Catherine Barbaro
Independent Trustee
Catherine serves as a Trustee of MSSF and is the former Senior Managing Director, Strategic Development and Management of Alternative Investment Funds for Manulife Private Markets. Ms. Barbaro established Manulife’s private real estate funds business in 2011 and subsequently, through various senior roles at Manulife, was instrumental in expanding Manulife’s products and asset management platform globally to also include private equity, private credit, and infrastructure. Catherine’s career in executing business strategies for public and private companies spans over 25 years. She is a graduate of York University and holds a law degree from the University of Windsor. Ms. Barbaro is also a former director of CAPREIT and The Power Plant.
Diverse in thought and experience
A dynamic, entrepreneurial team of over 100 professionals, who excel at identifying and navigating unique investment opportunities.
When you partner with Forum Make Space, you’re working with high-performing investors, asset managers, developers, as well as finance and administrative professionals who are committed to making a positive impact.
Leadership
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Chris Dragan CFO of Forum Make Space
Chris Dragan
CFO of Forum Make Space
Chris is the Chief Financial Officer of Forum Make Space
Chris serves as the Chief Financial Officer of Forum Make Space and is responsible for the overall financial management of the firm, including financial strategy, planning, and reporting. Before joining Forum Make Space, Chris held CFO positions for companies engaged in real estate investment and development, consumer goods distribution, and e-commerce. He has also owned two companies in the flooring retail an distribution businesses. He sold his interest to his business partners in 2019.
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Danny Freedman Owner, Vice-President of Corporate Development of Forum Make Space & Chairman of the Board & MSSF Trustee
Danny Freedman
Owner, Vice-President of Corporate Development of Forum Make Space & Chairman of the Board & MSSF Trustee
Danny is a Trustee of MSSF and an Owner of Forum Make Space
Danny joined Vaughan in his vision to grow a self-storage and containerized storage business between 2015 and 2016 and has focused on business development, particularly in relation to growing the mobile fleets and executing Forum Make Space's container sales growth and self-storage acquisition strategy. In addition to being a co-owner of Forum Make Space, Danny also serves as its Vice President of Business Development, leveraging 10 years of prior experience as the Vice President of Global Business Development at Globex Foreign Exchange Corporation.
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Vaughan Kooyman Founder & Head of Acquisitions of Forum Make Space
Vaughan Kooyman
Founder & Head of Acquisitions of Forum Make Space
Vaughan is an Owner of Forum Make Space’s and is responsible for all storage-related acquisitions and development.
Vaughan is the Founder of Forum Make Space and serves as Head of Acquisitions. Vaughan has been actively involved in developing and managing self-storage, portable storage, and container leasing and sales businesses for over 15 years. Vaughan has the unique ability to bring together individuals who share his values of integrity and a strong work ethic and align them to a common vision.
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Terry Thomas CEO of Forum Make Space
Terry Thomas
CEO of Forum Make Space
Terry is the Chief Executive Officer of Forum Make Space and oversees the Firm’s strategy direction and investment decisions.
Terry joined Forum Make Space as Chief Executive Officer in January of 2018, bringing nearly 20 years of executive experience at some of Canada's leading companies. Prior to joining Forum Make Space, Terry served in several leadership positions with Brinks, Coca Cola, Hudson's Bay and First Credit Union. His emphasis has been on real estate acquisitions, development, and supply chain management.
MSSF Board of Trustees
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Catherine Barbaro
Independent Trustee
Catherine Barbaro
Independent Trustee
Catherine serves as a Trustee of MSSF and is the former Senior Managing Director, Strategic Development and Management of Alternative Investment Funds for Manulife Private Markets. Ms. Barbaro established Manulife’s private real estate funds business in 2011 and subsequently, through various senior roles at Manulife, was instrumental in expanding Manulife’s products and asset management platform globally to also include private equity, private credit, and infrastructure. Catherine’s career in executing business strategies for public and private companies spans over 25 years. She is a graduate of York University and holds a law degree from the University of Windsor. Ms. Barbaro is also a former director of CAPREIT and The Power Plant.
