnefield Financial, Validus Risk Management and Brightspark. She is also a member of Bonnefield’s investment committee.
Charles Lemay joined Walter Global Asset Management as Partner in 2021. A committed advocate for the emerging manager community in North America, Mr. Lemay benefits from complementary entrepreneurial and business development experience to help propel the growth of Walter Global Asset Management’s portfolio partners.
Charles has held senior business development and leadership roles with both emerging and established investment management firms. Mr. Lemay was notably instrumental in the growth and subsequent merger of Landry Investments with Nymbus Capital. Prior to this, he led business development efforts in the U.S. for Addenda Capital. The previous decade of Charles’ career was spent in front and middle office roles at prominent firms in New York, including Goldman Sachs. While at Goldman Sachs, he was Vice President - Emerging Markets Cross Asset Sales, covering US-based hedge funds and institutional asset managers. In this role, he helped launch a new emerging markets corporate credit team and implemented trading strategies for institutional and hedge fund clients.
Charles holds a bachelor’s degree in International Business from Fairleigh Dickinson University in New Jersey, where he played on the Division 1A tennis team. He is also a former alpine ski racer with the Club de Ski Mont-Tremblant. Charles is actively involved in the emerging manager community in Canada and acts as President of the Emerging Manager Board. He is also the treasurer of the Fondation du Collège Notre Dame.
Guillaume Touze has been working with the Walter Global Asset Management (WGAM) team as Partner of European Development since 2019. In this role, he helps the WGAM team find and engage prospective partners in Europe for the firm’s growth-oriented platform.
Mr. Touze is also the CEO and founding partner of Quadra Capital Partners, an asset management firm specialized in alternative investments that is part of WGAM’s portfolio. Prior to founding Quadra Capital Partners, Mr. Touze spent most of his career with the Barclays Group, where he was CEO of Barclays Asset Managers, then Managing Director of Barclays Private Clients France, and finally Managing Director, European Investment Solutions in London.
A graduate of EM Lyon Business School, Mr. Touze has also completed an executive education program at London Business School. He sits on a number of boards, including the board of AFG (French Asset Management Association) and the board of Luxembourg Funds, and he is currently the Chairman of the Board of Directors of Quadra Capital SICAV. He is also involved in his alma mater in Lyon as president of the alumni association, a member of the school’s Board of Directors and a regular participant in fundraising campaigns.
Patrick Lorange joined Walter Global Asset Management in 2020. In his role as Partner he is actively involved throughout the corporate development activities of Walter Global Asset Management, from deal origination through to due diligence, execution and subsequent monitoring of investments.
Prior to joining the Walter Global Asset Management team, Patrick was a Manager in KPMG’s Deal Advisory practice, focused exclusively on the financial services industry. In this capacity, Patrick provided buy-side and sell-side advisory services on over 50 transactions, servicing both public and private companies. Patrick also consulted for public and private companies in matters relating to post-merger integration and finance function optimization. He launched his career working in audit at KPMG.
Patrick is a graduate of McGill University, where he obtained a Bachelor of Commerce and a Graduate Certificate in Professional Accounting. He is also a Chartered Professional Accountant and CFA charterholder.
Over the course of her diversified career, Avi Sokolova has worked in the financial sector, economic education and scientific research. She joined the Walter Global Asset Management team in 2020 as Director of Operations, where she brings her expertise in project management, and takes an active role in marketing, business development and client experience.
Avi previously worked as a coordinator with Fiera Capital’s Institutional Markets team, where she helped initiate and coordinate strategic projects, and at the Montreal Economic Institute, where she designed and established human resources management policies. She also served as a public relations advisor at Desjardins, helping organize international events and supporting the president of the organization’s public relations activities. She began her career at the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences’ Geological Institute, conducting scientific research and co-authoring and publishing several scientific articles.
Avi holds a Master of Business Administration (MBA) from HEC Montréal and a Bachelor of Physics with a specialization in geophysics from Sofia University in Bulgaria.
Mr. Johnson is a former Premier of the Province of Québec.
He was admitted to the Québec Bar after earning a law degree at the Université de Montréal, and also holds LL.M. and Ph.D. degrees from the University of London (UK), as well as an MBA from Harvard Business School.
