Toronto, ON – January 9, 2023 – Specialty Risk & Intelligence Services Inc. (SRIS), a multidisciplinary Intelligence, Investigation and Risk Consulting agency announced its official launch in Canada, effective January 1, 2023.
SRIS was formed by a group of industry experts. The executive team of the company includes Michael Holden (President and Chief Executive Officer), Mandy Yousif (Chief Operating Officer), Chris Smith (Senior Vice President), George Kalopsis (Chairman) and Stewart Ponton (Vice Chair).
SRIS will be offering a cutting-edge product, service and quality to a broad range of industries. These include multinational corporations, financial institutions, the legal industry, insurance-based businesses, regulatory bodies, hedge funds and institutional investment firms, among others.
The firm consists of diverse specialty lines, including corporate intelligence, legal support, insurance management and a compliance and regulatory segment. The firm’s specialized solutions include due diligence – ranging from merges and acquisitions, franchise investigations, C-suite level, and employee and vendor screening; high-stakes litigation and disputes; defamation and reputational damages; asset tracing and recovery; fraud detection and mitigation; open-source intelligence; and intellectual property and trademark disputes.
“We are in an age of uncertainty where organizations continue to face unprecedented and unpredicted risks across the globe,” said Michael Holden, Founder and CEO of SRIS. “The necessity for intelligence collection has become even more crucial in recent decades where the demand to protect industry reputation, mitigate fraud, and resolve legal and insurance disputes, has become increasingly warranted. We are eager to support our clients’ needs and address their concerns through our specialized investigative services, innovative risk solutions, and compliance consulting strategies.”
With 37 years of experience within the insurance and private equity sectors, Holden previously founded and held a number of executive positions with some of the largest entities worldwide. He is known for holding a variety of dynamic roles across different disciplines in the marketplace and for being a founding member of highly recognized and successful organizations.
“SRIS is the beginning of a much needed change to the Canadian marketplace. The investigative industry in Canada is often viewed as lagging compared to most of the security industry around the world, being that it’s surveillance focused for the most part,” said Murray Wallace, Chairman of ICPEI Financial Holdings and Director of Ascot Group Limited, who has been appointed to the Advisory Board of SRIS.
“SRIS will be the first Canadian agency in decades to establish a multidisciplinary focused approach, encompassing intelligence, investigation, compliance, and risk management solutions.” Said Holden.
Mandy Yousif, COO of SRIS advised, “SRIS will be collaborating and partnering with some of the most prestigious anti-fraud associations and educational institutions to recruit personnel and implement advanced technological tools, to support our clients’ various needs.”
Yousif brings in numerous years of experience conducting investigation, intelligence analysis, risk assessment, and compliance consultation. Yousif has played a key role in several M&A transactions for multi-billion-dollar hedge funds and for having worked on a number of notable high-profile legal matters. Yousif is a Licensed Private Investigator, a Certified Fraud Examiner and holds an advanced certificate in Open-Source Intelligence. She is a member of the Association of Certified Fraud Examiners (ACFE), Association of Certified Anti-Money Laundering Specialists (ACAMS), the Council of Professional Investigators of Ontario (CPIO), and on the Advisory Committee of the Honours Bachelor of Crime & Intelligence Analysis Program at Seneca College.
The company’s executive team consists of well-known entrepreneurs, specialty market experts and senior executives from the legal, insurer, adjusting, recovery, private equity and intelligence business sectors.
In addition to its Board of Directors, SRIS has appointed an independent Advisory Board which includes experts from a wide range of disciplines. Yousif advised, “Our Advisory Board members will provide strategic advice within their specific line of expertise and help direct our path to success.”
Given the diversity of its executive team and members of its advisory board, SRIS has established contacts in over 65 countries and the support of an international network of industry experts with resources readily available to help our clients resolve their most critical matters.
We are pleased to make this announcement and thrilled to embark on this new venture with a mission to shape the future of intelligence solutions and investigative services.