President, Investor Education Fund

Tom Hamza believes that quality financial education must be about communication – and not just about content. As President of Investor Education Fund (IEF), a leading not-for-profit authority in financial literacy, education and research, he and his team have been mandated to help Ontarians specifically and Canadians in general use what they know about money to make better decisions. He believes this mandate can only be achieved by understanding the audience – and speaking to them in a language they understand. With the professional credentials and experience that make him one of the most sought after first responders in the financial literacy debate, Hamza has distinguished himself as the strongest public advocate for unbiased financial education, and someone who gets that the delivery is one of the most important parts of financial education.

Hamza is a veteran of the financial services industry as a strategy consultant to some of the largest Canadian and international financial services companies. Following his time at Deloitte Consulting and A.T. Kearney Consulting, he served as Vice-President of Financial Services and Chief Compliance Officer for Futura Financial (formerly KidsFutures), where he was first noticed for his development of innovative new approaches designed to help young Canadians save for their financial goals.

Since joining IEF in 2006, Hamza’s inroads in financial literacy and specific areas of financial education that need attention have been marked with an overhaul and redesign of the Fund’s 1,500-page GetSmarterAboutMoney.ca and an increase in content use from 190,000 to 1.5 million unique visits a year. He has helped develop animation, video and calculators that deliver the messages people need in a format they want. He has also created new partnerships with large national and international media outlets to expand IEF’s public reach. As Co-Chair of the Working Group on Financial Literacy, one of his most impactful projects was working to change the Ontario school curriculum to add financial instruction from grades 4-12.

In expanding the work of IEF, Hamza uses his knowledge of retail financial habits and preferences to attract a decidedly debt-ridden population to easy-to-use tools everyone and anyone.

Born in Toronto and a father of two, Hamza holds an M.B.A. from the Richard Ivey School of Business at the University of Western Ontario, as well as a P.D.O. and Branch Manager certifications from the Investment Funds Institute of Canada.

Hamza says, “Financial literacy isn’t just about the right ideas, it is about the right actions. Like nutrition, health and other self-help topics, we need to be aware of how far we must go and the benefits of going there. Knowledge without real-life application is insufficient – and financial literacy is only successful when we recognize that it is as much about knowing financial concepts as it is about using your knowledge to leverage the financial industry to provide the right financial solutions for you.”