Overview Agenda Meet the speakers



Meet the speakers

Keynote speaker

  • Mark Carney

    Mark Carney

    Vice Chair, Brookfield, UN Special Envoy on Climate Action and Finance; Former Governor of the Bank of England and Bank of Canada; Former Chairman of the Financial Stability Board

    Mark Carney is a Vice Chair of Brookfield Asset Management and Head of ESG and Impact Fund Investing. In this role, he is focused on the development of products for investors that will combine positive social and environmental outcomes with strong risk-adjusted returns.

    Mark is an economist and banker who served as the Governor of the Bank of England from 2013 to 2020, and, prior to that, as Governor of the Bank of Canada from 2008 until 2013. He was Chairman of the Financial Stability Board from 2011 to 2018. Prior to his governorships, he worked at Goldman Sachs and the Canadian Department of Finance. He is a long-time and well-known advocate for sustainability, specifically with regard to the management and reduction of climate risks, and is currently the United Nations Special Envoy for Climate Action and Finance.

    Mark received a bachelor’s degree in economics from Harvard University and a master’s degree and doctorate from Oxford University.

Guest speakers

  • Francesca Adibe

    Francesca Adibe

    Senior Manager, Risk Management, CBC Pension Fund

    In her role as Senior Manager, Risk Management, at the CBC Pension Fund, Francesca is responsible for the management and development of the Plan’s risk management practices and processes, compliance monitoring and performance attribution. In her current role, she serves the Plan’s senior management team and the Board in ensuring that key strategic, investment and operational risks are monitored, measured and adequately managed. 

     

    Ms. Adibe joined the CBC Pension Fund in 2007 as Manager, Asset Management and Control, and served in that role for four years. 

  • Annette Aquin

    Annette Aquin

    Executive Vice President, Finance and Operations, Hamilton Community Foundation

    As Executive Vice-President of Finance and Operations of Hamilton Community Foundation (HCF), Annette oversees the organization's finance, investment and administrative activities. She has been instrumental in HCF’s role as a social finance market builder focusing on HCF’s goal of aligning all of its assets with its mission. This alignment of capital with mission is accomplished through local, national and international direct impact investing and implementation of responsible investing practises for public markets portfolios.


    Annette holds a Bachelor of Commerce degree from McMaster University. Over the course of her 35-year career as a chartered professional accountant, she has worked in public accounting and in the private sector, and has led her own consulting practice. She has served as a director of the Shareholder Association for Research and Education (SHARE) and the Vancity Community Investment Bank. She is a director of the Atkinson Foundation Board and a member of the Table of Impact Investment Practitioners.

  • Mark Campbell

    Mark Campbell

    Trustee and Chair, Investment Committee of the Kisoniyaminaw Heritage Trust Fund

    Mark Campbell is a pension actuary, litigation consultant, university lecturer, and endowment fund trustee. He spent the bulk of his 40-year career with Towers Perrin (now Willis Towers Watson) providing consulting advice on the design, financial management, and investment of pension plans. More recently, he has provided litigation support for disputes that involve actuarial issues, and is now an endowment fund trustee and chair of the fund’s investment committee.

     

    Mark has lectured on actuarial mathematics at two universities and been heavily involved in the leadership of the Canadian Institute of Actuaries, including service on the CIA board of directors and the associated entities that establish actuarial standards of practice.  

  • Susan Hagemeister

    Susan Hagemeister

    Director of Finance, The Winnipeg Foundation

    Susan Hagemeister, FCPA, FCA joined The Winnipeg Foundation in 2004. As the Director of Finance, she leads the financial and administrative aspects of The Foundation's work. A large component of time is dedicated to the development and relationship strategies for charitable organizations that have agency endowment funds and the creation of scholarship funds with The Foundation. Other responsibilities under the finance area includes oversight of investment pool and social finance.

