Trustees
Avtar Bains
Mr. Bains is both the founder and President of Vancouver’s Premise Properties, a privately held owner and developer of multi-residential, office, retail and industrial property across select North American centres.
Mr. Bains spent more than 30 years as a leading property broker with Colliers International, leaving the firm in 2011 as Executive Vice-President. He maintains strong relationships in local, national and international property markets, is involved in several charitable organizations, and is a speaker at industry events sponsored by the Urban Development Institute, NAIOP, the Vancouver and Toronto Real Estate Forums and the University of British Columbia, among others. Mr. Bains is also a board member of Morguard, North American Residential REIT, the Peterson Group and UBC Properties Trust.
Anne Fitzgerald
Until 2022, Ms. Fitzgerald was Chief Legal Officer & Corporate Secretary at Cineplex Inc. where she was employed for 17 years. Ms. Fitzgerald was a key member of the senior executive team at Cineplex Inc. during a period of transformation, directing approximately $1 billion in commercial acquisitions, multiple public offerings of equity and debt securities, the conversion from an income trust to a corporation, and the unconsummated merger and resulting successful litigation with Cineworld.
Ms. Fitzgerald currently serves on the Board of Directors for each of NOVA Cannabis Inc. and LifeSpeak Inc. She also volunteers her time as the Chair of Board of Outward Bound Canada. She received a Juris Doctorate and Bachelor of Arts in Public Policy Studies from Duke University, attended the Leadership Studies program at Harvard University, and holds the ICD.D designation.
Louis Forbes
Serving as trustee and chair of the audit committee of the board of trustees of Flagship Communities REIT, Mr. Forbes was trustee and chair of the audit committee of the board of trustees of Automotive Properties REIT from 2017–2022.
He was formerly the Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer of CT Real Estate Investment Trust, serving from the inception of CT REIT in 2013 until 2018. Between 2003 and 2013, he was the Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer of Primaris Retail Real Estate Investment Trust. Prior to serving in that role, Mr. Forbes was Vice President, Director, and Senior Canadian Real Estate Equities Analyst of Merrill Lynch Canada. He also served as Vice President Finance and Chief Financial Officer of Revenue Properties Company Limited.
Tim Pire
Mr. Pire, Chair of the Board, has been a lecturer at the University of Wisconsin Madison since 2016. Prior to that, he spent 25 years as Managing Director and Portfolio Manager for Heitman’s public real estate securities group and was an equity owner of the firm. He received a Master of Science-Business in real estate and a Bachelor of Business Administration from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, each with an emphasis in Finance, and earned his CFA in 1995.
Mr. Pire is on the Real Estate Board of Advisors for the Applied Real Estate Investment Track at the University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Business and is a member of NAREIT and PREA. He is a member and Governance Fellow of the National Association of Corporate Directors; a member of Graaskamp Center Board at University of Wisconsin and the Institute of Corporate Directors.
Alex Avery
Mr. Avery brings multiple decades of real estate and capital markets experience. He served on the board of trustees of H&R REIT from 2017 through 2021, and as Executive Vice President, Asset Management & Strategic Initiatives from 2020 through the spin-off of Primaris REIT in 2021 where he also served on the board of trustees until 2023. Previous roles include portfolio management of real estate securities with FrontFour Capital, 12+ years as a sell-side equity analyst at CIBC Capital Markets, and transaction and advisory roles with Altus Group.
Deborah Weinswig
Ms. Weinswig is the CEO and Founder of Coresight Research since its inception in 2018. From 2014 to early 2018, Ms. Weinswig served as Managing Director of Fung Global Retail and Technology, the think tank of The Fung Group. Previously, she was Managing Director and Head of the Global Staples & Consumer Discretionary team at Citi Research. She serves on boards of directors for AAFA (American Apparel and Footwear Association), CHW Acquisition Corp, Goodwill Industries New York/New Jersey, GUESS?, Inc., Kiabi, Street Soccer USA, Xcel Brands, Inc. and Retailers United.
Ms. Weinswig is a Certified Public Accountant and holds an MBA from the University of Chicago. She is on the CRC Blue Council of ULI and the North American Research Group for ICSC, and a member of YPO. She also advises global accelerators and startups.