Peter Kalen, HBA '95, MBA '01

Peter Kalen is one of Canada’s most seasoned retail credit card executives, with almost 30 years of experience. He began his career in the credit card and consumer lending division at Canada Trust before joining Citi Cards Canada, where he rose to Chief Strategy Officer and Chief Marketing Officer. At Citi, he launched Canada’s first contactless credit card in partnership with Petro-Canada—one of the most successful credit card launches in the country’s history. Peter went on to serve as Senior Vice-President at President’s Choice Financial, managing the credit card business for Loblaws, and later as Executive Vice-President of Financial and Home Services at Sears Canada, where he led the turnaround of Canada’s largest retail credit card portfolio and oversaw multiple divisions with more than 5,000 employees. 

In 2013, Peter founded Flexiti, which grew from a kitchen-table start-up into Canada’s largest point-of-sale fintech lender. Under his leadership, Flexiti partnered with many of the country’s top retailers—including The Brick, Leon’s, Wayfair, Birks, and Sleep Country—offering customers instant financing at checkout through a seamless, fully digital process. Over a decade, the company grew to serve more than 8,000 merchant locations nationwide, built a loan portfolio exceeding $1.3 billion, and became recognized as one of Canada’s fastest-growing companies. Peter was also recognized as an EY Entrepreneur of the Year Ontario Finalist in 2021. Following its acquisition by Questrade Financial Group in 2023, Peter stepped down as CEO of Flexiti and transitioned into the role of Chief Executive Officer at Momentum Financial Services Group (MFSG).

MFSG is one of the largest money services businesses in North America and the largest in Canada, operating over 400 branches across Canada and the U.S. and employing more than 1,500 people. Serving more than one million underbanked customers annually, MFSG’s trusted brands—Money Mart and The Check Cashing Store—offer a wide range of accessible financial solutions, including lending, cheque cashing, foreign exchange, and international money transfers. With both a strong retail footprint and a growing digital presence, MFSG plays a vital role in providing convenient, reliable, and responsible financial services that help connect people with money when they need it most. 

Peter holds an Honours Business Administration (HBA) degree and an MBA from Western University’s Ivey Business School. Outside of work, Peter enjoys spending time with his family – two young boys and his wife Serena (also an Ivey HBA grad), and travelling as often as possible to his favourite place in the world – his villa in Tuscany.