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Alex Rothwell
Independent Trustee
Alex Rothwell
Independent Trustee
Alex has more than 25 years of experience as a business leader and as a senior executive in Canadian capital markets and investment banking.
Alex has advised public and private companies on their growth & acquisition strategies and associated funding requirements throughout his career, and has raised several billion dollars of capital for them in structures ranging from early-stage investment rounds to large IPOs and follow-on offerings. More recently, Alex has been an active angel investor and a strategic advisor, board member and CFO to BC-based growth companies, and has added many VCs and family offices to his long-standing network of hedge funds, mutual funds and pension funds. Alex holds a Bachelor of Chemical Engineering from McGill University (1991) and an MBA from the Ivey School of Business (1995).
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Reid Carter
Independent Trustee
Reid Carter
Independent Trustee
Reid serves as a Trustee of MSSF. As a former Managing Partner at Brookfield Asset Management, Reid led Brookfield's timberlands portfolio growing the business from a modest operation of 310,000 acres under management to one of the largest timberland estates globally, with approximately 3.7 million acres under management in the United States, Canada and Brazil. He was President and Chief Executive Officer of Acadian Timber Corp from 2006-2015 and is a director of Enercare Inc., SemiosBio Technologies Inc. and West Fraser Timber Co. Ltd.
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Aly Damji
Managing Partner, Real Estate of Forum, REIIF Trustee Member & Fund Head & MSSF Trustee
Aly Damji
Managing Partner, Real Estate of Forum, REIIF Trustee Member & Fund Head & MSSF Trustee
Aly leads the Real Estate business at Forum.
Aly is focused on originations and overseeing real estate investments. He leverages his exposure to a broad range of asset classes as an urban developer, institutional asset manager and operator of value add/opportunistic investments, to drive growth for Forum and its partners. Aly has transacted and managed on behalf of several institutional, UHNW investors, and believes transparency leads to the sustainability of partnerships. Prior to joining Forum, Aly was EVP, Investments & Asset Management for Hullmark, a private urban real estate investor/developer in Downtown Toronto. Aly co-led direct acquisitions and led the firm’s asset management and operations functions. In his 7 years at Hullmark, Aly drove significant growth for the company, helping to increase AUM 15x to just under $1B, and co-led the development of partnerships with large scale institutional partners including a REIT, a Toronto-based university and one of Canada’s largest life insurance companies. Over the course of his tenure, Hullmark won several awards of excellence for various projects including two Toronto Urban Design Awards, an Architectural Journal (international) award as well as two NAIOP REX Awards for “Investment Deal of the Year” and “Mixed-Use Development of the Year”. Prior to Hullmark, Aly spent over 5 years with Westmont Hospitality Group in Toronto, most recently as a Director, Investments. In this role, he was involved with various acquisitions across North America and the asset management of several trophy hotel assets in major markets including Washington DC, Toronto, Montreal, Vancouver, and Seattle. Over the course of his career, Aly has been involved with principal investments valued at more than $4 billion, arranged debt financings of more than $500 million, and secured over 300 leases resulting in NOI of $40 million.
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Danny Freedman
Owner, Vice-President of Corporate Development of Forum Make Space & Chairman of the Board & MSSF Trustee
Danny Freedman
Owner, Vice-President of Corporate Development of Forum Make Space & Chairman of the Board & MSSF Trustee
Danny is a Trustee of MSSF and an Owner of Forum Make Space.
Danny joined Vaughan in his vision to grow a self-storage and containerized storage business between 2015 and 2016 and has focused on business development, particularly in relation to growing the mobile fleets and executing Forum Make Space's container sales growth and self-storage acquisition strategy. In addition to being a co-owner of Forum Make Space, Danny also serves as its Vice President of Business Development, leveraging 10 years of prior experience as the Vice President of Global Business Development at Globex Foreign Exchange Corporation.
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John R. Morrison
Independent Trustee
John R. Morrison
Independent Trustee
Past Vice Chair and former President and Chief Executive Officer of Choice Properties Real Estate Investment Trust. Formerly was President and Chief Executive Officer of Primaris REIT. Previous President, Real Estate Management at Oxford Properties Group. Active member of the International Council of Shopping Centres (“ICSC”) and currently serves as chair of the Executive Board.