Ann Kaplan, CEO of iFinance Canada named 2015 RBC CANADIAN WOMEN ENTREPRENEUR AWARDS finalist

TORONTO, Sept. 23, 2015  /CNW/ - iFinance Canada Inc. (www.ifinancecanada.com) is proud to announce that Ann Kaplan president and CEO has been named a Finalist for the 2015 RBC Canadian Women Entrepreneur Awards for the PROFIT Award for Excellence in Entrepreneurship.  The RBC Canadian Women Entrepreneur Awards are the pre-eminent national business awards recognizing the country's leading female entrepreneurs.  The program is an initiative of Women of Influence, an award-winning organization dedicated to advancing Canadian women.

Out of 5,500 nominees, 18 Finalists from coast to coast have been selected to represent six Award Categories.  The PROFIT Award for Excellence in Entrepreneurship is dedicated to a female entrepreneur who has launched and built one or more successful companies with a track record of growth, profitability, industry leadership and breaking new ground.  This pre-eminent entrepreneur possesses the drive, managerial acumen and leadership traits that others aspire to have, and has positioned herself for future achievement.  She is a role model for all those who believe in the power of entrepreneurship and her exploits have generated an uncommon degree of economic growth and social change.

Ms. Kaplan represents the central region as a Finalist and is one of three Regional Finalists (west, central and east) being recognized in this category. The 2015 Award of Excellence presented by the CWEYA is particularly coveted by Ms. Kaplan, having won the national CWEYA Award in the Start-Up category in 2000.

Since 1996, iFinance Canada has provided consumer loans to clients who have medical (Medicard), dental (Dentalcard), and/or veterinarian needs (Petcard), recently expanding into Home Improvement  (iFinance Home Improvement) and short term loans (Early Bird Payday Loans). Under the leadership of Ms. Kaplan, iFinance Canada has recognized over one billion dollars in consumer loan applications since its inception and has created a network of more than 10,000 service providers that offer the company's financing services. iFinance Canada also offers an ability to connect patient to doctor through a portal entitled CosMedicList.com, where patients can ask questions regarding cosmedic enhancement (directly with a doctor) and review other responses and information relative to the procedure they are considering.  

Ann has also taken her position in finance to a different level focusing her doctoral studies on credit under-writing algorithms and has completed a Masters of Science in Business, a finance MBA and a Corporate Governance designation (ICD.d).  Taking her entrepreneurship, understanding, governance and ability to implement ideas to business, Ms Kaplan is currently launching Brix Exchange, a Canadian Crowd-Funding Portal for real estate (both commercial and residential) and technology start-ups, both regulated under the Provincial Securities Acts – a multi-billion dollar business in the US and the first regulated portal of its kind in Canada.

"I am very proud to be named as a Finalist for Excellence in Entrepreneurship," added Ms. Kaplan.  "It is an honour to be recognized by my peers at RBC Women of Influence and I am grateful to help advance the very important advocacy that the Awards program lends to the elevation of women's significant strength in the Canadian business community, and its contribution to our country's economic prosperity."

"Canadian female entrepreneurs are an economic force, and as a community, their impact is growing," said Carolyn Lawrence, president and CEO, Women of Influence Inc.  "We're honoured to be contributing to their future success by recognizing the achievements of this stellar group, not only offering increased exposure and a new source of credibility, but the opportunity to become an inspiring role model for future leaders."

The winners will be announced and celebrated at the 23rd Annual Awards Gala hosted on Wednesday, November 18, 2015 at the Fairmont Royal York in Toronto.

About the RBC Canadian Women Entrepreneur Awards
The 2015 RBC Canadian Women Entrepreneur Awards are presented by RBC and sponsors Deloitte, TELUS, The Printing House and PROFIT Magazine and are the pre-eminent national business awards recognizing the country's leading female entrepreneurs. 

About Women of Influence
Now in its 21st year, Women of Influence Inc. is North America's leading organization dedicated to the advancement of women.  It offers solutions to women through corporate consulting on Gender Diversity & Inclusion, executive leadership coaching, events, and media.

About Ann Kaplan
Ann Kaplan is the CEO and president of iFinance Canada Inc., the parent company to Medicard, Petcard, Dentalcard, iFinance Home Improvement – a business that she founded in 1996.  Ms. Kaplan is a regular guest speaker around the world and has been featured in more than 300 publications to date, including twice in a university textbook case study on entrepreneurship.  Ms. Kaplan has been recognized with many awards both national and international, including being inducted into the WXN Hall of Fame after thrice being recognized as Canada's Top 100 Most Powerful Women. 

She has also been nine times recognized by Canadian Business and Profit Magazine as both the top 100 Women in Canada and, for iFinance Canada, recognition (9x) in the top 100 Companies in Canada.  Ms. Kaplan was inducted into the WXN Hall of Fame in 2014; she was a finalist in 2013 for E & Y Canadian Entrepreneur of the Year and is the recipient of the Canadian Woman Entrepreneur of the Year Award (2000) and the Peak Award of Excellence in Finance.  She has won more than eight Gold Stevie Awards both nationally and internationally including the top honour "Woman of the Year" Gold Stevie Award for North America this year.  The Rotman School of Management's alumni community also presented Ms. Kaplan with the first annual Top 10 High Achieving Women Award (ROMA Award) earlier this year.  Ms. Kaplan has a MBA, MSc, a Corporate Governance Degree (ICI.d) and is a Doctoral researcher; she has written four books, is a regular delegate with the Ontario Economic Summit and co-chaired the G20-Y Shadow-Banking Committee in Geneva 2014.  

Ann is married to Dr. Stephen Mulholland; she resides in Toronto and is the mother of eight children. 

SOURCE iFinance Canada Inc.

visuals or to arrange an interview or in-studio segment with Ann Kaplan, please contact Susan Willemsen at The Siren Group Inc. Tel: [phone]. Email: [email protected], www.thesirengroup.com or Twitter @thesirengroup.