  • Hyewon Kong

    Hyewon Kong

    Vice President, Responsible Investing, Investment Management Corporation of Ontario (IMCO)

    Hyewon Kong is a vice president and Head of Responsible Investing at the Investment Management Corporation of Ontario (IMCO), which manages over $70bn of Ontario public-sector pension funds, where she leads environmental, social and governance (ESG) and sustainable investing strategies across all asset classes. With over 20 years of experience in both corporate and investment management in Asia, Europe and North America, Hyewon has been an ambassador of sustainable investing as an experienced portfolio manager and a subject matter expert on ESG.

    Hyewon serves on the Board of Directors of the University of British Columbia (UBC) Investment Management Trust and on the Environmental Finance Advisory Committee at the University of Toronto. She also lectures on environmental finance and sustainable and impact investment courses. She co-founded and co-chairs Canadian Responsible Investment Working Group and has been named as Canada’s 2020 Clean 50 leaders for creating broad collaborations in the Canadian financial industry to drive a sustainability agenda.

  • Marlene Puffer

    Marlene Puffer

    President and CEO, CN Investment Division

    In her role as President and Chief Executive Officer of the CN Investment Division, Marlene is accountable for all aspects of the investment management and organizational oversight of the CN Pension Trust Funds, one of the largest corporate pension funds in Canada. She is also former vice-chair of the Board of the Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan (HOOPP) and past president of Women in Capital Markets.

     

    Marlene has more than 25 years’ experience in investments, pensions and capital markets at world-class financial institutions and in academia.

     

    Marlene holds a doctorate in finance and applied statistics and a master’s degree in business administration from the Simon Business School at the University of Rochester, as well as a master’s and a bachelor’s degrees in economics from the University of Toronto. She holds a CFA charter and the ICD.D designation granted by the Institute of Corporate Directors.

Mercer speakers

  • Jeff Bunce

    Jeff Bunce

    Asset Class Specialist, Fixed Income Boutique

    Jeff is an Investment Manager Researcher within Mercer’s Wealth business and is based in Toronto. Jeff specializes in fixed income research with primary responsibility for Canadian and US fixed income strategies. In addition, he acts as a resource to consultants for manager searches and other client inquiries related to fixed income.

    Jeff re-joined Mercer in April 2018, after a three-year stint with Morningstar, Inc. where he was a manager research analyst covering fixed income, equity and multi-asset strategies. Prior to this, Jeff was a Senior Associate with Mercer, consulting to pension plans and wealth management firms. He also worked as an Investment Analyst at the Teachers’ Retirement Allowances Fund in Winnipeg, Manitoba, where he supported the due diligence efforts of the Fund. Jeff has been involved in the investment industry since 2009.

    Jeff earned a Bachelor of Commerce  (Honours) from the I.H. Asper School of Business at the University of Manitoba. He is a CFA® charterholder and a member of the Toronto CFA Society.

  • Bernadette Chik

    Bernadette Chik

    Senior Investment Consultant, Toronto

    Bernadette Chik is a principal in Mercer's Wealth business and the Leader of Canadian DC and Financial Wellness Research.

    Bernadette’s main practice area is consulting on all DC aspects, including investment monitoring, plan design, governance and retirement readiness. She also oversees target date manager research activities for Mercer Canada, which includes qualitatively and quantitatively analysing Canadian target date investment managers. Bernadette has been with Mercer since January 2004.

    Bernadette is a CFA® charterholder. She graduated with honours from the University of British Columbia Bachelors of Commerce Program (1999).

  • Shaun Cogswell

    Shaun Cogswell

    Investment Consultant, Halifax

    Shaun is a senior associate in Mercer’s Wealth business in Halifax, covering defined benefit pension plans, endowments and defined contribution arrangements in Atlantic Canada.

    Shaun advises and supports clients on many aspects of the investment program, including asset allocation, investment manager selection, investment structure review and ongoing performance monitoring. Prior to joining Mercer in 2015, Shaun worked for an information technology consulting firm providing research and data analytics to investors in the metals and mining sector.

    Shaun holds a Bachelor of Science from Saint Mary’s University in Halifax.

  • Jonathan Croft

    Jonathan Croft

    Senior Investment Consultant, Halifax

    Jonathan is a principal and senior investment consultant based in Mercer’s Halifax office. His practice area covers both defined benefit and defined contribution pension plans as well as insurance arrangements.

