Breakfast (Rosseau Ballroom Salons 1-2)

Opening remarks and icebreaker activity (Rosseau Ballroom Salons 3-5)

In her keynote address, Janice Gross Stein will highlight the economic and geopolitical risks affecting the behaviour of markets. From the invasion of Ukraine, growing stresses in the Western system of alliances and deepening conflict between the United States and China to declining workforce participation and rising inflation, her speech will connect the dots between major world events and the potential risks they pose, leaving delegates better prepared to manage and mitigate risks.

Speaker:  Janice Gross Stein, founding director of the Munk School of Global Affairs, University of Toronto

With rising rates and volatile markets, ensuring fixed income portfolios generate sufficient returns while managing risk effectively is a priority for many plan sponsors. In this session, Jeff Moore will share his expert perspective on the fixed-income environment and allocation strategies plan sponsors can employ to succeed in these difficult times.

Networking break (Rosseau Ballroom Foyer)

In this session, Saad Qais will share insights about managing and operating renewable energy assets, including wind and solar farms. He will discuss the key risks that owners of renewable infrastructure assets should be aware of and several effective strategies that can be used to mitigate these risks.

Speaker:  Saad Qais, head of U.S. asset management, Greencoat Capital

Last year, inflation rates across the world hit levels not seen in decades. The consequences for defined benefit pension plans could be substantial.

As many plan sponsors consider whether they should adjust investment policies to account for persistently high inflation, this session will provide an overview of Manulife Investment Management’s research into just how sensitive index-linked and other DB plan's liabilities are to inflation and the asset classes that could help mitigate its impact.

Speaker:  Eric Menzer, senior portfolio manager, global head of OCIO and fiduciary solutions, multi-asset solutions team, Manulife Investment Management

Lunch (Port Carling Terrace)

The existential threat of the climate emergency creates unprecedented financial risks for pension funds — physical, transitional, regulatory, legal, reputational and systemic. The last two years have seen Canada’s largest public pension funds racing to make net-zero commitments, develop climate risk strategies and action plans and build the internal resources and processes to manage growing concerns from beneficiaries about their retirement savings. As custodians of assets based around the world, Canada’s pension funds are highly exposed to climate change and must play an outsize role in the transition away from fossil fuels. In this session, Patrick DeRochie will share his assessment of how Canada’s pension funds are currently managing these unprecedented climate risks, why investing in the best long-term interests of their beneficiaries requires pension funds to take action to rapidly decarbonize the global economy and what pension funds should include in a credible climate plan.

Speaker:  Patrick DeRochie, senior manager, Shift Action for Pension Wealth and Planet Health

Investors are seeking increased exposure to private markets—making the need to fully understand the opportunity set, current market pressures and the nuances of product structure and implementation take of even greater importance.

This session will share experiences from global clients and discuss how investors can optimize their private markets exposure in the current market environment, while expanding their capabilities by taking an innovative approach to accessing opportunities, constructing portfolios and managing all aspects of risk.

Speaker:  Darren Spencer, director, client portfolio manager, alternative investments, Russell Investments

In this session, Corrado Russo will walk through how REITs have performed before, during and post previous recessionary periods and what it might suggest in terms of expectations looking forward.

Speaker: Corrado Russo, managing partner and head of global securities, Hazelview Investments

Networking break (Rosseau Ballroom Foyer)

Plan sponsors worried about the changing rate environment aren't alone. In this session, Blair Reid explores how investors are using non-traditional fixed income strategies to provide attractive levels of income and diversification as well as reposition their existing asset mix or risk budget in response to changing circumstances.

Speaker: Blair Reid , partner, senior portfolio manager, multi-asset and income, BlueBay (part of RBC Global Asset Management)

This session will propose a four-state probability model for stock market phases — trends and sub-trends labelled bear markets and bear rallies, bull markets and bull corrections. It will also explain how forecasts based on this mixture-distribution model can improve investment and risk management decisions. For example, the state-specific distributions provide useful information, particularly with respect to the risk estimates associated with the alternative stock market phases.

Speaker: Tom McCurdy, professor of finance and Bonham Chair in International Finance, Rotman School of Management, University of Toronto

Cocktail reception and dinner (The Rock Golf Course Restaurant)