Benefits Canada Awards celebrate industry excellence

Plan sponsors recognized
Pension plan sponsors were recognized by their peers in five award categories. The award for Plan Sponsor, presented to a plan sponsor organization that has demonstrated leadership and innovation in pension investment, plan design, administration and/or governance, went to Quebec’s Régime de retraite par financement salarial des groupes communautaires et de femmes. The organization was recognized for implementing an innovative multi-employer pension plan solution for the more than 50,000 employees working in the province’s community and women’s groups.

The Plan Member Communications award, which recognizes a plan sponsor organization that has developed innovative and effective strategies for communicating pension plans and/or investments to plan members, was awarded to NAV Canada. The privately run, not-for-profit corporation owns and operates Canada’s civil air navigation system and employs more than 5,000 people across the country. Its plan communications strategy involves elements such as a detailed annual Total Compensation Statement, financial seminars for employees focused on retirement issues, and education workshops for bargaining representatives designed to ensure that employees can obtain useful pension information from their unions.

Kevin Press of Sun Life Financial took home this year’s Volunteer award, presented to an individual who has demonstrated dedication and leadership in voluntary endeavours in the pension industry. Press is currently the chair of the CPBI and has a long history of active involvement with the organization.

The Lifetime Achievement Award went to John Solursh, for a career spent demonstrating leadership and innovation in the pension industry. Solursh recently retired from the firm Blake, Cassels & Graydon LLP. Since the 1970s, his career has been focused on the practice of pension law. Aside from being part of some important legal cases related to pensions and benefits, Solursh has a strong track record of speaking on issues at conferences and events around the world. He was also appointed inaugural chair of the Actuarial Standards Oversight Council and is the only lawyer to sit on the council.

Josephine Marks of Scotiabank took home the Most Influential Plan Sponsor award. Her peers recognized her for her influence, leadership, innovation and impact in the pension industry. She has been managing director, pension assets, at Scotiabank since 2008. She has also held senior positions with the Hospitals of Ontario Pension Plan, Maritime Life and Sun Life.

Money managers celebrated
The evening also included special recognition for the best-performing money managers in terms of percentage growth, according to the 2010 edition of Benefits Canada’s Top 40 Money Managers list. Mawer Investment Management Ltd. was named the fastest growing among money managers with less than $1 billion in assets under management, while Lazard Asset Management LLC was fastest growing among those with $1 billion to $10 billion in assets, and TD Asset Management led those with greater than $10 billion in assets. Additionally, Russell Investments Canada was named Fastest Climbing Top 40 Money Manager, for moving up the greatest number of positions in the Top 40 ranking compared with last year.

For more information on Benefits Canada’s annual awards, visit benefitscanada.com/tbca. And be sure to look out for the December issue of Benefits Canada for complete coverage of the awards gala and profiles of each of the winners.

Benefits Canada would like to thank the sponsors of this year’s awards: