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David Allison 

Human values expert, two-time best-selling author, and founder of the Valuegraphics Project!

After decades of helping big brands engage people, David Allison recognized that demographics weren’t working like before. Gender roles were blurred, age has nothing to do with how we behave, and our income doesn’t change what’s in our hearts. Instead, our values drive our behavior and our shared values that engage people and influence outcomes. So he launched the Valuegraphics Project to turn human values into data and create a revolutionary new approach to inspiring action – with the enormous power of shared human values.

Today, after nearly a million surveys in 152 languages, David is the world’s foremost human values expert, with two best-selling books and an international speaking career. Innovative organizations like PayPal, Lululemon, and the United Nations Foundation use David’s data to connect with people in new, more profound ways - by honoring what they value. He coined the term valuegraphics to describe his unique approach to understanding people, which now appears next to demographics in textbooks used on campuses worldwide. Valuegraphics have been featured in Forbes, INC Magazine, and the Harvard Business Review, and his latest book, The Death of Demographics, was hailed by critics as "Convincing, insightful, and...revolutionary."

He’s developed an entirely new and powerful way to address any issue, and seize any opportunity by leaning deep into a fundamental human truth: we are what we value. His highly engaging and passionate keynote delivery, combined with game-changing insights, make his keynote presentations entirely unique can’t-miss events.

Louanna Atkinson
Psychological Health & Safety, Director
Provincial Health Services Authority (PHSA)

Louanna Atkinson, a white occupier of Irish and Scottish descent, born on Syilx (Okanagan) Territory. Louanna is the Director of Psychological Health and Safety at PHSA and brings over 30 years of healthcare experience. With a background as a frontline social worker and over a decade in leadership, she is deeply committed to trauma-informed leadership and advancing equity in healthcare. Louanna works to create systems that prevent psychological harm and promote safety, belonging, and wellness for all. She’s also a proud mom, wife, and sister, and brings heart and purpose to everything she does.

Penny Blesch
Founder
Fertility Coalition of British Columbia

Penny Blesch founded the Fertility Coalition of British Columbia (FCBC) while being the Chief Operating Officer of a local Fertility Clinic and after a decade of personal hardship in fertility.

Penny has experienced firsthand how devastating being diagnosed with infertility can be and the financial hardships that accompany this diagnosis. Determined to make a difference, Penny quit her corporate job and joined a leading fertility clinic in Vancouver. Being part of the miracle of IVF and seeing the impact of fertility treatments has motivated Penny to do even more.

Penny founded the FCBC because she believes that access to fertility treatments should not be a privilege and has engaged a professional lobbyist to develop a strategic government relations plan to secure funding for fertility treatments.

Kevin Bell
Vice President, Business Development, Western Canada
People Corporation

Kevin is responsible for the development of Group Insurance markets in western Canada.
Kevin has extensive experience advising clients in the design and implementation of complex benefit programs and their corresponding reporting requirements. This experience extends to both union and non-union environments.
Prior to joining People Corporation in August of 2020, Kevin spent 8 years as a Vice-President in the benefits consulting practice of an international benefits and pension consulting firm.
Kevin has also spent more than 13 years as a Benefits Executive for both a regional and national insurance carrier in the Winnipeg and Toronto markets.
A graduate of the University of Manitoba, Kevin holds degrees in both Psychology and Commerce (Honors).

Chris Bonnett, Phd
Principal Consultant
H3 Consulting

Chris Bonnett established H3 Consulting in 1999, after 18 years of progressive experience in employee benefits. He provides practical policy research for private and public drug plan leaders, and advises on strategies to improve health in the workplace.

Chris has been a director on the Boards of four health service organizations. He is a member of the Program Advisory Committee for Humber College’s Bachelor of Health Sciences – Workplace Health and Wellness degree. He provides peer review of drug policy research for the Canadian Medical Association Journal, and has written a number of commentaries for the CD Howe Institute.

Chris holds a PhD in drug policy from the University of Waterloo and a Master's degree in Health Science from the University of Toronto.

Patrick Bourk
VP Cyber and Professional lines
Navacord

Patrick is the Cyber & Professional Lines Practice Leader for Navacord, Canada's fastest growing insurance brokerage. As a specialty insurance expert, he collaborates with Navacord’s 65+ National Broker Partners to build and support the strategic direction of specialty insurance product lines including professional liability and directors’ & officers’ liability insurance but with an emphasis on cyber liability insurance. Patrick helps shape business development and client experience while also providing technical expertise in the analysis, negotiation, and placement of these coverages. Patrick’s cyber liability insurance practice also includes advising clients on how best to align breach response planning with insurance and risk mitigation solutions. He also provides claims expertise and assists clients by managing and advocating on their behalf.

A graduate of Windsor Law School in 1997, Patrick began his career as an associate lawyer with a commercial litigation focus. After moving to Toronto to work for a national law firm, he joined the Legal and Claims Department of London Guarantee Insurance Company, specializing in all forms of management risk insurance coverage. Prior to joining Navacord, Patrick was the National Cyber Practice Leader at HUB Insurance Brokers before leaving to lead the Global Breach Services Practice at Equifax. In 2023 he established an insurance consulting practice providing advisory services to several insurtech start-ups. He is a licensed lawyer and Member of the Law Society of Ontario, a licensed insurance broker, and has been a part-time instructor at both Sheridan College and Humber College, where he has taught courses on law for business managers. Patrick is a Strategic Advisor to NetDiligence as well as a member of the NetDiligence Summit Advisory Council. He has authored several publications in the areas of commercial insurance coverage and is a frequent speaker at conferences and symposiums focusing on cyber liability insurance both in Canada and the U.S. Patrick also holds a Cyber COPE Insurance Certificate designation after completing an executive certification in Cybersecurity through Heinz College of Carnegie Mellon University. He is currently a Faculty Advisor to the Program

