STAFF AND BIOS
Leadership Team
Michael T. Owen
CEO
Mike oversees all operations of the firm and developed our consolidated service model. Mike has over 35 years of experience in the industry and previously held an Executive Vice President position at a major consulting firm. There he noticed ongoing service limitations and identified an opportunity to create his own service-driven firm. Mike’s focuses are key account management, business partner, and vendor relationship management.
Steven Owen
President
Steven oversees operations management and systems. Steven manages all departments of the business and is actively involved with many major clients. Steven is a CPA who previously articled at KPMG and his financial reporting and process-driven background adds tremendous value and results to clients.
Ali Gulamhusein
Director of Marketing & Renewals
Ali oversees the Marketing & Renewals Team at Owen & Associates. He joined the firm in 2021 having nearly two decades of experience in the financial services industry with various multi-national MGAs, consulting firms, and providers. Ali’s analytical expertise, combined with a “client-first” approach and process-driven skill set ensures exemplary service standards for our valued clients.
Ali holds an Honours B.A. from the University of Toronto specializing in Economics and International Relations. He is fully Life and A&S licensed and is currently pursuing his GBA designation.
Alexandria Quirouette
Director of Third Party Administration
As Team Lead for the Administration Division, Alexandria Quirouette oversees the Benefits Specialists responsible for all employee support. Alex is responsible for ensuring we are delivering outstanding client service experiences while maintaining a high-performing team of dedicated O&A benefit specialists. Alex completed her studies in Psychology at the University of Western Ontario & went on to complete her Life License, Mutual Fund License & Group Benefits Associate Designation through Dalhousie University. With over 12 years of experience in Benefit & Retirement Plan consulting & HR, Alex holds employee & employer experience primary in her development of O&A Administration processes.
Céline Blakely
Accounting and HR Manager
Céline is the Accounting Manager for Owen & Associates and started in August 2020. She brings over 18 years of experience in Accounting and Human Resources having worked in various industries. Céline is passionate about and dedicated to her work and cares a great deal about the O&A Team. Céline enjoys spending time with family and friends ATV’ing, hunting, and camping in her spare time and has a fondness for True Crime.
Marketing and Renewals Team
Kaycie Sjodin
Senior Benefit & Retirement Analyst
Kaycie joined the O&A team in April 2020 as a member of the Marketing and Renewals department. Coming from an account management background in the energy procurement industry, Kaycie brings 5+ years of customer service experience to her role as a Sr. Benefits & Retirement Analyst. Among her passions for a good excel formula, customer satisfaction, and solution-oriented thinking, you can also find her hanging upside on the aerial silks, cooking up a storm in the kitchen, and hiking through the trails on her 25 acres with her miniature Goldendoodle.
Evelyn Cribari
Senior Benefit & Retirement Analyst
Evelyn joined Owen & Associates in May 2022 as a Senior Benefits & Retirement Analyst. She brings more than 20+ years of Group Benefits and Retirement experience. Evelyn earned a CEB designation through Humber College in 2002 and went on to attain the CEBS designation in 2010 through Dalhousie University.
Originally from Sudbury, after graduating from college she moved to Toronto for approximately 13 years where Evelyn met her spouse and had a family. In 2008, Evelyn and her spouse decided to move to Sudbury to raise their children and be closer to family.
Evelyn enjoys cooking for crowds of people, organizing fundraising events for her children’s schools, hockey team, and dance studio. In her downtime she can be found taking a walk, reading a book, or just hanging out with her family.
Kari Suosalo
Senior Benefits & Retirement Analyst
Kari has been with Owen & Associates since January 2019 with a background in account management and customer service. As a Senior Benefits & Retirement Analyst, Kari focuses on managing customer experience and success to maintain client relationships. Through critical thinking, data analysis, time management, and keen attention to detail, Kari excels at providing clients a positive experience working with O&A. While not at work, you can find Kari on the hiking trails with her Golden Retriever or with her eyes glued to a True Crime documentary.
Robyn Montie
Benefits & Retirement Analyst
Robyn has been with Owen & Associates as a Benefits and Retirement Analyst since January of 2020 managing clients and their group benefit and retirement plans. Prior to joining the O&A team, Robyn specialized as an event coordinator organizing large-scale events both across Canada and the U.S. Her organizational abilities, time management and attention to detail coupled with her customer service skills make her the perfect fit for O&A and our clients.
Robyn was born in Vancouver and raised in the sunny Okanagan Valley in Beautiful British Columbia. Robyn graduated from Okanagan College and went on to live and work in Vancouver where she met her partner, Matthew. They relocated to Collingwood, Ontario in the spring of 2019 and since then, welcomed their dog Jax into the family and purchased their first home.
Aside from being highly organized and a genuine people person, Robyn thinks outside the box, loves travelling and hiking the beautiful trails Ontario has to offer!
Jay Sharkey
Bio coming soon.
Third Party Administrators
Rachelle Barker
Benefits Specialist
Rachelle is a Benefits Specialist with Owen & Associates, providing excellent customer service and employee experiences for over the past 2 years by going above and beyond for her clients. Rachelle has been in the customer service industry for over 15 years by bringing value and experience to her clients with her employee-first approach.
Carrie Fretz
Benefits Specialist
Carrie is a Benefits Specialist with O&A and has been with the company since early 2019. Carrie remains busy, studying for her full CEBS designation, enjoying reading all genres of books, and listening to interesting podcasts. If you are lucky to be in a call with her, her Cat Misses JoJo, will often like to make an appearance to brighten everyone's day!