After practicing law as an executive in a Canadian investment and management company, Mr. Johnson was elected to the Québec National Assembly where he was a member for 17 years, while he held important positions as Minister of Industry and Commerce, Chairman of the Treasury Board and Minister responsible for the Montreal Region, and later as Prime Minister and Leader of the Opposition.
Upon retiring from politics in 1998, Mr. Johnson joined the law firm of McCarthy Tétrault LLP for over twenty years, providing business and strategic advice to clients. During that period, he also acted as a director of publicly-listed corporations (Bombardier inc., The Great-West Life Assurance Company, The Investors Group, Bell Mobility, Ecopia BioSciences), engineering consulting firm EXP Global inc., and manufacturer Ezeflow inc. He also acted as a negotiator for the Québec government, was co-Chair with the Right Honourable Brian Mulroney on the Commission on the siting of Montreal’s university hospitals (CHUM and MUHC) in 2004, chaired the Judges Remuneration Committee from 2007 to 2010, and was a director of the Bank of Canada from 2008 to 2013.
In 2008, Mr. Johnson was appointed Grand Officer of the Ordre national du Québec, Québec’s highest distinction.
Sylvain Brosseau has served as Chief Executive Officer and Founding Partner of Walter Global Asset Management since the company was founded in 2018. His proven expertise in generating growth allows him to support independent asset management firms in reaching new heights.
Mr. Brosseau has over 25 years of experience in the investment management industry, including his tenure as Global President and Chief Operating Officer of Fiera Capital from 2003 to 2017. Under his leadership, the company grew its assets under management from $5 billion to $120 billion and its market capitalization from $20 million to over $1 billion. He also spearheaded the firm’s international expansion, overseeing more than 15 acquisitions across Canada, the United States and Europe and the opening of new offices throughout North America and Europe.
Before joining Fiera Capital, Mr. Brosseau served as Executive Vice-President, Institutional Markets at TAL Global Asset Management Inc. and as Executive Vice-President at TAL International, where he oversaw worldwide distribution and operations. His experience also includes terms as Vice-President of Marketing and Vice-President of Technology and Operations at Talvest Mutual Funds.
Mr. Brosseau is a current member of the board of directors for several organizations, including Equisoft and many of WGAM’s underlying portfolio partners. He has also sat on the board for numerous other organizations in the past, such as Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec, Fiera Capital Corporation, Centria Commerce, Fiera Properties, Bel Air Investment Advisors, Charlemagne Capital, Fiera-Axium Infrastructure and Fundserv.
He graduated with a Bachelor of Science (Magna Cum Laude) from the University of Vermont and a Master of Science from McGill University. A member of YPO, he also regularly participates in numerous fundraising campaigns in support of Montréal charities.
Pierre Somers is Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of the Walter Group headquartered in Montreal, Canada. The Walter Group is mainly active in the financial sector, especially through Walter Capital Management, a major investment firm and pillar of the Group, which brings together business units specializing in public and private markets: Walter Public Investments, Walter Capital Partners and Walter Global Asset Management.
For over 30 years, Pierre helmed the Walter Group’s founding company, Walter Surface Technologies, which was founded by his father in 1952 and owned by the Group until 2018. As head of the company, he was the driver behind its expansion to international markets. Walter Surface Technologies now operates in nine countries across the Americas and Europe. He also innovated with the creation of the Bio-Circle division, which offers environmentally safe solutions for industrial cleaning applications through bioremediation. On the financial side of the Walter Group’s activities, he contributed to the establishment of Walter Financial, now known as Walter Capital Management, a credible investment firm in the financial sector. Over the years, he initiated the creation of Walter Capital Partners, a private equity firm dedicated to supporting the growth of SMEs, as well as Walter Global Asset Management, a North American private investment platform specializing in asset management.
Before taking the lead at Walter Group, Pierre held various positions within Walter Surface Technologies in Canada and the U.S., where he garnered in-depth knowledge of various sectors of the company, on his way to becoming Chairman & CEO. At the beginning of his career, he worked as a mechanical engineer at Metabo AG, in Germany.
Pierre holds a B.Sc. in Mechanical Engineering from Clarkson University, in Potsdam, NY, which he obtained in 1976. In 2005, he was appointed Alumni of the YPO/MBA program at the Harvard Business School, an institution he has been active with for over 20 years. He is fluent in English, French and German.