Tori Buffery
Senior Director, Secondaries
Nicola Wealth

Tori brings extensive experience to her role as Senior Director, Secondaries at Nicola Wealth, where she leads a dedicated Secondaries strategy. Prior to joining Nicola in April 2024, Tori was a Partner at Morningside Capital and led the Firm’s single asset secondaries strategy. While at Morningside, Tori played a pivotal role in growing the firm from nascency to over $400 million in assets under management. Prior to joining Morningside, Tori worked in the Funds, Secondaries and Co-Investments team at the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board Toronto and London, UK where she gained extensive experience in private equity. Her experience spans North America, Europe and Asia in the mid, large and mega markets. Tori actively contributes to the community as a board member at Urban Squash Toronto and a member of the Finance Committee at the North York

Carolyn Chapman
Organizational Health Consultant
Canada Life

Carolyn has worked in the field of disability management and rehabilitation services for over 25 years. Prior to her current role, she has held roles as a Disability Case Manager, Team Manager, and a leader of Disability Intervention Services, and has been with Canada Life since 2000. She holds a Certified Employee Benefits Specialist certificate and has her Mindful Leader certification. Carolyn collaborates closely with clients of varying size and complexity and has a deep understanding of the organizational needs and health factors that impact clients. She provides disability management and well-being education, as well as developing customized disability management programs to help organizations control their rising costs.

Bernice Cheung
VP Financial Services & Cultural Markets Research
Environics Research

Bernice Cheung brings over 20 years of marketing research and management consulting experience, with a strong track record across financial services, consumer goods, retail, and healthcare. Since 2021, she has led Environics Research’s Group Plan Sponsor Syndicated Study, the most comprehensive annual study of its kind in Canada. This flagship research provides strategic insights into the perceptions, needs, and decision-making of group health, retirement, and savings plan sponsors—empowering providers to better serve their clients and prospects.

In addition to her leadership in group benefits research, Bernice also spearheads the Canadian FinTech Study, which explores consumer attitudes toward financial technology, open banking, and innovation. A recognized thought leader and frequent speaker at major industry conferences—most recently FinTech Summit, Payments Canada Summit, and Women in Payments—she is known for delivering impactful, data-driven insights. Bernice holds an MBA from Ivey Business School and an Honours Bachelor of Commerce from the DeGroote School of Business.

Anar Dossa
Director, Pharmacy ServicesDirector, Pharmacy Services
Pacific Blue Cross

Anar Dossa is the Director of Pharmacy Services at Pacific Blue Cross. She has over 30 years of experience in providing evidence based care.  She is a Clinical Assistant Professor in the Faculty of Pharmaceutical Sciences at UBC, Past Chair of the Board, College of Pharmacists of BC and Chair of the Prescription Drug Committee, CLHIA.

Lorne Gavsie
Senior Vice-President and Head of Macroeconomic & FX Strategy
CI Global Asset Management

Lorne Gavsie is Senior Vice-President and Head of Macroeconomic & FX Strategy at CI Global Asset Management. In his role, he is responsible for leading a dedicated macroeconomic and FX effort, harnessing the global expertise and knowledge across CI GAM, producing insights to be leveraged for investment purposes and providing our clients with timely and valuable insights. He is also responsible for CI GAM’s currency overlay and hedging strategies. Lorne brings over 25 years of experience in the industry, specializing in currencies, trading and global markets.

Prior to joining CI GAM in 2015, Lorne held various roles with major Canadian banks including Managing Director, FX Europe based in London, England and Global Head, E-FX based in Toronto.

Lorne holds an MBA from the London School of Economics & Politics, HEC Paris and NYU Stern (collectively known as TRIUM) and is a member of the Bank of Canada’s Canadian Foreign Exchange Committee (CFEC).

Sofia Gertsberg
Managing Director, Quantitative Investment Science (QIS)
Harbourvest

Sofia Gertsberg joined HarbourVest in 2016 to lead the Firm’s Quantitative Investment Science team. The team’s objectives are to utilize HarbourVest’s proprietary data set to develop quantitative tools and models to enhance fundamentally-driven investment and portfolio construction process across the firm.

Sofia joined the Firm from State Street Global Advisors, where she was the global head of Fixed Income and Money Market Risk leading the investment risk oversight of assets across active, smart beta, and passive strategies for fixed income, cash, and currency portfolios. Her responsibilities included leading a global team of investment risk managers and analysts, designing and implementing investment risk monitoring framework, setting internal risk limits, and conducting risk management due diligence for outside managers. Sofia was also a voting member of SSGA’s Sub-advisor Oversight and Valuation Committees. Prior to that, she was a market risk manager at State Street Global Markets. She also held a director of analytics role at Debt Exchange.

Sofia received a BS in Economics from the University of Latvia in 2000 and an MBA from Boston University in 2003. She speaks fluent Russian and Latvian.

Milla Craig
CEO and President
Millani Inc.

Milla is Founder, CEO and President of Millani Inc., an independent capital markets advisory firm specializing in ESG/sustainability helping investors integrate ESG/sustainability issues and impact into their investment decisions, companies communicate their material ESG/sustainability and impact issues to investors, boards of directors understand their ESG/sustainability and impact related responsibilities and capital markets participants create their proprietary ESG/sustainability and impact strategies.

Throughout her career, Milla has worked very closely with senior management and investor relations teams of Canadian publicly-listed companies, as well as financial analysts and investment managers of several Canadian pension and investment funds. Prior to founding Millani in 2008, she worked for more than 15 years in the institutional equity markets for major Canadian financial institutions such as RBC Dominion Securities and Scotia Capital, where she was consistently ranked as a top-tier salesperson. Later, as Deloitte's Leader – Sustainability, for the Quebec Region, she was actively involved in the development of sustainability strategy, management, stakeholder engagement, and reporting for a variety of Canadian organizations.

