Sapling Financial Consultants announces two new hires, promotion
Sapling Financial Consultants, a Toronto-based financial consulting firm, has hired Kevin Zhao as a senior engagement manager and Greg Lloyd as an advisor, and promoted Dave O’Brien to senior engagement manager.
Zhao brings more than six years of Big Four experience, with a focus on assurance and transaction services. He joins Sapling from KPMG, where he was a manager advising pension funds, private equity funds and strategic clients on platform acquisitions, tuck-in acquisitions, carve-outs, and divestitures.
Before that, Zhao was a senior associate at PwC, working out of the firm’s Bermuda office.
He has bachelor’s and master’s degrees in accounting from the University of Waterloo and is a chartered financial analyst and chartered professional accountant.
Lloyd is a strategy and operations consultant with 35 years of Big Five experience across PwC, Arthur Andersen, and KPMG. He has expertise in corporate strategy, performance improvement, operational reviews, and pre- and post-merger integration, among other areas.
Lloyd has an MBA from Bayes Business School in the UK and a bachelor’s degree from Queens University, and is a certified management consultant.
In his new role as senior engagement manager, O’Brien will lead the financial planning and analysis (FP&A) practice. He joined the firm in 2022 as a consultant and was promoted to engagement manager last year.
O’Brien was previously a senior property accountant at Colliers International and a senior accountant at Stern Cohen LLP. O’Brien has a master’s degree in finance and a bachelor’s degree in accounting from Wilfrid Laurier University, and is a chartered professional accountant and financial modeling & valuation analyst.
"Our team's growth with the new hires of Kevin and Greg and the promotion of Dave reflects our commitment to excellence and delivering high-quality work across Canada and the US," said Rob Hong, co-founder and CEO of Sapling Financial Consultants. "We remain focused on continuing our three-year growth trajectory of 55 per cent with a goal to double the growth in 2025, driven by our dedication to hiring the best talent, training that talent and delivering exceptional value to our clients."
Founded in 2015, Sapling has a team of 30 professionals that provide clients with consulting in financial analysis, outsourced modeling and FP&A, due diligence, data analytics, and technology-driven optimization.
