Steve Balaban

Office: HH 174A

Phone: 519-888-4567 x48026

Email: sjbalaba@uwaterloo.ca

Video Playlists:

1. Private Equity Overview

2. Private Equity Life Cycle

3. Private Equity Performance and Compensation Metrics

4. Private Equity Industry

5. What are Alternative Investments?

• Bachelor of Mathematics (University of Waterloo)
• Bachelor of Business Administration (Wilfrid Laurier University)
• Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA Institute) 

Steve Balaban is the Chief Investment Officer of Mink Capital where he advises, consults and educates family offices on how to invest in private equity. He also serves on the Board of Directors for the CFA Society Toronto.

At the University of Waterloo, he is an award-winning lecturer that has created new courses on private equity, wealth management and the international course, a course that takes students to different areas of the world each year . His approach to education is unique as he uses innovative technologies and experiential teaching methods to explain concepts to his students. His passion for teaching resulted in being the only lecturer in the history of the University of Waterloo to win both the Distinguished Teaching Award (Steve Balaban - Distinguished Teaching Award) and the WUSA Excellence in Undergraduate Teaching Award (Steve Balaban - Excellence in Undergraduate Teaching Award) in the same year.

Details of the three courses he created are as follows:

Private Equity and Venture Capital Course (AFM 377)

·       Steve created a brand new Private Equity course, based on experience, to share the inner workings of private equity with students. Through his connections, Steve brings in many high-profile guests, including ex-bank CEOs and family offices, as well as works with private companies to donate their data to enable a unique learning opportunity for students that can’t be found elsewhere.

Wealth Management Course (AFM 324)

·       Steve created a brand new Wealth Management course using a revolutionary Problem Based Learning (PBL) model that was adopted from the original PBL medical school model. Steve worked with medical school professors to perfect the model for finance. When delivered in 2018, feedback was tremendously positive. Since then, Steve has conducted workshops and presentations to teach institutions and individuals the new PBL model for finance.

International Study Course (AFM 415)

·       Steve created a brand new international course which has brought students to London (to understand the inner workings of Brexit), to Hong Kong (to understand the inner workings of Belt and Road initiative in China), as well as Germany (to understand the inner workings of the biggest country in the EU).

Steve has been the industry mentor/faculty adviser for the University of Waterloo CFA Institute Investment Research Challenge every year since 2014. In 2016, while he was serving as the industry mentor for the University of Waterloo team, the team won the Global Challenge, the first and only Canadian team to win. This is a significant accomplishment considering, over the course of the 2015-2016 competition, there were more than 5,000 students that took part from 1,000 universities across the globe.

In an effort to educate his students and the general public about private equity, Steve launched a one-of-a-kind Private Equity YouTube Channel to make the complex world of private equity simple. This channel has received over 250,000 views and counting: Steve Balaban - Private Equity YouTube Channel.

He is an inspiring, entertaining speaker on the subjects of private equity, wealth management and entrepreneurship.  

Prior to Mink Capital and the University of Waterloo, Steve worked at Dunkley Capital where he invested in private equity, including a consolidation of billboard companies throughout Canada where he served as President of Stellar Outdoor Advertising.

He earned a BBA from Wilfrid Laurier University and a BMATH from the University of Waterloo, where he graduated on the Dean’s List.

Steve has extensive international experience. He has worked, studied and visited over 85 countries in every continent in the world.

• 2019 - Private Equity; Presented at Private Equity Insight Benelux 2019 Conference; Amsterdam, Netherlands

• 2019 - Introducing Speaker; CFA Ethics Challenge; Presented at the TMX Broadcast Centre on behalf of CFA Society Toronto; Toronto, Canada

• 2018 - How to Use Problem Based Learning in Wealth Management; Presented at the Wealth Management Institute; Singapore

• 2018 - What is Problem Based Learning; Presented at the University of Waterloo Teaching and Learning Conference; Waterloo, Canada

• 2018 - Instructional Skills Workshop; Co-led the workshop at the University of Waterloo; Waterloo, Canada

• 2016 - When Students Become Partners in Teaching and Learning; Presented at the Centre of Teaching Excellence at the University of Waterloo; Waterloo, Canada