Milla sat on the board of the Responsible Investment Association (RIA) and chaired its Nomination Committee from 2020 to 2024. She is past Co-Chair of the Steering Committee of the Finance and Sustainability Initiative of Finance Montréal. Milla is recipient of the 2017 Clean16 Award, and in 2020 was awarded Montreal’s Y Foundation Women of Distinction Award, in the Business & Entrepreneurship category. Milla is also a faculty of the Institute of Corporate Directors Social Issues course since 2021.

Kathryn Farrell, CFA
Portfolio specialist 
T. Rowe Price

Kathryn Farrell is a portfolio specialist covering the target date strategies in the Multi-Asset Division. She is a vice president of T. Rowe Price Group, Inc., and T. Rowe Price Associates, Inc.

Kathryn's investment experience began in 2007, and she has been with T. Rowe Price since 2017, beginning in the Investment Specialists Group. Prior to this, Kathryn was employed by Portfolio Evaluations, Inc., as an associate director of research. Kathryn also was employed by Morningstar, Inc., in Sydney, Australia, and Chicago, where she was a senior fund analyst focusing on target date and asset allocation funds.

Kathryn earned a B.S., with honors, in psychology, with a minor in mathematics, from the University of Michigan and an M.B.A. from the University of Chicago, Booth School of Business. Kathryn also has earned the Chartered Financial Analyst® designation.

CFA® and Chartered Financial Analyst® are registered trademarks owned by CFA Institute.

Mark Fattedad, CFA
Regional Vice President & Portfolio Manager, Institutional Western Canada

Mark Fattedad joined Jarislowsky Fraser in 2007 and has held a range of leadership roles, including Lead, Sustainable Investment Strategy. He is currently Regional Vice President, Institutional Western Canada, and a registered portfolio manager. In his role, Mark partners with institutional asset owners to develop and implement investment strategies that align with both financial and sustainability objectives.

A founding member and Co-Chair of the firm’s Sustainable Investment Council (SIC), Mark has been instrumental in advancing Jarislowsky Fraser’s responsible investment efforts. He has contributed significantly to key initiatives such as the firm’s ESG Scorecard, Climate Action Plan, and Sustainable and Impact Bond Fund.

Mark holds a Bachelor of Commerce in Finance from the University of British Columbia and is a CFA Charterholder.

Ralf Hensel

Ralf Hensel is the Chief Compliance Officer for RBC Investor Services. In this role, he is responsible for execution of the firm’s compliance program in accordance with RBC standards, applying a risk-based approach for identification, risk assessment, communication/reporting and management/mitigation of regulatory compliance risk.

Ralf is an Ontario-qualified lawyer, holding an LL.B/J.D. from Osgoode Hall Law School. He has over 35 years financial industry experience. Prior to joining RBC in 2018, he held several legal counsel and corporate roles in private practice, in-house, and in industry associations

Chris Horwood
Head of Institutional Business (Canada)
Orbis

Chris Horwood joined Orbis in 2013 and leads the firm’s institutional business in Canada. Based in Vancouver, his team services institutional clients and consultants in Canada, as well as parts of the U.S. Chris is also a director of Orbis Investment Advisory (Canada) Limited. He previously worked as a trader at Orbis and, before joining Orbis, as a strategy and operations consultant at Deloitte. Chris holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in economics and political science from McGill University and a Master of Business Administration degree from the UCLA Anderson School of Management. He is also a CFA® charterholder.

Michael Hunstad
Deputy Chief Investment Officer
Chief Investment Officer, Global Equities
Asset Management
Northern Trust Asset Management

Michael Hunstad is Executive Vice President, Deputy Chief Investment Officer and Chief Investment Officer, Global Equities at Northern Trust Asset Management. Michael serves on the asset management executive group and has oversight of all equity portfolio management, research and trading activities including quantitative, index and tax-advantaged strategies.
Previously, Michael was director of quantitative research where he was responsible for leading Northern Trust Asset Management's factor based research and product development programs. Prior to joining Northern Trust, he was head of research at Breakwater Capital, an algorithmic trading firm and hedge fund. Previously, he was head of quantitative asset allocation at Allstate Investments, LLC and a quantitative analyst with a long-short equity hedge fund. He also served as an adjunct professor at the Illinois Institute of Technology. He holds a Ph.D. in mathematics, an MBA in finance, an M.A. in econometrics and a bachelor's degree in economics.

Omar Jabri
Managing Director
Lexington Partners

Omar Jabri is a Managing Director at Lexington Partners, a global leader in private equity secondaries and co-investment funds. Mr. Jabri is primarily engaged in the sourcing and execution of direct co-investment opportunities in growth and buyout transactions alongside private equity managers.
Prior to joining Lexington Partners, Mr. Jabri was an investment banking analyst at Evercore Partners in New York where he focused on M&A, restructuring and financial services transactions. He received an Honors Business Administration degree with distinction from Ivey Business School at Western University in London, Ontario. Mr. Jabri is fluent in Arabic and French.

Emma Kirk
Regional Director, EFAP, Western Region
Homewood Health

Emma has more than 30 years of experience in social work , including responsibilities as a Senior Social Worker/ Team leader in a community-based Mental Health Service offering comprehensive assessment and short term counseling interventions. She brings more than 15 years of experience working in the EFAP and Disability Management environment. Her past clinical responsibilities have included short term counselling, critical incident response, training, workshops and management consultation. She has held a clinical leadership position for more than 9 years, liaising with customers, clinicians and clients to maintain the clinical excellence of the program. Emma has been with Homewood since 2014.

