Executives from pension fund OPTrust travelled to Washington this week to meet with U.S. economic leaders and pension experts to strengthen ties and promote the Canadian pension model.
“We’ve come here for two main reasons: to build and deepen relationships in the U.S. over the long term and to talk about the benefits of the Canadian model of pension plans,” said Hugh O’Reilly (pictured), president and chief executive officer of OPTrust.
“As U.S. policymakers begin to focus more on pensions and retirement security, there seems to be significant interest in learning about the Canadian approach, including on Capitol Hill,” O’Reilly added, after meeting with Senate officials.
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On Tuesday OPTrust met with pension experts at the Brookings Institute as well as senior officials at the Inter-American Development Bank, the World Bank and International Monetary Fund. On Thursday, they met with Ontario’s representative in Washington, The American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations, in addition to Senate briefings of the finance and the health, education, labour and pensions committees.
O’Reilly was joined in Washington by OPTrust’s chief investment officer, James Davis, and Tim Shortill, vice president, strategy, communications and public affairs.
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