    Working with some of the largest defined benefit pension plans and institutional investment programs in Atlantic Canada, he advises on sophisticated investment and risk management programs. This area of his practice includes the establishment and implementation of portfolio strategic asset mix, designing investment programs that effectively manage risk relative to liabilities and ongoing funding costs, search and selection of investment managers, and monitoring of investment programs.

    In his work with defined contribution pension clients, he advises on effective governance models, ongoing regulatory compliance, performance monitoring, efficient investment structures, plan member engagement and financial wellness.

    Jonathan graduated from St. Francis Xavier University with a degree in business administration and is a CFA® charterholder.

  • Martine Ferland

    Martine Ferland

    President and CEO Mercer, Vice Chair, Marsh McLennan

    Martine Ferland is President and CEO of Mercer, a $5 billion global leader in redefining the world of work, reshaping retirement and investment outcomes, and unlocking real health and well-being. She also serves as Vice Chair of Marsh McLennan (NYSE: MMC), Mercer’s parent and the leading global professional services firm in the areas of risk, strategy and people.

    Before being named Mercer’s President and CEO in 2019, Martine served as Mercer’s Group President and was responsible for leading Regions and Global Business Solutions. Prior to that, she served as President of Mercer’s Europe and Pacific Region, delivering consistent profitable growth and leadership in the institutional investment space.
     

    Prior to Mercer, Martine spent 25 years with Willis Towers Watson, where she held leadership positions in North America and Asia. Martine earned a bachelor's degree in actuarial science from Laval University, Quebec, and is a Fellow of the Society of Actuaries and the Canadian Institute of Actuaries.

  • Monika Freyman

    Monika Freyman

    Head of Responsible Investment, Canada

    Monika is the Head of Responsible Investment for Mercer Canada. Her focus is to drive the creation of solutions and implementable responsible investment consulting advice to address market needs expressed by companies, pension plans and participants across the country.

    Monika has worked in the financial services industry in both fixed income and equity analysis. She currently advises the CFA Institute on how to embed more ESG content into their financial analyst seminars and is a standing author for [LC1] the CFA’s Enterprising Investor Series.

    For the past decade, Monika has been a leader in responsible investing, including projects with Harvard’s Kennedy School and Trillium Asset Management. More recently, she was a director with Ceres, a sustainability research and advocacy enterprise. There, she created and led the Ceres’ Investor Water Hub, a working group of more than 120 global pension funds and managers (with $20 trillion in assets under management), working to evolve environmental, social and governance practices and water integration approaches. She also worked with Ceres’ investor network, including the Global Climate Action 100+ initiative. She was lead author of the Ceres Investor Water Toolkit, a how-to guide on water integration practices in portfolio management, in collaboration with 40 institutional investors.

    With a background in both finance and science, Monika enjoys bridging knowledge and ideas between these two fields.

  • Marie-Léa Girouard

    Marie-Léa Girouard

    Investment Consultant, Montreal

    Marie-Léa is an investment consulting senior associate in our Montreal office. She joined Mercer in 2018.

    Marie-Léa is a key member of all types of client teams, including those relating to and pension plans and not-for-profit funds. Her responsibilities include, but are not limited to, reviewing investment policy statements, performing portfolio stress testing and solvency follow-ups. She is also involved in the monitoring and selection of investment managers for clients and producing a variety of reports in a timely manner. In addition, she often presents reports and participates in investment manager and client meetings.

    Marie-Léa is a CFA® charterholder and a CAIA charterholder. She earned a bachelor’s degree in mathematics, with a major in finance, at the Université de Montréal.

  • Angelita Graham

    Angelita Graham

    Toronto Officer Leader

    Angelita is a partner and Mercer Canada’s Toronto Office Leader, where she leads more than 500 colleagues as they help organizations build brighter futures for their employees. She is also a member of the Mercer Canada Leadership Team. Since joining Mercer in 2013, Angelita has held various leadership roles within the Wealth business, most recently as its National Growth Leader.
     
    As an actuary, she has over 20 years of consulting experience in the pension industry, helping organizations manage the risk and funding requirements associated with their pension plans, supporting them to achieve long-term plan sustainability and better financial outcomes for their employees.
     
