Our Team

At Milne Advisory Group, we build a personal relationship with every client. Your needs are unique and we want you to feel seen and understood. It’s a hands-on approach, but one that each member of the team values. We want your interactions to be consistent – whether you’re leveraging our skills or drawing support from Richardson Wealth’s in-house team of tax and estate planning experts.

Below, you can learn a little bit more about who we are.

Kelly Milne CIM®, PFP, B.Comm
Portfolio Manager, Investment Advisor
Tel: 613.788.8034

As a discretionary portfolio manager and investment advisor, Kelly brings empathy and experience to every interaction. From the beginning, she was drawn to empowering and educating her clients by taking the time to understand what drives them, what concerns them and what makes them happy. To the clients she’s worked with over the past 25 years, she’s more than an advisor, she’s a part of their family’s story, guiding them through life’s milestones and helping weather the unexpected.

In addition to her B.Comm, Kelly is a Chartered Investment Manager (CIM®), has her Professional Financial Planner (PFP) designation and will be pursuing her Chartered Financial Divorce Specialist (CFDS) designation. Joining Richardson Wealth in 2012, Kelly was attracted by the firm’s independence and freedom to make unbiased investment decisions that are in the best interest of her clients.

Kelly volunteers her time at two local animal shelters, fostering cats who are not yet ready for adoption. Kelly and her husband Trevor live an active healthy lifestyle – training at their CrossFit gym, cold plunging, and discovering new hiking trails. They adore spending time with their adult children Will and Ryan, bonding over their shared passion for fitness, sports, and more. 

Favourite podcast: The Huberman Lab
Favourite sports teams: Toronto Blue Jays & San Fransisco 49ers
Favourite artists: Billy Joel & Elton John

Sasha Peloso B.B.A.
Associate
Tel: 613.788.8035

As an associate, Sasha works closely alongside Kelly. She plays a vital role in the client experience, whether that’s tackling administrative elements like opening accounts and preparing client reviews or more relationship-based tasks like finding the perfect gift to celebrate a client’s special birthday to go above and beyond with clients.

Sasha joined Kelly in early 2021 after graduating from Trent University with a Bachelor of Business Administration. Sasha is licensed as an investment representative and is interested in personal and professional growth within wealth management to enhance her abilities and contribute more to client services and experience.

Sasha loves spending time with family and friends – whether outside, playing ringette, or getting lost in great conversations around the dinner table. She is looking forward to travelling more and experiencing as many cultures as possible.

Favourite cuisine: Thai
Favourite sport: Ringette
Favourite achievement: Recently completed first Spartan race 

Samir Bahtovic
Associate Investment Advisor
Tel: 613.788.8030

Samir Bahtovic has been a dedicated professional in the financial services industry since 2002, shortly after moving to Canada from the United States where he studied Business Finance at Northeastern State University in Oklahoma. He has been a Personal Financial Planner (PFP) since 2015 and is currently advancing his expertise by pursuing the Chartered Investment Manager (CIM) designation.

Over the course of two decades, Samir honed his skills at two major Canadian banks, assisting clients with a wide range of financial needs, including investment strategies, retirement planning, education savings, estate planning, cash flow optimization, and debt management.

Samir is passionate about helping clients identify their financial priorities and ensuring they are well-positioned to achieve their goals. He takes pride in developing and executing personalized, goal-oriented plans tailored to each client’s unique circumstances and aspirations.

Outside of work, Samir enjoys spending quality time with his wife and two daughters. A lifelong animal lover, he has a special fondness for dogs. Samir is also deeply passionate about basketball, having played competitively for ten years across the United States and Europe before making Canada his home.

Favorite Book: Sidarta by Hermann Hesse
Favorite Cuisine: Mediterranean 
Favorite Sports Team: Denver Nuggets

 

Extended Team

Ryan Knipfel CPA, CA, CFP®

Senior Financial Planner

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Located in our Toronto office, Ryan works with Investment Advisors providing planning, analysis and solutions to their high net worth clients. Ryan’s technical expertise and broad experience creating wealth plans for high net worth clients enables him to prepare and present clear and concise analysis of a client’s financial situation. This includes addressing any of their concerns, and suggesting ways they may improve their overall financial health.