Melissa Gargaro
Benefits Specialist
Melissa is part of the Benefits Specialist Team at Owen & Associates. In this role, Melissa administers and manages the corporate company’s employee group benefits and retirement programs. Her person-centered approach and excellent customer care are what her clients value most about her. When she isn’t going for long hikes, playing sports, or broadening her knowledge in fitness and nutrition, you will find her working towards striving to meet her client’s needs in any way possible as a happy client is always the ultimate goal.
Kelly Hopkins
Senior Benefits Specialist
Kelly was born and raised in Collingwood which is a Travel and Tourism town. She left Collingwood to pursue other dreams as a young adult but came back to raise her family in this amazing town. Growing up in a tourism town lead Kelly to obtain a diploma in Hotel, Resort, and Restaurant Administration, but after a decade working in the Travel industry, she decided to make the move into group benefits and began her carrier at O&A as a Benefits Specialist in 2016.
Kelly is one of the Senior Benefits Specialists on the O&A team and her strong customer service and communication skills, attention to overall passion for whatever she chooses to do makes her a perfect fit for our clients and their employees. There are no questions to big, small or obscure that Kelly is not willing to go the extra mile for to assist employees or her clients.
Kelly enjoys the tropics; a day on a catamaran and snorkeling is her happy place. When back in Ontario she enjoys camping, snorkeling in her pool (to pretend she is in the tropics), rocking out to music (mostly Top 40 stuff, but is a declared Hanson fan), and most of all spending time with family.
Victoria Knodel
Senior Benefits Specialist
Victoria is one of O&A’s senior employees, with 7+ years of experience in the industry at Owen & Associates. She leads the firm’s large groups on the administration side - her role consists of overseeing and training her team in addition to conducting employee education sessions and managing the day-to-day responsibilities of her accounts. Victoria also leads our Social Committee - planning quarterly staff appreciation events and company functions throughout the year.
She enjoys the team collaboration, dynamic of a fast-paced environment; and strives to provide excellent customer service for her client and their employees.
She is currently in process of obtaining her CEBS designation.
In Victoria’s spare time, she enjoys yoga, meditation, learning new baking recipes and trail rides with her dog Matsu.
Chantal Masselin
Benefits Specialist
Chantal has been with Owen & Associates since early 2021 as a Benefits Specialist working with clients to assist them with their Group Benefit and Retirement Plans. With a background in Customer Service and Hospitality, she has many years of experience helping her parents with their family-run business.
Born and raised in the Collingwood area, Chantal loves to spend her time with family and friends, hiking, and spends lots of time with her horses and dogs. At a young age, Chantal competed competitively in the equestrian world, travelling around Canada and the USA.
Ritu Muker
Benefits Specialist
Ritu is a Benefits Specialist at Owen & Associates, and works alongside the administration team; primarily focused on large groups and auditing.
Ritu is currently studying her CEBS, aiming to achieve her GBA. Ritu is hardworking and continues to show passion in learning while providing excellent organization and teamwork skills.
Her hobbies are scrapbooking, baking, and planning/coordinating events. She also enjoys spending time with her family and friends.
She is excited to be a part of the O&A team and is looking forward to experiencing new goals and challenges.
Katrina Patterson
Benefits Specialist
Katrina is a Benefits Specialist on the Owen & Associates Administrative team. With over 10+ years of experience within the customer service industry, Katrina strives to provide exceptional customer service & knowledge to all clients & their employees. This is shown in Katrina’s approach in educating both employers & employees on their employer-sponsored group benefits and retirement plans. When Katrina is not working, she enjoys spending time with family & friends on Georgian Bay during the summer & skiing on the hills of Blue Mountain during the winter.
Stacie Rose
Benefits Specialist
Stacie is currently a Benefits Specialist at Owen & Associates. Her first exposure to administrating group benefits was in her career as a Kinesiologist. It has always been a priority for her to work in a career that represents her passion for helping others in an honest and dedicated way. She has found that at Owen & Associates.
Providing customer service and effective communication with clients and their employees is what she enjoys most. She excels with her attention to detail in a high-volume work environment, while appreciating the productive team dynamic.
She is currently obtaining her CEBS designation and looks forward to learning as much as possible in the industry to better serve her clients.
When not at work, Stacie is usually on an outdoor adventure with her family.
Lindsay Swidersky
Benefits Specialist
Lindsay is a Benefits Specialist at Owen & Associates working in both large and small group administration.
Lindsay has been with Owen & Associates for over 2 years and is working on achieving her GBA.
Lindsay’s hobbies are swimming and reading and she loves spending time with her family and friends.
She loves being part of the O&A team and is focused on ensuring the best client experience possible.
Maryse Wood
Auditor
Maryse joined the O&A Team in 2021 as our In-House Auditor. Her focus is to ensure that we meet and exceed the quality standards of our industry guaranteeing the accuracy of our work to continuously offer the cutting-edge, expert service we are known for! Maryse offers over 20 years of customer service experience, account management, inside sales, and quality control for companies she’s worked at in the past. She spent the last ten years prior to Covid as the owner and operator of a successful Boutique style Personal Training Studio that offered a range of classes and programs lead by her and her team of awesome trainers. All this experience in various roles helps in her current role immensely.
In her time away from work Maryse enjoys all things nature and fitness-related, spending time with her family and close friends, and has a big passion for creating healthy meals.
Maryse looks forward to learning and growing in this industry and getting to know all our clients much better to create meaningful connections in the following years to come.