    Angelita is committed to promoting diversity and inclusion within the industry and within Mercer, where she led the Toronto chapter of the Women@Mercer business resource group for five years. She is also a long-time volunteer with the Canadian Institute of Actuaries.
     
    Angelita has a bachelor’s degree in mathematics from the University of the West Indies in Jamaica. She also holds a postgraduate diploma in actuarial science from City University in the UK, and an MBA from the University of Leicester in the UK.
     
    She is a Fellow of both the Canadian Institute of Actuaries and the Society of Actuaries.

  • Peter Grant

    Peter Grant

    Senior Investment Consultant, Norwalk

    Peter Grant, CFA is a Partner and senior investment consultant. His primary role is serving sophisticated institutional investment clients of Mercer. Other responsibilities include: U.S. national leader for client satisfaction and quality reviews, member of the U.S. Equity Strategic Research Team, author of papers on target date strategies and retirement readiness, and business leader for several offices.

     

    He has more than 25 years of experience in the investment consulting industry working with clients to create custom solutions that address investment strategy, manager research, market analysis, policies, governance, operational and risk-related processes. His clients include multi-billion wealth management platforms, sovereign wealth funds, corporate defined benefit and defined contribution plans, hospital programs, and not-for-profit endowments and foundations. He periodically presents at conferences focused on investment strategy analysis and design.

     

    Peter received his Chartered Financial Analyst designation in 1996. He graduated from Columbia University with an MBA and Cornell University with a BS in Applied Economics and Business Management.

     

    Recent activities:

    • Transformational Investing: Converting global systemic risks into opportunity, World Economic Forum research initiative with global asset owners
    • Project team leader in strategic asset allocation development, investment policy design, and operating procedure structure for sovereign wealth funds
    • Investment, operational, and governance risk benchmarking assessment for multi-national corporate plan.
    • Project team leader for analysis of target date funds strategy within defined contribution plans.
    • Defined contribution plan peer and survey analysis for top 50 U.S.-based corporate defined contribution plan.
    • Investment consulting to clients with $100 million - $100+ billion assets under management.
  • Peter Hallett

    Peter Hallett

    Senior Investment Consultant, Vancouver

    Peter Hallett is a principal and senior investment consultant based in Mercer’s Vancouver office. Peter works with a variety of institutional investors including pension plan sponsors, endowments and foundations and First Nations to set investment policy, review portfolio structure and asset allocation, evaluate and select investment managers and monitor performance.  Peter is also responsible for developing Mercer’s delegated solutions business in Western Canada.

    Prior to joining Mercer in 2010, Peter spent the previous five years working for an investment manager in a business development and client services role. Before that, he was based in Calgary, and was a senior investment consultant for a major pension consulting firm.


    Peter graduated from the University of Guelph with a degree in management economics, earned his MBA from the Schulich School of Business, and is a CFA Charterholder.

  • Kimberley Hart

    Kimberley Hart

    Senior Investment Consultant, Toronto

    Kimberly is a principal in Mercer’s Wealth business, based out of the Toronto office.

    As an investment consultant, Kimberly advises institutional asset owners on a range of investment-related topics such as strategic asset allocation, risk strategy, manager selection and responsible investing. Prior to joining Mercer in 2017, she spent 5 years as a consultant at Accenture.

    Kimberly is a CFA® charterholder and a member of the CFA Society Toronto. She received an bachelor’s degree in mathematics from Queen’s University.

  • Jo Holden

    Jo Holden

    Global Head of Investment Research

    In her role as Global Head of Investment Research, Jo oversees manager research, responsible investment and strategic research globally.  She manages a group of more than 100 asset-class specialists across diversifying/liquid alternatives, fixed income and equities. Jo is part of Mercer’s global leadership team and chairs a number of our Strategic and Policy Committees. She is also due to take over the Co-Chairmanship of the Investment Consultants Sustainability Working Group.

    Jo was previously Chief Investment Officer for Mercer’s UK advisory team and European Strategic Director of Research, a role in which she ensured that our diverse client base received the best of our global research. Jo is also is an investment consultant for a small number of Mercer’s strategic clients.