Ilana Korble
Organizational Health Consultant
Canada Life

Ilana has over 30 years experience in the field of disability prevention, management and organizational health. She joined Canada Life in 1997 holding various roles in within the disability organization. In her current role as an Organizational Health Consultant, Ilana collaborates closely with customers of varying size and complexity and brings a deep understanding of organizational needs and health factors that impact costs. Ilana supports the development of customized disability management programs that helps organizations control the rising costs of workplace absences. Ilana is a Canadian Certified Rehabilitation Consultant (CCRC) and is working towards a Mindful Leader designation through Mindful Employer Canada.

Kristél Kriel
Partner
MLT Aikins LLP

Kristél Kriel co-leads the privacy, data protection & cybersecurity practice at MLT Aikins LLP. Her experience with complicated cybersecurity, privacy and technology matters makes her a valued asset to clients. A Certified Information Privacy Professional (Canada), Kristél provides practical and strategic advice to public and private organizations across all industries.

Claude Lamoureux
First CEO, Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan Board
Co-founder of the Canadian Coalition for Good Governance

An actuary by training, Claude Lamoureux was the first CEO of Teachers’, the Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan Board. Between 1990 and 2007, the year he retired, Mr. Lamoureux made Teachers’ a highly innovative pension plan, with assets of over $100 billion and offering exceptional services to its membership of over 250,000.

Before his arrival at Teachers’, Mr. Lamoureux worked at Metropolitan Life Insurance Company first in the United States then in Canada, where he headed up activities between 1986 and 1990.

Co-founder of the Canadian Coalition for Good Governance, Mr. Lamoureux has been a member of several Boards of Directors, currently sitting on the boards of Industrial Alliance, Maple Leaf Foods, Orbite Aluminae, St. Michael’s Hospital in Toronto, and the York University Foundation.

Holder of a degree in business administration from Université de Montréal and in commerce from Université Laval, Claude Lamoureux has also been granted honorary doctorates from York University and Université de Montréal.

Fellow of the Canadian Institute of Actuaries and the Institute of Corporate Directors, he is also an Officer of the Order of Canada and of the Ordre National du Québec and a member of the Order of Ontario.

Isabelle Laprise
Manager and Head of Responsible Investment
Desjardins Global Asset Management  

Isabelle leads the responsible investment team at Desjardins Global Asset Management, whose main mandate is to implement sustainability considerations in portfolio management. With over 20 years of experience in finance, she has held key positions at the Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec and Jarislowsky Fraser. She holds a bachelor's degree in finance from Laval University, the CFA designation, and the FSA accreditation. She is active in several sustainable finance initiatives, notably within CFA Montreal as head of the sustainable finance committee, and as a member of the advisory committees of the sustainable finance chairs at HEC Montreal and the University of Sherbrooke.

Suzanne Lepage is a private health plan strategist who bridges the pharmaceutical and group benefits industry.

Prior to beginning her consulting practice, Suzanne was National Manager Private Healthcare with Roche Canada. During that time she developed and executed private healthcare strategies and managed a patient assistance program for biologic medications. Prior to joining the pharmaceutical industry Suzanne worked in group benefits in a wide variety of roles for almost 20 years. Most recently she was the Product Manager for the drug programs at Manulife Financial. She is frequent speaker and contributor to both group benefits and pharmaceutical industry conferences and publications

Suzanne help you understand, navigate and develop strategies for private health plans by leveraging our unique blend of group benefits and pharmaceutical industry experience.

Neil Lloyd
Partner, Western Canada Wealth Leader
Mercer

Neil is an actuary and a Partner at Mercer, based in Vancouver, who spent nine years using his actuarial, investments and international expertise working with both defined benefit and defined contribution clients across Western Canada. In 2015 Neil worked in US being the Head of US DC and Financial Wellness Research.

Neil has been selected for several industry wide roles such as the Vice Chair of the Employee Benefits Research Institute, Defined Contribution Institutional Investment Association’s Executive Committee and was the Chair of the Plan Sponsor Council of America’s Thought Leadership Council. Neil is a regular speaker at international, national and regional industry forums, and twice has provided testimony to the US ERISA Advisory Council on decumulation issues.

Neil obtained a Business Science degree from the University of Cape Town in 1987, before qualifying as a Fellow of the Faculty of Actuaries in 1990. He also became an Associate of the Society of Actuaries, a Fellow of the Conference of Consulting Actuaries and an Affiliate of the Canadian Institute of Actuaries. In addition, Neil qualified as a Certified Financial Planner in South Africa in 1994.private practice.

Sarah Milton, BA (Ed.) Hons., RPA
Manager,Group Retirement Services
HUB International.

Sarah leads HUB’s Group Retirement team for the Prairies region, working with plan advisors and plan sponsors to design and manage group retirement plans that help attract, reward and retain talent while meeting the needs of a changing workforce. Her primary responsibilities include building and maintaining strong client relationships, identifying opportunities to improve group retirement plan design and creating resources for plan sponsors to share with employees to help them better understand their plan, improve their financial literacy and effectively manage their personal finances.

With 12 years of experience as a Group Retirement Specialist, and a passion for inspiring people to get excited about their money, Sarah believes that financial education is a key element of group retirement plan design that often gets overlooked. Co-creator of the "Take Control of Your Money" seminar series, Sarah has developed and delivered hundreds of education sessions to plan members, written articles for a number of personal finance blogs including RetireHappy.ca and is committed to making group retirement and personal finance topics easy to understand for both employees and administrative teams.

Sarah holds a BA in Education from the University of Exeter, UK as well as the CEBS Retirement Plan Associate (RPA) designation.

