OUR TEAM

Reach out to us here if you have any questions for our team or if you would like to request an appointment.

EXPERIENCE

Our team’s diversified backgrounds including fund management, corporate boards and management, industry operations, and investment bank research, enable investment analysis from all angles.

EXPERTISE

Both financial and technical, particularly in respect to energy, provide a critical eye with regard to both opportunity and risk.

RELATIONSHIPS

Our street-level intelligence results from multi-decade executive and technical relationships in the corporate, investment banking and fund management communities.

Palisade Capital’s long-term performance is supported by these advantages which enable thorough investment evaluation and risk management through market cycles.

Investment Team

Investment team

John H. McAleer, P. Eng

Managing Director

john@palisade.ca

John joined Palisade Capital in February 2016, having served as a sub-advising portfolio manager to Palisade since April 2015. John has 33 years of experience in the areas of private and public equity investment management, investment bank research, and oil and gas operations. As a member of the Investment Committee, John is responsible for all areas of Palisade Capital’s business including strategic direction, portfolio management decisions and servicing Palisade Capital’s clients.

Prior to joining Palisade Capital, John was President of Andylan Capital Strategies Ltd., a Calgary-based portfolio manager and investment fund manager. John pursued private equity investments in Canadian energy as co-founder of Livingstone Energy Management, and was a Managing Director of CanFund VE Management II Ltd., a Calgary-based investment manager focused on public energy investments. Earlier, John was a Principal of and Vice-President, Research at FirstEnergy Capital Corp. John began his career performing exploitation engineering at Renaissance Energy Ltd., latterly as Manager, Gas Projects. John has a Bachelor of Applied Science (Mechanical Engineering) from the University of Waterloo (Class Medalist, Faculty Valedictorian) and is registered as a Professional Engineer with APEGA. John was co-founder and Chairman of Calgary-based Altura Energy Inc.

Jennie Hansen_head shot_Nov22_edited.jpg

Jennie L. Hansen, CIM

Client Relationship Manager

jennie@palisade.ca

Jennie joined Palisade Capital in November 2022. She is responsible for client relationship management for the clients that Palisade Capital shares with its strategic partner, The Wealth Council Financial (TWC). Jennie has 17 years of retail financial service experience and 27 years of client service experience.

Jennie started her finance career at a large brokerage firm and left in 2018 to become a founding member of TWC. Jennie holds the designation of Certified Investment Manager, CIM. She is also licensed to provide life and living benefit insurance advice. Jennie holds a Bachelor of English from the University of Calgary.

James R. Anderson, CFA

Managing Director

james@palisade.ca

James joined Palisade Capital in August 2018. He has 25 years of relevant experience in the investment management industry across a wide variety of sectors and strategies, largely focused on absolute return mandates. He has been a co-founder and/or senior equity holder of multiple portfolio management firms. As a member of the Investment Committee, James is responsible for all areas of Palisade Capital’s business including strategic direction, portfolio management decisions and servicing the company’s clients.

Prior to joining Palisade Capital, James was a Director and Portfolio Manager of Rayne Capital Management, an independent money management firm focused on superior risk-return products that grew to $200 million of assets under management. At Rayne, he was the lead manager for a $90 million absolute return mandate that employed various unique strategies to target higher-than-benchmark returns with lower risk. Earlier, James worked for a large family office based in Calgary, employing a similar risk-return strategy. James holds a Bachelor of Commerce (Finance) degree from the University of Calgary. He received the Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) designation in 2003 and is a member of the Calgary CFA Society. James is currently a member of the Board of Directors of YMCA Calgary. James was previously on the Board of Directors of the Calgary Portfolio Management Trust (CPMT) at the Haskayne School of Business at the University of Calgary.

Dan Zhigatov, CFA

Portfolio Manager

dan@palisade.ca

Dan joined Palisade in April 2022. He has eight years of experience across equity research and analysis. Dan is responsible for the analysis and evaluation of investment ideas throughout a variety of sectors and geographies.

Dan holds combined Bachelor of Commerce (Finance) and Bachelor of Arts (Economics) degrees from the University of Calgary, attaining both with distinction. Prior to joining Palisade, Dan was a Senior Associate at Enverus, a SaaS provider of energy data and analytics. His role was to cover the global oil and gas sector focusing on offshore growth regions along with developing valuation and analytics products for the conventional offshore industry.

Operations and Admin

Operations and Administration

Denise D. MacINNES

Corporate Secretary & Director

denise@palisade.ca

Denise co-founded Palisade Capital with Matt Aufricht in 1998. Denise has 27 years of fund management operations experience at both Palisade Capital and First Marathon Securities, where she held several positions including Assistant Branch Manager for the Calgary office. At Palisade Capital, Denise is responsible for office management, fund financials and tax accounting as well as office human resources.