    Jo joined Mercer in 2002 from PwC’s actuarial practice and, after several years as an investment consultant in our Liverpool team, has held a number of client-focused and leadership roles. Over 2017 Jo was DB Leader for our Liverpool office, where she was responsible for the integration and leadership of the legacy Investment and Funding teams as Mercer formed our Wealth business. Jo was also Head of Public Sector, leading on the growth of our public sector business and managing strategic client relationships.

    Prior to the integration of the investment and actuarial businesses in late 2016, Jo was a member of the leadership team managing Mercer’s UK Investment Business. Jo also established our successful Manchester Investments team in 2009.

  • Ravin Jesuthasan

    Ravin Jesuthasan

    Global Leader, Transformation Services

    Ravin is the Global Leader of Mercer’s Transformation Services business. He is a recognized global thought leader, futurist and author on the future of work and workforce transformation. He has led multiple research efforts on the global workforce, the emerging digital economy, the rise of artificial intelligence and the transformation of work. Ravin has headed numerous research projects for the World Economic Forum, including many of its groundbreaking studies on the transformation of work and the global workforce. He is a regular participant and presenter at the World Economic Forum’s annual meetings in Davos and Dalian/Tianjin, and is a member of the forum’s steering committee on work and employment.

    Ravin has been a featured speaker on the aforementioned topics at conferences in North America, Europe, Asia Pacific, the Middle East and Latin America. He has also been featured and quoted extensively by leading business media including CNN, BBC, the Wall Street Journal, CNBC, Fortune, FT, The Nikkei (Japan), Les Echoes (France), De Telegraaf (Netherlands), South China Morning Post and Dubai One TV among others. Ravin is a frequent guest lecturer at universities around the world, including Oxford University, Northwestern University and the University of Southern California.

    Ravin was named to the Thinkers 50 Radar Class of 2020. He has also been recognized as one of the top 25 most influential consultants in the world by Consulting Magazine, one of the top eight future of work influencers by Tech News and one of the top 100 HR influencers by HR Executive. He is the author of three books: Transformative HR; Lead The Work: Navigating a World Beyond Employment; and Reinventing Jobs: A 4-Step Approach to Applying Automation to Work. Ravin has written over 150 articles, including 14 for the Harvard Business Review and the Sloan Management Review.

    Ravin holds BBA and MBA degrees and is a CFA® charterholder. Ravin is a Fellow of the RSA (Royal Society for Arts, Manufactures and Commerce). Prior to joining Mercer, Ravin was a managing director and global business leader at Willis Towers Watson for 26 years.

  • Jillian Kennedy

    Jillian Kennedy

    Leader of DC and Financial Wellness, Canada

    Jillian is a partner in Mercer's Wealth Business and is responsible for leading the savings and financial wellness strategy for Canada. She is also a member of the Wealth leadership team and works closely with Mercer’s global teams to understand global trends and solutions. Jillian's main practice area is in supporting organizations and employees in improving their financial confidence and obtaining financial goals for their defined contribution and savings workplace programs. Jillian applies a holistic approach to proactively review Canadian data, research and strategy.

    Jillian has been with Mercer for 14 years and has been supporting better outcomes in financial wellness and retirement savings for over two decades.

  • Yusuke Khan

    Yusuke Khan

    Director of Strategic Research, Canada

    Yusuke joined Mercer in 2018 through the acquisition of Pavilion Advisory Group. Since 1999, Yusuke has worked with institutional investors, such as pension plans, foundations and financial institutions, in the planning, implementation and monitoring of their investment strategies. In particular, he specializes in the analysis of asset allocation options, the structuring of portfolios, and the search and selection of investment management firms.

    Yusuke previously held a number of roles within the Pavilion Research Team and also led the firm’s Manager Monitoring practice. In addition, he has met and evaluated hundreds of portfolio managers in Canada, the United States, Europe, Africa and Asia on behalf of clients of the firm over the past 20 years.

    Yusuke is a CFA® charterholder and holds the FRM designation. He is a graduate of McGill University in Montreal with a bachelor’s degree in finance and marketing.

