Allan graduated from the University of Western Ontario with an MBA in 1979 and obtained his CMA designation in 1981. After moving to Calgary , Allan spent two years with Gulf in their economics and planning department before joining Burns Fry in the Corporate Finance group. After two years in this capacity, Allan moved to retail sales with Burns Fry in 1985 and then moved to Peters & Co. Limited a year later where he spent twelve years working in institutional sales, covering Toronto and Asia. Allan is one of the founding partners of the Ross Smith Energy Group.