Pierre is a strong supporter of education. He has been honorary president for numerous fundraising campaigns held by organizations such as Madeli-Aide and the ITHQ (Institut de tourisme et d’hôtellerie du Québec), from which he has received an honoris causa degree. Through the Walter J. Somers Foundation, he supports the HEC Montréal Walter J. Somers Foundation Centre for Productivity and Prosperity, where he sits on the steering committee. Mr. Somers is a founding member of the Business Families Foundation, and is a member of the Presidents Club of the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts, the World Presidents Organization and the CEO Organization.
Isabelle Somers joined the Walter Group in 2016, where she leads the development of Walter Ventures, the Group’s European early-stage investment platform focused on Enterprise Software companies. In addition, she is Managing Partner and Chair of the Walter Group, and member of the Walter GAM board and the investment committee of Walter Capital Partners.
When joining the Walter Group, she oversaw the restructuring and majority sale of Walter Surface Technologies, the family’s industrial business. Before that, she worked in Group Strategy at Bombardier Transportation in Berlin, Germany, where she developed PRIMOVE pure electric bus business models and market entry strategies. She later joined the Corporate Audit Service and Risk Assessment department of Bombardier Inc., where she assessed operational and financial risks within its Transportation operations and delivered onsite risk mitigation roadmaps to senior management teams in 12 different countries.
Isabelle studied Visual Arts, followed by a Bachelor of Commerce majoring in Finance at JMSB Concordia University, in Montreal. In 2016, she completed her MBA at IESE Business School in Barcelona, Spain, during which she worked in a smart wearable technology start-up focused on non-medical maternity devices.
Passionate about innovation, technology, art, food, health, and wellness, and supporting early years education, environmental and agricultural sustainability.
A favorite quote: “Be the change that you wish to see in the world.” – Mahatma Gandhi
René Fournier is the Managing Director and Chief Investment Officer of Walter Capital Management. In this role, René leads the executive team and is responsible for the company’s investment strategies, including asset allocation. He is also a member of the Board of Walter Global Asset Management and Walter Capital Partners in addition to being the Head of its Investment Committee. Furthermore, René is a member of the Board of Directors of several portfolio companies.
Before joining Walter Capital Management, René was responsible for the Canadian equities and corporate bonds team at a large Canadian pension fund. His responsibilities included leading the team of analysts in addition to leading the research strategy. Earlier, he worked at EDC as a director of structured project finance and as a project manager at J.D. Irving.
René received an MBA from McGill University. He holds a CFA title and a professional engineer title in addition to a bachelor’s degree in Engineering from Moncton University.
Martin Dufresne joined Walter Global Asset Management in 2019 as President and Managing Partner. An outstanding manager with extensive experience in finance, he leverages his expertise to grow the firm’s portfolios and asset management companies.
An early stakeholder in Fiera Capital, Martin spent more than 16 years there in senior management positions. He was responsible for nearly $75 billion in assets under management as Executive Vice-President and Head of Institutional Markets. Prior to this appointment, he served as Vice-President and Senior Portfolio Manager, Small Cap Equities as well as Senior Vice-President and General Manager, Quebec, Institutional Markets. Before joining Fiera, Martin was an analyst for a number of major Canadian portfolio management companies.
Martin earned a master’s degree in finance from the Université de Sherbrooke, as well as a bachelor’s degree in business administration from HEC Montréal (majoring in finance and economics). He is also a Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA).
Martin serves on the board of directors of LFIS Capital, Umalia, a firm that inspires and enables businesses to create a more sustainable world, and Educaid, an organization that rewards student perseverance in school, and is a past board member of Fiera Private Lending.
The Walter group
Walter Global Asset Management is part of the Walter Group, a diversified investment management organization whose team members share the values of the Somers family heading the Group.
Guided by a multigenerational entrepreneurial spirit, the Walter Group has flourished for nearly 70 years. From its beginnings as an industrial company that grew into a leader of its industry, the Group has since evolved into a premier investment firm and business ecosystem with teams dedicated to public investments, private equity, and investment initiatives in the hospitality and food sectors.
At the helm of it all is a team of seasoned operators with strong business acumen and extensive financial insight. This approach empowers the Group to be actively involved in managing its investments, providing a robust and sustainable framework that underpins each of its companies.