  • Ashley Knight

    Ashley Knight

    Mercer’s Fellow at the World Economic Forum

    Ashley is currently representing Mercer as a secondee at the World Economic Forum in New York City. Most recently, she was Mercer’s North America Head of Private Debt; prior to that, she worked in Mercer’s London office in Private Equity and Private Debt manager research. She was also a member of Mercer’s Sustainable Opportunities Investment Committee.

    Before joining Mercer, Ashley worked at Credit Suisse in Singapore as an alternatives product specialist for family offices across Southeast Asia. She began her career at State Street Bank in Boston through their premier Professional Development Program, where she worked across their Trading and Fund Solution businesses. Ashley holds a Bachelor of Arts degree from Wellesley College, where she graduated with honours. She is a CAIA charterholder.

  • Pascal Leblanch-Potin

    Pascal Leblanc-Potin

    Investment Consultant

    Pascal is an investment consulting associate based in Mercer’s Montreal office. His work covers both the defined benefit and defined contribution pension plans as well as alternative investment solutions for individuals.

     

    Working with a large range of defined benefit pension plans and endowments across Canada, he helps in the generation of ideas and research for sophisticated investment and risk management programs. This includes active reallocation of portfolio strategic asset mix, generating investment policies, search and selection of investment managers, and monitoring of investment programs.

     

    His work with defined contribution pension clients revolves around research and implementation of investment structures, performance monitoring, analysis of member engagement and financial wellness.

     

    Pascal graduated from HEC Montreal with a degree in business administration and is a CFA® level 2 candidate.

  • Claudia Lipping

    Claudia Lipping

    Senior Investment Consultant, Toronto

    Claudia Lipping is a principal in Mercer's investment advisory business in Toronto and a member of Mercer’s Financial Strategy Group. Claudia specializes in conducting asset/liability studies and consults to defined benefit plan sponsors, endowments and foundations on strategic investment matters focusing on risk management, long-term investment strategy design and implementation.

    Claudia has over 11 years of industry experience, in both pension actuarial consulting and investment consulting. Claudia is a Fellow of the Canadian Institute of Actuaries (FCIA), a Fellow of the Society of Actuaries (FSA), and a CFA® charterholder.

  • Neil Lloyd

    Neil Lloyd

    Wealth Leader, Western Canada

    Neil returned to Western Canada in December 2020 to take up the role of Western Canada Wealth Leader.

     

    Based in Vancouver, Neil is an actuary and a partner at Mercer. He spent nine years using his actuarial, investments and international expertise working with both defined benefit and defined contribution clients across Western Canada. For the past five years, Neil has been the Head of US DC and Financial Wellness Research, a role he took on in 2015.

    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 Past Chair of the Plan Sponsor Council of America’s Thought Leadership Council. Neil is a regular speaker at international, national and regional industry forums.

    Neil obtained a bachelor’s degree in business science 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.

  • Roddy MacKenzie

    Roddy MacKenzie

    Investment Consultant, Toronto

    Roddy is a senior associate in the Investment Consulting team for Mercer Canada, responsible for providing pension and investment advice to clients across the country. Based in Toronto, he has nine years of experience in financial services, specializing in defined contribution and savings plans for the last five years. Roddy helps clients with investment selection and monitoring, DC record keeper selection and review, fiduciary/governance best practices, company stock programs, investment policy statements, and pension committee education.

     

    Roddy is a member of Mercer’s Canadian Target Date Research Committee and holds a Chartered Investment Manager (CIM) designation.

  • Stephanie Mariamo

    Stephanie Mariamo

    Senior Investment Consultant, Montreal

    Stéphanie is a principal in Mercer’s Wealth business in Montreal. As a specialist in capital accumulation plans, Stéphanie consults on all aspects related to this type of plans, including design, governance and investments. She has an excellent understanding of members’ needs and has developed solid competencies in employee communication.

     

    As part of her current responsibilities, Stéphanie regularly participates in internal and external focus groups for the purpose of promoting innovation and the development of best practices related to accumulation plans. Before joining Mercer in 2015, Stéphanie was an actuarial consultant in the area of defined benefit pension plans, which allowed her to acquire expertise in pension management.