Mark Mervyn
Partner
Aon

Mark Mervyn is a partner and qualified actuary who leads Aon’s Vancouver wealth solutions practice and provides consulting services to organizations in British Columbia and across North America. He joined Aon in 2001 and is dedicated to improving the pension industry and to creating more sustainable, inclusive and risk-informed retirement outcomes for Canadians. He applies his expertise on plan funding, risk management, inclusion and diversity, financial reporting, experience studies, communication, and administration to help organizations make strategic data-driven decisions.

He is a key contributor to actuarial and industry groups. Mark is a member of the BC regional council of the Association of Canadian Pension Management and actively engages in discussions with the BC Financial Service Authority and the BC Ministry of Finance on pension related issues. Mark serves on the Canadian Institute of Actuaries Pension Practice Council. He also chaired the Pension Plan Financial Reporting Committee of the Canadian Institute of Actuaries from 2017 to 2019 and served on designated groups of the Canadian Actuarial Standards Board. He helped formulate many submissions during BC pension funding reform consultations and continues to provide input on topics such as risk management, climate change and gender identity.

Mark has spoken at numerous events for ACPM, CPBI, Aon and the CIA, most recently on the topic of inclusion for pension plans (CPBI Banff and ACPM Vancouver in 2024, and CPBI Saskatoon in 2023).

Patrick McCalmont, CFA
Chief Strategy & Operating Officer
Canso Investment Counsel

Patrick attended Queen’s University graduating with a Bachelor of Arts (Political Studies) in 2007. In 2009, he earned a Master of Philosophy from the University of Dublin, Trinity College specializing in International Politics. Patrick joined Canso in 2010 and was awarded his CFA charter in 2015. Patrick has held many roles at Canso within the investment team and was promoted to Portfolio Manager in 2015 and later appointed the head of client service and marketing in 2019. In September 2023, Patrick became the Chief Strategy and Operating Officer. In this role, Patrick continues to lead client service and marketing and is also responsible for the oversight of all non-investment related activities for Canso. In addition, Patrick continues to contribute to the investment team as a Portfolio Manager

Ian A. McKinnon, CFA
Chief Investment Officer

Addenda CApital

Ian focuses on creating synergies between portfolio management teams. He also fosters collaboration among the investment teams and with Sustainable Investing, Economics, Operations and Client Partnerships and Business Development. This integrated approach allows for the optimization of investment strategies to meet clients' needs. His career spans career spans over 30 years in the financial industry, with leadership positions at Addenda Capital, Alphaquest Investment Management, and McLean Budden/Sun Life Investment Management. Ian holds a bachelor's degree in economics and a certificate in administration from Wilfrid Laurier University, as well as the Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) designation.

David Morton
Senior Director and Canadian DC Leader

WTW

David is an actuary and Senior Director in WTW’s Retirement practice. David is also WTW’s Canadian DC leader. With more than 30 years of consulting experience, David is passionate about helping plan sponsors and members make the most of their retirement plans. He has deep expertise in a wide variety of pension topics, including governance, risk management and plan design.
David has been invited to speak on retirement topics by a variety of organizations including the CPBI, ACPM, the Conference Board of Canada, the Canadian Payroll Institute and Federated Press.
David holds an Honours Bachelor of Mathematics in Actuarial Science from the University of Waterloo. He is a Fellow of both the Canadian Institute of Actuaries and the Society of Actuaries. David also sits on the Canadian Institute of Actuaries’ Professional Conduct Board.
When he’s not thinking about retirement programs, David likes to spend his time playing volleyball, skiing and cycling. David lives in Vancouver with his wife and two boys.

Ana Nunes
Chair, Board of Trustees of the MoveUP/ICBC
President, APN Advisory Canada

Ana Nunes has worked in the pension industry for over 30 years as an actuary, investment, operational and governance professional. She is currently Chair of the Board of Trustees of the MoveUP/ICBC Pension Plan and runs her own consulting business, APN Advisory Canada.
Ana held various leadership roles during her 13 years at OMERS, including Senior Vice President of Plan Risk, Senior Vice President of Pension Services, President of OMERS Investment Management, and Plan Actuary. During her prior 18-year consulting career at Mercer, she advised clients on the full spectrum of pension plan management issues.
Ana is actively involved in various pension industry leadership initiatives:
• she is currently Chair of the Canadian Institute of Actuaries’ Enterprise Risk Management Practice Committee (ERMPC)
• she was a member of the Industry Working Group established by CAPSA to assist in the creation of new Risk Management Guidelines for Pension Plans,
• she is an instructor for the Pension Plan Administrators Course (PPAC) through Humber College, and
• she is a member of the Women in Pensions leadership committee
Ana has delivered numerous presentations throughout her career, and has most recently spoken at Aon’s Wealth Insights Conference (Miami, 2023) and Responsible Investment Forum (Toronto, 2024).
In addition to being a Fellow of the Canadian Institute of Actuaries and Society of Actuaries, Ana is a CFA Charterholder and holds the ICD.D designation from the Institute of Corporate Directors. Ana holds an Honours Bachelor of Science degree from McMaster University.

Jackie Patel
Asistant Vice-President
Marketing & Communications, Group Retirement Services, Sun Life

Jackie has more than 20 years of experience leading high-performing teams at large financial institutions in the group retirement services business. She joined Sun Life in 2019, as AVP of Marketing and Communications. In her current role, she is responsible for the overall leadership and execution of plan sponsor marketing and communication initiatives and delivering key market insights through the thought leadership strategy.

A strong advocate for the evolution of the plan sponsor and member experience, Jackie is recognized for her knowledge of the group retirement business and proven ability to create effective, industry-leading marketing strategies that generate meaningful outcomes for plan members.

