DC Plan Summit
October 6, 2021 | Virtual event
Featured speakers
Keynote speaker
Bonnie-Jeanne MacDonald, director of financial security research, the National Institute on Ageing, Ryerson University
Bonnie-Jeanne is the director of financial security research at the National Institute on Ageing (NIA), Ryerson University (Toronto). She is also a fellow of the Society of Actuaries, a fellow of the Canadian Institute of Actuaries and the resident scholar at Eckler Ltd.
Her research focuses on the financial and health aspects of Canada's ageing population. Bringing together leading industry experts and building on academic best practices coupled with innovative ideas, her work aims to improve retirement financial security for Canadians through practical insights, industry innovations and government solutions.
She has published numerous academic papers on a wide variety of topics relating to retirement financial security for Canadians. Her research contributions have received numerous awards and have been adopted by industry and government, in Canada and around the world. She is a prolific keynote speaker at industry and public policy engagements and a regular contributor to the Globe and Mail. A recipient of the 2001 Gold Medal in Actuarial Science at the University of Western Ontario, Bonnie-Jeanne received her FSA in 2004 and FCIA in 2019, and also holds a PhD in actuarial mathematics from Scotland's Heriot-Watt University. In 2011, she was chosen as one of Canada's top young economists and attended the Lindau Nobel Laureate Meeting in Germany.
Natalie Bussière, pension lawyer, Blake Cassels & Graydon LLP
Natalie Bussière dedicates her practice to employment and labour law, as well as pension, benefits and executive compensation. She has represented clients in litigation concerning surplus assets of a pension plan, the validity of contribution holidays taken by employers and in litigation contesting the legality of clauses found in rules and regulations of pension plans. Bussière counsels various boards of trustees, pension committees and plan sponsors. She also acts as Quebec counsel for a few multi-employer pension plans.
She has worked extensively in the field of labour relations, negotiating employment contracts, collective agreements and other agreements, including issues related to the application of the Charter of Human Rights and Freedoms. She also advises on the transfer, hiring or termination of upper management and employees.
Additionally, Bussière is closely following developments on environmental, social and governance factors, including with respect to employee relations and benefits management, and advising clients in this regard.
Bruno Weinberg Crocco, portfolio manager, Fidelity Investments
Bruno Weinberg Crocco is a portfolio manager in the global asset allocation group at Fidelity Investments. In the role, Crocco co-manages Fidelity Canada’s ClearPath retirement portfolios.
Prior to assuming his current position in February 2019, Crocco was responsible for providing research support to the portfolio managers of global institutional solutions and the U.S. and Canada retail solutions groups.
Additionally, Crocco was responsible for researching active asset allocation investment signals and disseminating his findings across GAA. Previously, he was a manager in the financial markets group where he was responsible for monitoring global financial markets for trends and risks that might impact Fidelity’s mutual funds and businesses. He’s been in the investment industry since joining Fidelity in 2010.
Crocco earned his bachelor of arts degree in pure and applied mathematics, his bachelor of science degree in business administration and his master of science degree in mathematical finance, all from Boston University. He’s also a Chartered Financial Analyst charter holder.
Michael Dodd, associate vice-president of pensions, treasury and shareholder services, the Co-operators Group Ltd.
Michael Dodd joined the Co-operators Group Ltd. in 2003. He's currently the organization's associate vice-president of pensions, treasury and shareholder services. In the role, he oversees the management of the defined contribution pension plan with assets under management of over $1 billion. Dodd also sits on the pension committee of a defined benefit plan for the Co-operators' subsidiary, the Cumis Group.
Known for his passion to improve pension outcomes, Dodd has recently led the research into decumulation options for the Co-operators pension plan.
He's actively involved in the pension industry, serving on the editorial advisory board for the Canadian Investment Review. In addition, he has participated in several Benefits Canada seminars and conferences and has appeared in articles in Benefits Canada's magazine. A member of the Association of Canadian Pension Management. Dodd served for many years on the Ontario Regional Council of ACPM.
He holds a CPA CGA degree and a CFP designation.