• 2016 – How to Pursue a Career in Private Equity; Presented at Schulich School of Business’s MBA Private Equity and Venture Capital MBA Class; Toronto, Canada

• 2016 – What is Private Equity; Presented at Concordia University's John Molson School of Business's MBA Analysis of Equity Investments Class; Toronto, Canada

• 2016 – The CFA Mentorship Program; Presented at the TMX Broadcast Centre; Toronto, Canada

• 2015 – How Family Offices Can Invest Directly in Private Equity (methods to pursue, evaluate and create value through the purchase of private companies); Presented at Family Office Forum; Zurich, Switzerland

• September 2015 – Career Success; Presented at George Brown College; Toronto, Canada

• 2015 – Pursue a Career in Private Equity; Presented at University of Waterloo Experiential Learning & Career Development; Waterloo, Canada

• 2015 – Ethical Issues in Finance (issues identified and approaches to education); Presented at the Canadian Academic Accounting Association; Toronto, Canada

• 2015 - A Day in the Life of a... Successful Entrepreneur, Private Equity Expert and Charterholder; Presented at the CFA Society Toronto; Toronto, Canada

• 2015 – Private Equity: Your Future; Presented at the UW Finance Association; Waterloo, Canada

• 2014 – Career Success; Presented at George Brown College; Toronto, Canada

• 2014 -   A Day in the Life of a... Successful Entrepreneur, Private Equity Expert and Charterholder; Presented at the CFA Society Toronto; Toronto, Canada

• 2019 - Distinguished Teaching Award; University of Waterloo

• 2019 - WUSA Excellence in Undergraduate Teaching Award; University of Waterloo

• 2019 - Present; Senior Advisor of the CFA Awards and University Relations Committee

• 2014 – Present; Industry Mentor for CFA Institute Research Challenge (the University of Waterloo team), including Global Champion in 2016

• 2017 - 2019; Chair of the CFA Awards and University Relations Committee

• 2014, 2016, 2018, 2019 – Judge for the Investment Research Challenge at the University of Waterloo

• 2014 – 2017; Member of the CFA Mentorship Committee

• 2015 – 2017; Act as mentor for CFA Professionals through the CFA Society Toronto Mentorship Program

• 2015 – 2017; Member of the CFA Awards and University Relations Committee

• 2015 - 2016; MVP Volunteer Award - CFA Society Toronto

• 2014 – 2016; Member of the CFA Private Client Committee

• 2015 - 2016 – Judge for the Ace the Pitch Competition at the University of Waterloo

• 2015 - Member of the subcommittee to organize the CFA Wealth Conference in Toronto

• 2014 – Judge for the Integrated Case Exercise (ICE) Competition at Wilfrid Laurier University

Courses Taught

• Teach AFM 377 - Private Equity and Venture Capital - focus on Raising Capital, Structuring Deals, Creating Leveraged Buyout (LBO) Models, Negotiating Venture Capital Investments, Creating Value in Private Equity deals, and more. 

• Teach AFM 415 - International Study Course - focus on better understanding the global financial landscape by taking students to different areas of the world including the United Kingdom, Hong Kong and Germany.

• Teach AFM 324 - Wealth Management - focus on key areas of wealth management by solving ill-defined, complex, real-world problems in a unique Problem Based Learning (PBL) format.

• Taught AFM 204 - Applied Finance - focus on understanding current financial events, using Microsoft Excel to build financial models and developing the ability to describe corporate value.

• Taught AFM 121 - Introduction to Global Financial Markets- focus on the role of finance in the modern global economy and introduces some basic principles of financial decision-making

• Taught AFM 272 - Corporate/Managerial Finance 1 - focus on Global Financial Markets, Risk/Return Analysis, Valuation and more.

• Teach AFM 372 – (MATH) Corporate/Managerial Finance 2 - focus on Valuation, Capital Structure, Dividend Policy, Options, Long/Short term Financing, and more.

• Teach AFM 274 – (ACCOUNTING AND FINANCE)  Corporate/Managerial Finance 2 - focus on Valuation, Capital Structure, Dividend Policy, Options, Long/Short term Financing, and more.