She has a Bachelor of Commerce in Finance from Concordia University (now John Molson School of Business) and is a Certified Financial Planner with FP Canada.

Christopher Pinto, CFA
Director, Investments
WTW

Christopher Pinto has over 25 years of experience in the investment industry across both institutional and retail/high net worth markets, covering traditional and alternative strategies. His focus has been on asset allocation, investment strategy, portfolio construction and manager oversight. He previously served as a Portfolio Manager at a Toronto-based pension plan and as Head of Canadian Portfolio Management at a leading investment consulting firm. Christopher is based out of our Vancouver office.

Christopher graduated from McGill University with a Bachelor of Commerce. He is a CFA Charterholder and a member of the CFA Institute.

Ramy Rayes
Executive Vice President, Investment Strategy & Risk
BCI

Ramy Rayes joined BCI in July 2016. He is responsible for setting, implementing, and monitoring clients’ investment strategies and for providing independent advice to BCI’s stakeholders. With $250.4 billion of gross managed assets as of March 31, 2024, BCI is one of Canada’s largest institutional investors within the global capital markets.

Most recently, Ramy led BCI’s strategic asset allocation team and was responsible for research and recommendations related to clients’ asset allocation, investment strategies, and a wide range of other investment topics.

Prior to joining BCI, Ramy spent a decade at Morneau Shepell Ltd. (now LifeWorks Inc.) in Montreal as Principal, Asset and Risk Management, where he advised employers on all aspects of asset & liability management for pension funds. Before this, Ramy spent two years at the Laurentian Bank of Canada.

Ramy holds a bachelor of science in mathematics specializing in actuarial science from the University of Montreal. He is an associate of the Society of Actuaries and the Canadian Institute of Actuaries, and a financial risk manager certified by the Global Association of Risk Professionals.

He serves on the Board of Directors for the QuadReal Property Group.

Pavithra Ravi
Head of Pharmacy Strategy and Pharmaceutical Relationships
Pharmacist, Manulife

Pavithra Ravinatarajan is a practicing pharmacist in the region of Kitchener, Ont. and Waterloo, Ont. She works in both traditional retail and compounding pharmacy, in benefits strategy at Manulife and also teaches business at the University of Waterloo’s school of pharmacy.

Ravinatarajan has spent more than 15 years in various areas of pharmacy and health care. As an experienced leader, subject matter expert and innovator, she understands the requirements of embracing innovation. She has worked in retail pharmacy, long-term care and specialty pharmacy, health benefits management, drug plan design, operational excellence/workflow/process centralization and technology integration. At her core, Ravinatarajan has a passion for patient care and the growth of the pharmacy profession.

Philippe Rickli
Principal, Pension and Savings
Normandin Beaudry

Philippe Rickli joined Normandin Beaudry in 2011 and is a Principal in the Pension and Savings teams. His ability to find solutions to his clients' pension and savings issues, combined with his leadership skills, have led him to work on various types of mandates. He has mastered a wide range of consulting services for federal, private, public, and parapublic organizations.

Philippe takes an active role in client relationships, managing ongoing projects, including investment monitoring, reviewing fund lineups and investment policies, optimizing daily operations with service providers, plan design, benchmarking, and employee benefit programs. He excels at simplifying complex concepts and has a remarkable ability to synthesize information, allowing him to communicate effectively and directly with his clients.

Philippe is also responsible for decumulation initiatives at Normandin Beaudry, effectively implementing these solutions for his clients. His analytical skills allow him to approach each project with rigor and precision, ensuring optimal results. Philippe also co-manages the firm's annuity purchasing team (group and individual) – a risk management strategy for pension plans, and a decumulation strategy for individuals.

Jamie Ross,

Jamie is a Partner with Deloitte, and leads the Cyber Risk team in British Columbia. He has over 20 years of experience in IT, risk management and information protection, with a focus on security and privacy. In the past 15 years, he has focused exclusively on serving the BC Public Sector, including core Government ministries, Health Authorities and Crown Corporations, and in that capacity has worked with several public sector pension plans, pension administrators and investment management organizations. He helps organizations assess their current cybersecurity posture, identify strengths and gaps, and develop and implement enhancement programs to address security risks. He has also actively helped organization improve their resilience through extensive incident preparation and tabletop exercises and simulations, and has supported several organizations in responding to major cybersecurity incidents.

Barbara Sanders, FSA, FCIA
Associate Professor
Department of Statistics and Actuarial Science
Fraser Univerisity

Barbara Sanders, FSA, FCIA, is an actuarial educator and researcher. After spending 8 years in pension consulting, Barbara joined Simon Fraser University as a faculty member in 2010. Her research is heavily influenced by her background in industry, exploring emerging issues in pension practice. Current interests include sustainability in occupational pension plans, and the effective design, management and regulation of risk sharing in these arrangements. Barbara is actively involved in public policy discussions surrounding pensions: she chaired the Canadian Institute of Actuaries’ Task Force on Target Benefit Plans, is an Associate Fellow of the National Institute on Ageing (NIA) at Toronto Metropolitan University and a member of the C. D. Howe Institute’s Pension Policy Council. She also co-leads the NIA’s newly formed Pension Centre of Excellence. Barbara holds a BSc in Mathematics and an MSc in Actuarial Science.

Cynthia Shaw-Pereira
Vice President, Head of Asset Owner Segment
CIBC Mellon 

Cynthia is Vice President, Head of the Asset Owner Segment at CIBC Mellon.  She oversees client management for CIBC Mellon’s asset owner clients as well as the development of innovative solutions for leading Canadian pension plans, endowments, foundations, governments, corporations and other asset owners.  Cynthia has 20 years of industry experience, and is a recognized thought leader on performance measurement, risk analytics and ESG integration, as well as a regular speaker at Canadian investment industry forums She holds certificates in Investment Performance Measurement (CIPM) and ESG Investing from the CFA Institute as well as a Bachelor of Commerce from the University of Toronto.