  • Michael McGowan

    Michael McGowan

    Senior Infrastructure Specialist, Alternatives

      Michael is responsible for providing coverage of the infrastructure sector in North America for Mercer’s Wealth business. He is a seasoned investment professional who has worked for some of Canada’s largest financial institutions, including TD Securities and BMO Capital Markets, where he was a senior equity research analyst predominantly covering the North American power, utilities and renewable energy sectors.


      In addition to providing investment recommendations for companies with a total market capitalization of approximately C$40 billion, Michael has opined on numerous transactions, including takeovers, distressed situations, asset acquisitions and divestitures, and corporate reorganizations under various economic environments, ranging from the financial crisis to periods of economic growth.

       

      Michael holds a bachelor’s degree in commerce (with honours) from the University of British Columbia and is both a Chartered Professional Accountant and a CFA charterholder.

  • Teresa Palandra

    Teresa Palandra

    Canada Wealth Leader

    Teresa is a partner and the Leader of Mercer Canada's Wealth Business. She is responsible for Mercer's delivery of investment consulting, open architecture manager-of-managers investment management, private wealth management, and retirement actuarial consulting services and solutions in Canada.

    Teresa has held various prior leadership positions, including most recently as the leader of Mercer's Toronto Office.

    Teresa brings a diverse consulting background to clients, with expertise in aligning their future business and workforce strategies. She has worked with clients to develop cash- and risk-mitigation strategies for pension plans, designed total rewards strategies and programs that support business objectives, and used HR data analytics to segment, diagnose and improve program efficiency and employee engagement.

    Teresa is a strong advocate for gender equality and racial diversity in the workplace, and is the Executive Sponsor of the Women@Mercer chapter in Toronto and the Executive Sponsor of the Canadian Racial and Ethnic Diversity Group.


    Teresa is a graduate of the University of Toronto, where she earned a Bachelor of Science (summa cum laude).  She is a Fellow of the Society of Actuaries and the Canadian Institute of Actuaries.

  • Jacqui Parchment

    Jaqui Parchment

    CEO, Canada

    Jaqui is the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Mercer Canada, where she leads Canada’s 1,000 employees from coast to coast. Jaqui’s goal is to empower Mercer’s Canadian colleagues to provide industry-leading service and innovative solutions to clients across the Health, Wealth and Career businesses, to foster company growth.
     
    Before becoming CEO, Jaqui led more than 500 employees as Mercer’s Toronto Office Leader for nearly two years, also acting as a Senior Consultant within Mercer Canada’s Wealth business. Prior to that, she headed the Investments business in Canada. Jaqui has more than 30 years of experience in the retirement savings and investment areas.
     
    Jaqui is a passionate advocate and frequent speaker on issues relating to diversity and inclusion — including promoting racial and gender diversity in corporate Canada. Jaqui actively supports a number of non-profit organizations that promote racial equity, and assist youth and new immigrants to Canada. Jaqui is a founding member and director of the Black Opportunity Fund, a director of the BlackNorth Initiative, a member of the Advisory Board of the Institute for Sustainable Finance, and a member of the Business Council of Canada. She also has served on a number of investment committees relating to pension and endowment assets, and was a member of United Way Greater Toronto’s 2020 Campaign Cabinet. In 2020, she received the Gold Award — HR Champion (CEO) from the Canadian HR Awards.
     
    Within Mercer, she is the former Canadian Chair of Women@Mercer and When Women Thrive.
     
    Jaqui graduated from the University of Waterloo with a bachelor’s degree in mathematics and actuarial science. She is an Associate of the Society of Actuaries and a CFA® charterholder.

  • Brandon Perra

    Brandon Perra

    Real Estate Specialist, Alternatives

    Brandon Perra is an associate at Mercer Alternatives based in Montreal. He joined Pavilion Alternatives Group in 2018, which was acquired by Mercer later that year.

     

    Brandon is responsible for Canadian real estate research and assists Canadian and US clients with their real estate portfolio needs.

     

    Previously, Brandon worked in the field consulting group, where he was responsible for manager monitoring, performance reporting, manager searches and asset allocation projects.

