Helen Cao
Helen Cao
CFA (Chartered Financial Analyst)
Background
Helen came to Winnipeg on Canada Day 1990. She finished her second Master in Computer Science degree from University of Saskatchewan April 1994. Helen started her financial industry career in January 1995 as an Interest Rate Derivatives Trading System Analyst for CIBC Wood Gundy. During her tenor in CIBC from 1995 to early 2006, she has played leading roles in numerous areas such as system analysis, business analysis, project management, and application interface management. Helen earned her Chartered Financial Analyst designation in September 2005.
Work Experience
In early 2006, she moved to RBC World Markets. As one of the only two women in the World Markets IT Canada senior management team, Helen’s portfolios included Fixed Income Trading Floor support, Bond Trading system development, Money Market trading system development, Fixed Income E-Trading system, and building business knowledge base for all RBC Capital Markets development personals. She has earned several Start Performance Award and Employee Excellence Award.
Early 2011, Helen left RBC World Markets and founded her own financial consulting company providing business analysis for various banks. The financial projects that she has worked on included Repo Trading System, collateral management system, Swap Execution Facilities, Central Clearing for Interest Rate and Credit Derivatives products, Real Time Risk for IR Derivatives products, IR Derivatives trading risks, and Regulatory and Compliance Reporting for US, Canada, and Europe. In all these projects, she has served as the lead business consultant. Starting early 2015, Helen has shifted her focus from business analytics to securities trading, including stocks, options, and futures.
Personal Life
Helen is also a successful mother. Her son received a PhD in computational biology from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in June 2017 with the highest honor and entered Columbia University as a postdoc.
At the same time as being offered a full scholarship by MIT, he also received full scholarship admission from Harvard University, Stanford University, Cambridge University, and the University of Toronto. After graduating from McGill University, her daughter entered the Schulick School of Law at Dalhousie University in Canada with 99% LSAT score. She not only won the first prize in multiple subjects, but also won the first prize in the overall class. She was also a 6-years number one female Rubik’s Cube player record holder. Helen has also dedicated her energy helping others. She is invited to many Parenting related seminars and conferences as keynote speaker and lecturer. She helped lot of international students with their academic and career planning and development.
Award and Certification
Beside of her work, she is heavily involved in the community work. She is currently serving as Vice President of CPAC (Chinese Professional Association of Canada), Secretary General of CPAC Foundation, Chair of EMAC (Education and Multi-Culture Alliance of Canada), Vice President of CNIW (Centre for New Immigrant Well-Being), Secretary General of Tianjin Alliance of Canada, and Chair of Don Valley North Federal Liberal Association.
Helen also obtained the Foundation of Positive Psychology Specification certificate, the Achieving Personal and Professional Success Specification certificate, and the Critical Perspectives on Management certificate from IE Business School.