Pat Leo, vice-president, Longevity Retirement Solutions
In Leo’s current role as vice-president of Longevity Retirement Solutions with Purpose Investments, he focuses on delivering innovative retirement solutions, thought leadership and dedicated service to institutional clients across Canada. He has more than 20 years of experience in financial services, defined-contribution pension consulting, client management and business development at Mercer, Sun Life Financial and Sun Life Global Investments.
Michelle Loder, partner, defined contribution solutions, Lifeworks Inc.
Michelle is a vice-president at LifeWorks Inc. (formerly Morneau Shepell Inc.) and leads the national DC solutions growth strategy. She joined LifeWorks in early 2015 with more than 18 years of consulting experience providing strategic and multi-disciplinary advice on all aspects of capital accumulation plan management and delivery including plan design, administrative solutions, investment strategies, member engagement and communication, plan governance and ongoing monitoring against program objectives.
Loder is an experienced thought leader in the CAP marketplace. She delivers holistic and forward-thinking solutions that help maximize delivery of CAP benefits to plan members in the achievement of sponsor objectives.
Loder is also a chartered financial analyst, a chartered professional accountant and a chartered accountant and holds designations as a registered financial planner and certified financial planner. She has a bachelor of commerce, honours accounting, from the University of Ottawa. She’s a regular author and industry speaker.
Ilan Kolet, institutional portfolio manager, Fidelity Investments
Ilan Kolet is an institutional portfolio manager for global asset allocation strategies at Fidelity Investments. In the role, Kolet is a member of the investment management team, maintaining a deep knowledge of portfolio philosophy, process and construction. He assists portfolio managers and their chief investment officers in ensuring that portfolios are managed in accordance with client expectations and contributes to investment thought leadership in support of the team. He’s also a principal liaison for portfolio management to a broad range of current and prospective clients and internal partners, providing detailed portfolio reviews, and is a key conduit of client objectives, requirements and marketplace insight back to the investment team. Kolet’s focus is Canadian asset allocation strategies.
Prior to assuming his current position in January 2021, Kolet was head of inflation and commodities research in the global asset allocation group at Fidelity Investments. In the role, he was a member of AART, which conducts economic, fundamental, and quantitative research to develop asset allocation recommendations for Fidelity's portfolio managers and investment teams.
Prior to joining Fidelity in 2014, Kolet was an editor at Bloomberg News, where he contributed to coverage of the Canadian and U.S. economies. Previously, he worked at the Bank of Canada as an economist covering the U.S. economy and commodity prices. In this capacity, he was responsible for performing regular forecasts in advance of interest rate decisions, communicating the results to members of governing council, authoring research papers and re-designing the Bank of Canada’s commodity price index. He’s been in the financial industry since 2002.
Kolet earned his bachelor of arts degree in economics from Carleton University and his master of arts degree in economics from Simon Fraser University.
Martin McInnis, executive director, the Co-operative Superannuation Society pension plan
Martin McInnis is the executive director of the Co-operative Superannuation Society (CSS) Pension Plan, one of Canada’s largest and oldest defined contribution pension plans. Martin has a strong appreciation for the positive difference that co-operative enterprise makes in the lives of everyday people and their communities. He is proud to be leading the CSS Pension Plan on behalf of more than 300 Canadian co-operative and credit union employers and approximately 51,000 employee members and retirees. Martin has a broad range of experience and skills in the areas of strategy, finance, operations, accounting, risk management and information technology. He holds a bachelor of commerce (honours in computer science) from the University of Saskatchewan, is a chartered financial analyst (CFA) charterholder and is a chartered professional accountant (FCPA, FCMA).
