Kareen Stangherlin

Kareen Stangherlin is the founding partner, CEO and a portfolio manager of Zelos Investment Counsel, a Calgary-based boutique private-wealth and corporate-advisory firm she co-founded (the firm marked six years in business around 2022, implying a 2016 founding). She brings more than two decades of senior financial, strategic and operational experience, with a track record of driving growth at entrepreneurial investment firms. She holds a Bachelor of Commerce in Accounting from the Haskayne School of Business at the University of Calgary and carries an unusually deep credential stack: Chartered Professional Accountant (CPA, CA), CFA charterholder, Certified Financial Planner (CFP), and the ICD.D designation from the Institute of Corporate Directors.

Before Zelos, Stangherlin built her career across Calgary's investment and energy-finance community. She served as Chief Financial Officer and Chief Compliance Officer at Grafton Asset Management Inc. (2012–2015), ran KMS Fund Services as a fund-services consultant (2009–2012), and was Chief Financial Officer at KERN Partners (now Azimuth Capital Management) from 2005 to 2009. Earlier and in parallel, she was an instructor and course facilitator for CPA Canada (formerly the CICA), helping train accountants over roughly a decade.

Beyond operating roles, Stangherlin is an active institutional fiduciary. She is Co-Chair of the Investment Committee and a member of the Board of Trustees of the ~$18-billion Colleges of Applied Arts and Technology (CAAT) Pension Plan. She previously served the Alberta Teachers' Retirement Fund Board (ATRF), where she chaired the Audit & Finance Committee and sat on the Investment and Human Resources & Compensation committees. She has also been a member of the Canadian Advocacy Council of the CFA Society of Canada, and served as an independent board director of cannabis company Westleaf Inc. (later combined with Decibel Cannabis). Outside finance, she volunteered as a ground search-and-rescue member with the Calgary Search and Rescue Association for 12 years.

At Zelos, she oversees the firm's strategic direction, leads its wealth and portfolio management, and serves clients directly. The firm positions itself around "engineered," non-templated portfolio construction integrating research, risk management and tax efficiency, and provides clients access to private-equity and institutional-quality investments typically reserved for pensions and endowments.

• Invests primarily as a portfolio manager and corporate advisor, not a startup angel: Zelos builds custom portfolios for affluent families, entrepreneurs and small institutions, and provides them access to private equity and "institutional-quality opportunities" usually reserved for pension and endowment funds.
• Downside-first philosophy: the firm emphasizes downside risk protection alongside returns, targeting "high-conviction opportunities globally."
• Non-templated, engineered construction: integrates research, risk management and tax efficiency; coordinates with clients' legal and accounting advisors. Offers specialized mandates including Shariah-compliant investing, philanthropic planning, and family-trust structures.
• Corporate-advisory / merchant-banking arm: Zelos Capital has acted as exclusive financial advisor on private financings, indicating involvement in capital-raising for private companies rather than writing standalone seed checks.
• Her own framing centers on rigor and conviction — colleagues note "her passion for investing is palpable," and she describes herself as a "life-learner."