GTA
Mario Paron
Partner, Tax
Chief Human Resources Officer
GTA
mparon@kpmg.ca
Mario is a tax partner and Deputy Tax Partner in Charge of KPMG’s GTA Tax Practice. He is also the Chief Human Resources Officer for KPMG Canada. He was previously the Tax Partner in Charge for the Southwestern Ontario Region and practiced in the area of International Tax.
Mario has an Honours Bachelor of Commerce Degree from McMaster University in Hamilton, Ontario and a Masters in Science of US Taxation from Canisius College in Buffalo New York. He is a Canadian Chartered Accountant and U.S. Certified Public Accountant.
Mario has always been a strong advocate of the people agenda and has participated in numerous firm initiatives aligned with the development of our people. This includes teaching at our firm New Managers Program, being a People Leader and developing various strategies aimed at increasing people engagement with the firm.
Mario is actively involved in the community having served on the board of Directors of Opera Ontario and the Canadian Cancer Society.
Mark Lehman
Partner
GTA
mlehman@kpmg.ca
Mark Lehman is an Audit Partner in KPMG Canada’s Energy, Mining and Industrial Markets practice. Since joining KPMG in 1986, he has developed extensive experience as the lead partner on public companies, very large private companies and international engagements, including global organizations with multi-location operations.
Mark’s industry knowledge in the manufacturing, automotive and metals industries has provided opportunity for many diverse and interesting assignments. Mark has assisted clients with their go public/go private transactions as well as large acquisition and due diligence engagements.
During his career, Mark has held various positions at KPMG including GTA Lead Recruiting and UFE Partner, HR Partner, Location Leader for the Information Risk Management practice, and team leader for KPMG’s Quality Review Team.
Mark received his Bachelor of Commerce (Honours) from McMaster University and is a member of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Ontario (“ICAO”). Mark is a past lecturer for the ICAO, a School of Accountancy Leader and developer of comprehensive case material for the Institute. As one of KPMG’s IFRS technical specialists, Mark has given both in-house and external lectures on various IFRS standards and conversion methodology. Mark is currently a Board member for the ICAO/Rotman Centre for Innovation in Accounting Education and spends his spare time coaching with his local minor hockey association.
Jawaid Dossani
Senior Manager, Audit
GTA
jdossani@kpmg.ca
Laura Price
Manager, Audit
GTA
lauraprice@kpmg.ca
Laura is a Senior Manager in our Consumer Markets audit group. Laura joined KPMG’s Mississauga office in 1999 after having graduated from McMaster University. In the past 12 years, she has worked with a variety of consumer products clients, and currently practices in the Consumer Markets audit practice in Toronto.
During her time with KPMG, Laura has been involved in the recruiting process. She also participates in developing people at KPMG, most notably as a People Leader in the Consumer Markets practice.
When not at the office, Laura enjoys spending time with her family, taking weekend shopping trips and camping.
Kelly Ryan
Manager, Audit
GTA
keryan@kpmg.ca
Kelly is a Manager in our Audit practice at KPMG. Kelly joined KPMG in September 2006 after completing her Honours Bachelor of Business Administration at the University of Guelph Humber. Kelly started with KPMG as a staff accountant in the Consumer Markets (“CM”) audit group, where she continues to practice.
While working with KPMG, Kelly has spent her time in various cities across Canada and the US, working on a variety of clients with a focus on the retail food and beverage industry. She has been engaged as a performance counselor to co-op students and staff accountants and has been involved in recruiting for many years. The part she values most about being a performance counselor and being involved in recruiting is the personal connections and interactions she gets to make on a regular basis.
In her spare time Kelly enjoys baseball, volleyball, traveling and spending time with family and friends. She has participated in several charity runs, both as a participant and an organizer, is actively involved with a charitable Board of Directors position and continues to look for opportunities with which to contribute her time.
Ali Akbar
Analyst, Corporate Finance
GTA
416-777-8679
aakbar@kpmg.ca
Ali first joined KPMG in the summer of 2008 in our Montreal office after completing his 3rd year at McGill University. After completing his Bachelor of Commerce, Ali began full-time in 2009 joining the Toronto Audit practice with a focus in Energy, Mining, & Industrial Markets.
After successfully passing his UFE in 2011, Ali joined the Corporate Finance practice primarily working in Mergers & Acquisitions, divestitures, debt & equity financing, and fairness opinions.
While working with KPMG, Ali has been heavily involved in recruiting and has recently participated in a KPMG-Free the Children trip to Kenya.
Jeffery Brown
Partner, US Tax
Hamilton
jmbrown@kpmg.ca
Jeffrey Brown is a US Tax partner in KPMG’s Regions East business unit. He has more than 27 years of experience in public accounting and has been with KPMG since 1994 in Boston, New York City, Toronto and Southwestern Ontario. Jeffrey assists Canadian companies with inbound US federal and state income tax compliance and planning. He has a particular focus in state and local sales and use taxation and tax controversies. Jeffrey’s experiences have made him a valuable client resource during merger and acquisition due diligence and structuring. Jeffrey is a Certified Public Accountant (Licensed in both Massachusetts and New York) and has been admitted to the bar in Massachusetts, Rhode Island and the US Tax Court. Jeffrey routinely addresses various professional and industry groups such as the Tax Executive Institute and the Council for International Tax Education. He regularly teaches tax seminars for KPMG professionals locally and nationally. A regular contributor to KPMG technical publications, Jeffrey has also authored for the Canadian Tax Foundation’s Canadian Tax Highlights newsletter, the National Post, and trade magazines.