Susan Nickerson, partner, pensions and employment practice, Torys LLP
Susan Nickerson is a partner in Torys LLP’s pensions and employment practice. Her practice focuses on all areas of pension and benefits law and governance, including advising plan sponsor clients on issues ranging from fiduciary duties and risk management, plan conversion and funding, to implementation of new plan designs. She also provides advice on the pension and benefits plan implications of corporate transactions, restructurings and insolvencies. With particular expertise in pension plan governance, Nickerson develops and implements governance structures and systems. She’s a frequent speaker and moderator on emerging industry issues and has a particular interest in policy development on a provincial and national level. Nickerson is also a past chair of the board of the Association of Canadian Pension Management. In 2016, she was the first recipient of the ACPM Don Ireland Award in recognition of outstanding volunteerism in the field of pensions and benefits law and governance.
Taylor Pidgeon, associate director, relationship management, MFS Investment Management Ltd.
Taylor Pidgeon is an associate director of relationship management with MFS Investment Management Ltd. Canada. In this role, he’s responsible for the overall client experience of the defined contribution advisors, as well as providing ongoing support for distribution partners in Canada.
Pidgeon began the role in 2020 following one year as an associate relationship manager. He joined MFS in 2015 as a platforms and professional buyers coordinator. He previously worked for Royal Bank of Canada as a bank advisor and licensed mutual fund representative. He began his career in the financial services industry in 2013.
Pidgeon holds a bachelor of science degree in economics from the University of Victoria, as well as the chartered financial analyst designation from the CFA Institute. He’s also a member of the CFA Society Toronto.
Michael Sager, vice-president, multi-asset and currency management, CIBC Asset Management Inc.
Michael Sager is a member of CIBC Asset Management Inc.’s client portfolio manager team. He partners with all CIBC distribution channels to deliver targeted thought leadership, education and investment advice and perspective to clients and consultants. Prior to joining CIBC Asset Management in 2018, Sager was an asset allocation consultant at Alignvest Management Corp. He was also a senior portfolio manager at the Canadian Pension Plan Investment Board, a fixed income currency strategist at Wellington Management Co., head of currency research at J.P. Morgan Asset Management and Putnam Investments. He was also an economist at the European Central Bank and the Bank of England.
Sager earned a Ph.D. in economics from the University of Warwick and a Master of Science degree (with distinction) in economics from the University of London.
Jessica Sclafani, director and defined contribution strategist, investment solutions group, MFS Investment Management
Jessica Sclafani is a director and defined contribution strategist for the investment solutions group at MFS Investment Management. Her responsibilities include leading DC research and the firm’s thought-leadership agenda, as well as working extensively with the firm’s client-facing teams to represent MFS in the marketplace. Before Jessica joined MFS in 2019, she spent five years at Cerulli Associates as director of U.S. retirement research, where she was primarily responsible for the U.S. DC and IRA markets. Before that, she was an analyst on the U.S. pensions team at Wellington Management Co. for four years. Jessica earned a Bachelor of Arts from Boston College and holds the chartered alternative investment analyst certification. She’s also a member of the executive committee and chair of the editorial review board for the Defined Contribution Institutional Investment Association.
Fraser Stark, president, longevity retirement platform, Purpose Investments Inc.
Fraser Stark leads the longevity retirement platform at Purpose Investments Inc. Before joining Purpose, he was head of industry at Facebook Inc. in Canada for retail and e-commerce. Previously, Stark held several roles at Influitive Corp. and worked for a number of years consulting with Bain &Co. and Jackman Reinvents with clients in the retail banking, asset management and pension management sectors. He has more than 20 years of global business leadership, as well as a passion for driving change and solving challenging problems with technology. Stark also holds an MBA from Stanford University and an HBA from Ivey Business School at Western University. In the community, he’s an active supporter of the Nature Conservancy of Canada and Stanford Graduate School of Business.
Lisa Weir, director of retirement and savings strategy, Royal Bank of Canada
Lisa Weir is director of retirement and savings strategy at Royal Bank of Canada. She has responsibility for the bank’s Canadian and U.K. pension and savings programs with a focus on strategy, design, governance and creating exceptional employee experience through education, communication and financial wellness solutions. Prior to joining RBC in 2006, she spent several years consulting in Toronto and the U.K., advising clients on their defined benefit pension plans. Weir holds a bachelor of science with honours from Western University in actuarial science and statistics.
More speakers coming soon.