Julianna Spiropoulos
Partner, Investment Consulting
TELUS Health

Julianna Spiropoulos is a Partner and Head of Investment Strategy for the Investment & Risk Practice at TELUS Health. Julianna has worked with private and public pension plans, endowments and other funds on various projects including asset-liability and sustainability studies, Board education, and investment manager structure reviews. She has over 11 years of investment and asset-liability risk consulting experience and 17 years of pension investment and corporate treasury experience at companies in the energy sector.

In her consulting roles, Julianna has worked with private and public pension plans, multi-employer pension plans, insurance funds, endowments and other funds on various initiatives. She holds a Bachelor of Science in Actuarial Science, an MBA and a Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) designation.

Christie Stephenson
Executive Director, Peter P. Dhillon Centre for Business Ethics
UBC Sauder School of Business   

Christie Stephenson has been the Executive Director of the Peter P. Dhillon Centre for Business Ethics at UBC Sauder Business School since 2016. She previously spent more than 15 years working in ESG investing and has remained involved in the field since by teaching ESG investment to undergraduate and MBA students, and as a board director of four UNPRI signatories, member of the Metro Vancouver Zero Emissions Innovation Centre’s investment committee and Watershed Security Fund of BC’s investment working group, pension trustee, and judge for the Canadian Investment Review's Pension Leadership Awards.

Scott Sweatman 
Partner
Dentons LLP

Scott helps clients establish and sustain pension, benefit and deferred compensation plans, providing counsel on regulatory compliance, pension, governance and funding issues, as well as the impact of mergers and acquisitions on these plans. From a tax perspective, he works with clients to develop executive and deferred compensation plans, and advise them on issues around stock options, retiring allowances, profit sharing and corporate reorganizations. Scott also assists professional athletes in establishing retirement compensation arrangements. He also acts as an arbitrator in public sector pension plan disputes.

Scott also assists national and multi-national clients, as well as multi-employer plan sponsors, with provincial, federal and Income Tax Act compliance. For over fifteen years, he worked as a senior consultant with two major multi national actuarial and accounting firms. With this experience, he is uniquely positioned to provide strategic legal consulting advice in tandem with professionals from the actuarial and accounting professions.

Scott is the past Co-Chair of the Alberta-British Columbia Joint Expert Panel on Pension Standards, working with five of Alberta and British Columbia’s leading experts in pensions to review pension legislation in the two provinces and make recommendations to both governments for fundamental reforms to pension legislation. He is past national and regional chair of the Canadian Pension & Benefits Institute, past chair of the Pension, Benefits and Compensation Section of the Canadian Bar Association (British Columbia), past chair of the Corporate Counsel Section of the Canadian Bar Association (British Columbia), former member of the Pension Advisory Council to the British Columbia Government, and former member of the Trustee Act Modernization Committee of British Columbia.

Scott also served on the Board of Directors of NAV Canada from 2010 to January, 2022, Canada’s national private sector civil navigation services provider which has pension plan assets in excess of $7 billion. He is a past member and also past chair of NAV’s Pension Committee and past member of their Corporate Governance Committee.

Scott is recognized in the 2011- 2023 editions of The Best Lawyers in Canada in the area of Employee Benefits Law & Real Estate Law. He is also recognized by Chambers Global (2013- 2021) and Chambers Canada (2016-2020) as a leading lawyer in the area of Pensions & Benefits. Scott is consistently recommended by the Canadian Legal Lexpert Directory, Pensions and Employee Benefits. He has been practising law since 1987.

Fiona Tam
Assistant Vice-President, Strategy, Data & Analytics
Group Retirement Services, Sun Life

Fiona has more than 15 years of experience in financial services industry. Since joining Sun Life in 2009, she’s worked across the organization to drive strategy in areas including Public and Corporate Affairs, Client Experience, and Corporate Strategy. In 2022 Fiona was appointed to her current role as AVP, Strategy, Data & Analytics for Group Retirement Services. She is responsible for developing and executing on the growth strategy for the group retirement business and delivering insights to drive better plan designs and plan member outcomes.

Fiona holds a Master of Business Administration (MBA) from Rotman School of Management and a Bachelor of Mathematics, major in Computer Science from University of Waterloo.

Isabelle Tremblay
Director, Asset Owner Segment Lead
RBC Investor Services

Isabelle Tremblay has more than 25 years of experience in operations management, process improvement and client relationship. Isabelle has been with RBC for 8 years and has recently joined the Transformation and Client solutions team as Director, Asset Owner Segment Lead.  In this role, she is responsible for the end-to-end product offering for the Pensions client segment, and the product roadmap for Private Capital Services and Risk & Investment Analytics. Prior to this,

she was responsible for providing outstanding customer experience to RBC IS core clients and developing operational strategies with clients to increase interoperability, efficiency and business automation with them.

Before to joining RBC in 2017, Isabelle spent 2 years as Senior Director, Corporate Banking for National Bank of Canada where she was primarily responsible for the operational management of all financing and operations activities banking of corporate clients. Over the past 17 years, Isabelle has held various operational positions at GE Capital primarily related to the financing and continuous improvement contracts where she was trained as Blackbelt. Isabelle holds a law degree from the University of Ottawa, practiced litigation for 5 years before reorienting her career in finance.