Denise holds a Bachelor of Science (Biochemistry) from the University of Calgary and has completed the Canadian Securities Course, the Branch Managers Exam and the Professional Financial Planning Course.

Jamie L. Duguay

Wealth Management Associate

jamie@palisade.ca

Jamie joined Palisade Capital in May 2023. She works alongside our team of portfolio managers and the financial and tax planners of our strategic partner, The Wealth Council Financial, to ensure high quality service delivery to our clients from onboarding to financial and tax planning, through to portfolio transition and ongoing account maintenance.

Jamie holds a Bachelor of Business Administration with a concentration in financial services from Mount Royal University. Prior to joining Palisade, Jamie worked for a boutique financial planning firm as a Planning Coordinator, focused on the creation and presentation of financial plans for client families. Prior to this, she was a Portfolio Assistant and Client Service Administrator on the private wealth team of a large investment management firm where she provided a high level of client service including the onboarding of new clients.

Marni A. Friesen

Administrator

marni@palisade.ca

Marni joined Palisade Capital in 2006. Marni has 23 years of administration experience having worked with a private Calgary-based investment management company for six years prior to joining Palisade Capital. Marni shares responsibility for managing Palisade Capital’s day-to-day operations including financial reporting, client communications, and other administrative functions. Marni holds a Bachelor of Commerce from the University of Manitoba.

Jennifer M. Blyth

Wealth Management Administrative Assistant

jennifer@palisade.ca

Jenn joined Palisade Capital in May 2025. She is responsible for the professional execution of the administrative elements of Palisade’s Wealth Management practice, including client account openings, security transfers and compliance documentation. She works closely with Palisade’s portfolio managers and enjoys interacting with Palisade’s clients in the timely and efficient response to their requests.

Jenn has 23 years of wealth experience, having worked as a Licensed Associate at one of Canada’s biggest banks, where she spent several years of her career. Fifteen years of her experience was in the role of a Portfolio Administrator in a private investment firm. Jenn has spent her career servicing both retail and institutional clientele alike. Jenn is also a multiple award-winning author of fiction for children and teens.

Business Development

Blair N. McDermid, MBA

Director of Business Development

blair@palisade.ca

Blair joined Palisade Capital in August 2023 to lead all aspects of business development for the firm. He has over 22 years’ experience in the commodity and financial markets, first as a natural gas broker at Natsource-Tullet, then as VP Energy North America at NGX, an exchange and clearinghouse subsidiary of the TMX Group, owner of the Toronto Stock Exchange. Blair led the Canadian and US Natural Gas and Electricity desks, as well as Shorcan Energy Brokers, a leading physical oil brokerage for Canadian physical oil.

Blair’s experience includes many aspects of Canadian financial markets, including exchanges, regulatory structures, auctions, and clearing in the Natural Gas, Power, and Crude oil markets. He obtained substantial experience in the areas of business development and client management as a member of the leadership teams driving the successful growth of the aforementioned firms. Blair is a graduate of the Executive MBA program at the Haskayne School of Business, and was a member of the Canadian Men’s National Volleyball Team.

Consultants

Consultant

Andrew V. Boland

Independent Businessman

Advisory Board

Palisade Capital’s diverse and experienced Advisory Board consists of successful entrepreneurs, investors and community leaders who provide the Palisade management team with broad strategic direction advice, capital markets intelligence and a client perspective.

Donald Archibald

President of Cypress Energy Corp. (private investment company)
Involved in the formation of numerous successful companies and has served in an executive
and Director capacity for many private, public, and non-profit entities

M. Elizabeth Cannon

President Emerita of the
University of Calgary
(2010-2018)
Officer of the Order Of Canada, Alberta Order Of Excellence, Canada’s Top 100 Most Powerful Women
Led research into
commercialization of GPS

Jeffrey Hotchkiss

Founder and President of Augusta Developments Ltd.
Director of The Hotchkiss Family Foundation, which supports the Hotchkiss Brain Institute and
other important community initiatives

Gregory Fletcher

Founder and President of Sierra Energy Inc.
Has served as Director for multiple public companies including Whitecap Resources
Inc., Peyto Exploration &
Development Corp and Calfrac Well Services Ltd.

Martin Molyneaux

President and CIO of Molyneaux Asset Management
Venture capitalist and board member of numerous for profit
and non-profit entities
A leading Canadian energy research analyst, early member of FirstEnergy Capital Corp.

Kevin Hewitt