Ryan has over 10 years of experience as a senior financial planner with specialized skills in the areas of financial and retirement planning, tax minimization, estate planning and accounting. Prior to specializing in financial planning, he spent 14 years at two large accounting firms as a Chartered Professional Accountant (CPA). He gained extensive experience in providing professional services to individuals and their owner-managed entities including advising on the Canadian income tax consequences of corporate mergers and reorganizations.

Ryan is a Certified Financial Planner (CFP®). He completed his Honours Bachelor of Business Administration at Wilfrid Laurier University in Waterloo, Ontario. Ryan has completed as well as tutored the Canadian Institute of Chartered Accountants’ In-Depth Tax Course.
Brett Burke CFP®, CIM, TEP

Senior Financial Planner

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Based in the Toronto office, Brett works with Investment Advisors to counsel high net worth families, executives and entrepreneurs on Wealth Planning solutions; helping to articulate their wealth aspirations at any stage. He provides support to his Richardson Wealth colleagues as part of our integrated wealth planning team.

Drawing on extensive financial services expertise and a passion for planning, Brett helps clients express and understand their unique objectives for the wealth they have accumulated. Employing a consistent, conservative value-add approach, Brett takes the time to truly understand what goals our clients want to achieve and creates an innovative and tailored solution for every client and their family.

Brett has 20 years’ experience as Financial Planner and has worked at several major investment management firms. Prior to joining the financial services industry, Brett was in the Canadian military, retiring in 2000, after a rewarding and successful career of 20 years serving in Canada and abroad.

Brett is a Certified Financial Planner (CFP®) and is a member of the Society of Tax and Estate Practitioners (STEP). He also holds the designation of Chartered Investment Manager (CIM) and has completed the Canadian Securities Course CSC), the Conduct and Practices Handbook (CPH) and the Life License Qualification Program (LLQP).
Sylvia Azoulay TEP

Vice President, Tax & Estate Planning

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Sylvia works closely with Investment Advisors and their clients to explore and identify issues that address clients’ overall wealth planning needs. She helps clients formulate objectives, understand issues and strategies and facilitates implementation of their goals. Sylvia understands the sensitive issues relating to family dynamics and wealth transfer.

Sylvia is an estate planning lawyer with many years of experience. Prior to joining Richardson Wealth, she was a principal in her own strategic wealth planning firm and also spent many years in the financial industry dealing with wealth planning solutions for high net worth clients.

Sylvia has been an instructor at Humber College School of Business and at the Bar Admission course at the Law Society of Upper Canada. She is a member of the Society of Trust and Estate Practitioners and the Estate Planning Council of Toronto. She is a seasoned presenter on topics of importance to high net worth families.
Sean Hsu CPA (U.S.), MTax, TEP

Vice President, Tax

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Sean collaborates with advisory teams and their clients to develop wealth planning strategies and to deliver integrated solutions addressing their unique needs.

Sean is an accountant with experience in Canadian and U.S. tax planning for high-net-worth individuals, with a focus on integrated cross-border wealth, estate, and trust matters. Before joining Richardson Wealth, Sean was at a multi-national accounting firm practicing in the private client group.

Sean participates in the development of thought leadership content delivered by our Tax & Estate Planning team. He has appeared in The Globe and Mail and has authored and contributed to several articles for BorderCrossings, a Thomson Reuters publication with insightful commentary on crossborder issues faced by Canadians and U.S. citizens. He is also a facilitator in the Chartered Professional Accountants of Canada’s In-Depth Tax Program.

Sean is a U.S. Certified Public Accountant, a member of the Society of Trust and Estate Practitioners, and holds a Master of Taxation from the University of Waterloo.