Troy Milnthorp, FSA, FCIA, ICD.D

Troy Milnthorp is the Senior Managing Director of Corporate Fund Services at the Saskatchewan Teachers’ Federation, where he oversees all aspects of the pension, benefit and investment programs for the Federation. Prior to joining the Federation, Troy was a partner for a global HR consulting firm, where he provided actuarial consulting services to clients across Canada. He is currently a Director on the Sandbox Mutual Insurance Company board of directors. He is also the owner and operator of 14 Llamas Woodworking Ltd.

Jason Vary
President
Actuarial Solutions Inc

Jason Vary, President of Actuarial Solutions Inc., has practiced in defined benefit pension and retiree health plans for over twenty-five years. He has experience with many plan designs including single-employer, multi-employer, jointly-sponsored, private sector, government, unionized, non-unionized, as well as registered and non-registered executive plans. Jason joined Actuarial Solutions Inc. in 2006 and is a Fellow of the Canadian Institute of Actuaries and the Society of Actuaries. Jason is an active volunteer with the Canadian Institute of Actuaries, the International Actuarial Association, and the Financial Services Regulatory Authority of Ontario.

Eva Villalba, M.B.A., MSCHCT, VBHC Green Belt
Executive Director, Québec Cancer Coalition
Founding partner – Expertise Valeur en Santé

Eva Villalba is the Executive Director of the Quebec Cancer Coalition, an influential Canadian non-profit patient advocacy group dedicated to improving the Quebec health-care system for people affected by cancer. Since 2008, she has been involved in health-care charities, advocacy groups and non-profits. She graduated from McGill University with a double major in Psychology and Applied Linguistics, then completed an MBA from HEC Montréal with the objective to apply best business practices to the public & non-profit sector. Eva is passionate about good governance, public policy, community impact, health-care reform and social innovation. Eva is the first Quebecker and Canadian to obtain a graduate degree in Value-Based Health Care (VBHC) with an MSc. in Health Care Transformation at the University of Texas at Austin. Eva has an extensive international network of Value-Based Health Transformation Leaders, has a VBHC Green Belt Certification from VBHC Center Europe and is their official Canadian Ambassador. She is also the co-chair of the Resilient Healthcare Coalition (RHC), a diverse group of health system leaders across the public, private, and non-profit sectors committed to helping Canadian health care systems enhance patient care and improve health outcomes by becoming faster, nimbler, and better able to adapt to future shocks. Eva is a fierce patient advocate and believes strongly in the potential of the Quebec health-care system to be a world-class leader in Value-Based Health Care (VBHC).

Marc-André Vinson
Senior Consultant & Director
SAI Actuarial Services

Marc-André has over 30 years of experience in the field of actuarial consulting for pension plans. Prior to joining SAI Actuarial Services as both a Senior Consultant and the Director of the Ottawa office, he held various roles over his career, including that of Canadian Retirement Practice Leader for Buck Consultants. He was also a Consultant in Vancouver for Western Compensation & Benefits Consultants.

Marc-André distinguished himself by being involved with multiple boards of trustees and joint pension advisory committees. His primary clients have included the largest federal public service union’s pension plan, a major international airline and several professional associations. He has also worked with clients in the private, municipal and university sectors, including multi-employer and target benefit pension plans. He has served pension plans registered in every province across Canada, as well as federally-registered plans.

Throughout his career, Marc-André has delivered a wide array of mandates, including the development of governance and funding policies, plan redesigns, mergers and wind-ups, and has hosted a large number of information sessions and general meetings for the members of all sorts of pension plans.

Marc-André holds a Bachelor's degree in Mathematics (Actuarial option) from the University of Montreal, from which he graduated in 1991. He has been an Associate of the Society of Actuaries since 1993 and is also an Associate of the Canadian Institute of Actuaries. He regularly acts as a speaker on pension matters in industry seminars and webinars and has volunteered as a spokesperson for a task force of the Canadian Institute of Actuaries that brought
proposals to federal members of parliament in order to retool the Canadian pension system.

Joan Weir
Vice President, Group Benefits
CLHIA

Joan is the vice president of group benefits for CLHIA (Canadian Life and Health Insurance Association), a voluntary trade association with member companies that account for all of Canada's life and health insurance business. In her role, Joan is responsible for analysis on industry issues, policy strategy development and to build consensus on concerns important to member companies. An important part of the health portfolio is working within industry, including with national healthcare associations as well as with provincial/federal payers on benefit programs, specifically on best practices, strategy, advocacy and sustainability. Joan has been with the CLHIA for more than 9 years in this role.
Joan brings 20+ years of benefits management expertise to her position at CLHIA, having worked for insurers and administrators on both private and public sector programs, notably with First Canadian Health and Health Canada on the NIHB program and most recently with Medavie Blue Cross.

Nick Winch, CFA
Principal
Harbourvest

Nick Winch joined HarbourVest’s investor relations team in 2021, with a focus on coordinating, monitoring, and enhancing relationships with new and existing investors and consultants across Canada.

Nick joined the Firm from BlackRock, where he was most recently a Vice President and relationship manager within the Institutional Client Business, responsible for developing and maintaining relationships with institutional investors, including public and corporate pension plans, foundations and endowments, and financial institutions.

Nick received a BCom in Economics & Finance from McGill University. He holds the Chartered Financial Analyst designation.

Murray Wright, FCIA, FFA C.Act
Senior Director
Eckler Ltd

A Senior Director and consulting actuary in Eckler’s pension practice in Vancouver, Murray has 20 years of experience advising pension plans in Canada and the UK. Murray has expertise in long-term strategy, risk management, asset-liability modelling, funding and benefit policies and demographic risk modelling. His focus is on making sure that these complicated issues can be turned into understandable and actionable advice.

Murray holds a Bachelor of Science in Mathematics and Statistics from the University of Edinburgh. Murray is a Fellow of both the Canadian Institute of Actuaries and the Institute and Faculty of Actuaries in the UK.