Meet The Team
Co-Founder & CEO
Behnam Javanparast
Behnam worked in the Financial Industry for seven and half years. During this time, he assumed various quant and risk management roles in Capital Markets, built and led teams of quant developers, and delivered impactful solutions. Behnam holds a PhD in Condensed Matter Physics from University of Waterloo.
Algorithms researcher
Amir Dehghani
Amir is a Mitacs postdoctoral researcher at the University of Waterloo and yiyaniQ. He recently obtained his PhD in cosmology from the University of Waterloo and the Perimeter Institute. His research focused on early-universe modelling and the statistical properties of gravitational-wave sources. He has since transitioned to research-driven industry roles at the intersection of quantum science, machine learning, and finance.
Co-Founder & CTO
Estelle Inack
Estelle is a Quantum Matter research scientist at the Perimeter Institute, and a former postdoctoral affiliate at the Vector Institute. She works at the intersection of quantum computing and artificial intelligence. Estelle holds a PhD degree in Statistical Physics from ICTP and SISSA.
Our Advisors
Scientific Advisor
Juan Felipe Carrasquilla
Juan is an associate professor at ETH Zürich. His research interests are at the intersection of condensed matter physics, quantum computing, and machine learning.
Business and Strategy Advisor
Harbir Chhina
Harbir is an executive vice president and chief technology officer at Cenovus Energy. With 40 years of experience in the oil industry, Harbir is a strategic business thinker, and a passionate advocate of technology and innovation. He has developed the IP strategy of his company with more than dozen patents in oil sands. Harbir developed the first successful commercial SAGD operation in the world which led to the birth of a $200 billion industry. Harbir's leadership in focusing his company's technology efforts has created great value for Cenovus shareholders. He believes deeply in the value of fundamental research, in funding excellence, and models for collaboration.
Business Advisor
Cameron Schuler
Cameron Schuler is the Chief Commercialization Officer & Vice President, Industry Innovation at the Vector Institute. He has founded numerous start-up companies and he is Chair & Co-founder of PFM Scheduling Services. Cameron spent 8 years in investment sales & trading. He attained an MBA from Queen’s University and completed numerous investment management programs. Cameron is working with yiyaniQ on a volunteer basis.
Financial Industry Advisor
David Goerz
David has more than 33 years of global investment management experience in various investment leadership and portfolio management roles, including as Chief Investment Officer since 2002, for asset managers and asset owners. He managed teams of investment professionals, including portfolio managers, analysts, product management, and traders, as well as chairing asset allocation committees since 1997. David is CEO & Chief Investment Officer of Strategic Frontier Management. He also has served on the Board of Directors and other strategic advisory boards or committees for a variety of companies and organizations in Financial Industry.
Our Alumni
Vajiheh Mahdiyan
Vajiheh holds a Ph.D. in financial and behavioral economics from York University. The main focus of her dissertation was to develop models for out-of-sample forecasting in exchange rate markets. She has studied other topics, such as portfolio construction methods, derivatives, and machine learning techniques.At yiyaniQ, Vajiheh focused on markets and methodologies research.
Mahmoud El Mabrouk
Mahmoud obtained a MSc in Physics from the University of Waterloo. He joined yiyaniQ after collaborating with Estelle at the Perimeter Institute's Quantum Intelligence Lab (PIQUIL), where he worked on benchmarking and designing physics-inspired algorithms using artificial neural networks.
Siddharth (Sid) Selva Mohan
Prior to joining yiyaniQ, Sid managed his own business for four years, digitally transforming his company’s workflow. He holds a MSc in Structural Engineering and a MBA from Rotman School of Business in Finance and Entrepreneurship. At yiyaniQ, Sid conducted experiments and research to validate the launch hypothesis and to gain market insights. He also developed various technology strategies to assess building and launching the product effectively.
Nishan Ranabhat
Nishan was a Mitacs postdoctoral researcher at the University of Waterloo and yiyaniQ. Prior to this, he was a PhD scholar at SISSA and ICTP where he studied the non-equilibrium dynamics and emergence properties of long range spin systems. For his work with yiyaniQ, he was involved in developing quantum intelligent algorithms for portfolio optimization.
Hanna Martins Morilhas
Hanna is currently a Data Scientist in São Paulo, Brazil. She holds a Bachelor of Science in Physics. Hanna joined yiyaniQ as a Research Intern through a partnership with the Perimeter Institute Quantum Intelligence Lab (PIQuIL). She investigated the applications of yiyaniQ's quantum intelligent algorithms in Finance.