John Pryke
Partner, Audit
Hamilton
jpryke@kpmg.ca
John Pryke joined KPMG in October 1997 after obtaining his Honours B. Comm at McMaster University. John has worked in the Hamilton office Audit practice since joining the firm and was appointed to the partnership in 2009. John serves a variety of clients in the public, private and not-for-profit sectors.
Early in John’s career he was the Hamilton office UFE Coordinator for over 6 years participating on the KPMG National UFE Committee. John is currently the Treasurer of the Board of the Hamilton Chamber of Commerce and a board member of ProAction Cops & Kids.
John has travelled through Australia and New Zealand and enjoys a number of sports including baseball, tennis, basketball, skiing and golf.
David Marks
Senior Manager, Audit
Hamilton
davidmarks@kpmg.ca
David Marks joined the KPMG’s Hamilton office in May 1998, after completing a Bachelors of Honours Commerce at McMaster University in Hamilton. David started with the KPMG Enterprise practice for his first summer and then moved to the Audit practice, where he has been ever since. A large portion of David’s time is spent working on Canadian clients that have US GAAP reporting. Additionally, he services the audit needs of privately held businesses and local not-for-profit organizations.
David has been involved in the recruiting process at KPMG since 2000. He originally became involved in this process as he could relate to the pressures that are on the students going through the recruiting process. He enjoys sharing with the candidates his experiences, including all the things he did wrong during his recruiting year. In fact, you may want to ask David to share with you his experience of landing a job with KPMG—it is not what you might expect.
Outside of the office, David enjoys spending time with his family, golfing, and playing volleyball.
Denise Provencher
Senior Manager
Hamilton
dprovencher@kpmg.ca
Denise Provencher joined KPMG in May 1998 after completing her Honours Commerce degree at McMaster University. Denise is an Audit Senior Manager in the Hamilton office. Denise works with a large variety of clients in many different industry practices. Her clients range from large retail clients, to smaller owner-managed businesses, to hospitals and universities. Denise’s client mix also includes international subsidiaries, which have allowed her to gain experience in IFRS.
Denise has been involved with campus recruiting since starting her career at KPMG and has been a Performance Counsellor for the last 9 years.
When not at work, Denise enjoys spending time with friends and family, Pilates, skiing, golfing, and travelling. Some of her more recent vacations include Australia, Italy, France, Spain, Greece, and Florida.
Amanda Kwai Pun, CA
Manager, Audit
Hamilton
akwaipun@kpmg.ca
Amanda joined KPMG in October 2003 shortly after completing her Bachelor of Commerce at McGill University. Amanda started with KPMG as a staff accountant in the audit group and continues to deliver audit services to a broad range of clients as a manager.
During her career at KPMG, Amanda has spent time as the Hamilton/St. Catharine’s office UFE coordinator and has been involved for a number of years in marking the School of Accountancy exam. More recently, Amanda has had the opportunity to work with the National Professional Practice group by assisting with the deployment of the new audit engagement platform.
Outside of Amanda’s KPMG life, she enjoys travelling the world, running and pilates.
Divina Advento
Manager
Hamilton
dadvento@kpmg.ca
Divina Advento first joined KPMG in September 2006 as an intern and returned full-time in 2008 after her Honours Bachelor of Commerce at McMaster University. As an Audit Senior, Divina has worked with many clients in different industry practices, ranging from large manufacturing companies, to publicly accountable entities including utilities. Divina’s client mix involves both Canadian GAAP and IFRS reporting.
Upon successfully completing the 2009 UFE, Divina participates in the Mentor Program to help candidates currently going through the UFE process.
When not at work, Divina enjoys spending time with family and friends as well as traveling. Her favourite places include New York City, Tofino, BC and Barcelona.
Cole Horncastle
Senior Accountant
Hamilton
chorncastle@kpmg.ca
Cole Horncastle joined KPMG in September 2007 after completing his BAcc Honours degree at Brock University. Cole started with KPMG as an Audit Junior and is currently working in several business sectors, including not-for-profits and financial institutions. While at KPMG, Cole has successfully written the 2008 UFE and now spends time helping new candidates complete the UFE process.
Cole is a very active individual, showing interests in baseball, basketball, volleyball, and golf. Travelling is also one of Cole’s hobbies, as he has been known to vacation to several Caribbean destinations during the year.
Maliha Patel
Manager
Hamilton
malihapatel@kpmg.ca
Maliha Patel first joined KPMG as an intern and returned full-time in 2007 after completing her Honours Commerce degree at McMaster University. Maliha is a Senior Accountant in the Audit practice in the Hamilton office. She works on a wide variety of clients ranging from hospitals and universities to profit-oriented private companies and subsidiaries of European public companies.
Maliha has been involved in various recruiting activities since the start of her career and is a Performance Counselor. She has also been the Co-Chair of the United Way Committee in the Hamilton office for the past two years.
When not at work, Maliha enjoys spending time with her friends and family, reading, watching movies and travelling. Some of her most recent vacations include Turkey, Greece, India and U.A.E.
Daryl Sider
Tax Specialist, Enterprise Tax
Daryl first joined KPMG as a summer intern in 2005, 2006 & 2007. During his internships he worked for KPMG Toronto in the Audit, Advisory and Tax practices. After obtaining his Bachelor of Commerce Honours from McMaster University in 2008, Daryl started full time with KPMG Toronto in the Enterprise Audit practice. During this time his client base consisted of private companies and non-profit organization.
In the spring of 2010 Daryl transferred into the KPMG Enterprise Tax practice where he works on tax compliance and tax planning for both personal and corporate clients. Daryl obtained his Chartered Accountancy (CA) designation in 2011. In his personal time Daryl enjoys exercising, wakeboarding and travelling.