     

    Brandon is bilingual in English and French, and received his bachelor’s degree in finance from the John Molson School of Business at Concordia University.

  • Amy Richards

    Amy Richards

    Global Investment Forums Director

    Amy Richards leads workforce transformation and post-merger integration programs at Mercer. She also leads digital thought leadership engagement for Mercer’s Investments business and with the World Economic Forum.  Previously, she was Chief of Staff to the President and CEO.


    Prior to Mercer, Amy was the Global Director of Talent Management at Oliver Wyman Group, and a strategy and operations consultant for financial and professional services firms and asset managers. She has extensive experience living, working and advising clients in North and Central America, the UK, Western Europe and Asia.


    Amy has spoken at multiple conferences and published a number of articles on the changing workforce and the impact of digitalization. Outside of work, she fundraises for cancer research and relief, and volunteers with a number of non-profits supporting women and the underprivileged. She enjoys spending her spare time outdoors and is a keen hiker and sailor, having sailed across the Atlantic three times, among other adventures.


    Amy holds a master’s degree from the University of Cambridge where she studied law and history.

  • Todd Saulnier

    Todd Saulnier

    Senior Investment Consultant, Ottawa

      Todd is a principal at Mercer, and a senior investment consultant and actuary in the Investment and Retirement business in our Ottawa office.Todd joined Mercer in 1992. He consults with both private and public sector clients on investment policies, risk budgeting, asset allocation, investment structure design and manager selection for their pension plans, endowments and foundations. He is a member of Mercer’s Financial Strategy Group, which helps clients measure, monitor and manage asset-liability risk.


      He is the vice-president of the Association of Canadian Pension Management (ACPM) and former chair of its National Policy Committee. Todd is the 2020 recipient of the ACPM Don Ireland Award for Exceptional Volunteerism and a 2020 recipient of a Bronze Level Volunteer Award from the Canadian Institute of Actuaries. Todd is also a member of the Canadian Pension and Benefits Institute and the International Foundation of Employee Benefit Plans.

      Todd is a Fellow of the Canadian Institute of Actuaries and a Fellow of the Society of Actuaries, as well as a CFA Charterholder.  He graduated with a bachelor’s degree in mathematics from Acadia University and holds a master’s mathematics from Dalhousie University.

  • Lovey Sidhu

    Lovey Sidhu

    Responsible Investment Consultant, Toronto

      Lovey is a consultant in Mercer’s Global Responsible Investment practice, based in Toronto. She supports institutional investors in understanding the opportunities and risks that key environmental, social and governance (ESG) factors present for their investment processes and decision-making. This includes helping clients align with their responsible investment goals through building capacity, developing beliefs and policies, creating strategic frameworks, and integrating ESG within their investment portfolios.


      Prior to joining Mercer, Lovey worked at Marsh (a MMC company) for four years, where she advised multinational organizations on long- term risk financing solutions. In particular, Lovey helped clients make informed decisions in assessing and managing their enterprise risks through analytics and financial modeling. Her industries of expertise include mining and energy, real estate, manufacturing, and financial institutions.

      Lovey holds a bachelor’s degree in environment and business (hons) from the University of Waterloo, with a minor in economics.

  • David Willers

    David Willers

    Senior Investment Consultant, Toronto

    Dave is a principal based in the Toronto office and has been working in investment consulting for over nineteen years. He has spent his career advising a wide variety of institutional investors and has acted as lead consultant to many large pension plans. Dave specializes in offering his clients pro-active advice. He brings his own point of view, but will also provide clients with the views of Mercer’s many specialists around the world.

    Dave previously acted as Mercer’s UK Alternative Investments Leader and so has specialist knowledge in asset classes such as infrastructure, private debt, private equity and hedge funds. He also previously led our 25-strong investment team in Bristol, England.

  • Dasha Zuck

    Dasha Zuck

    Investment Consultant, Vancouver

    Based in Vancouver, Dasha joined Mercer’s Wealth Business in April 2021 as a defined contribution consultant. Dasha’s main focus is on providing DC consulting and investment services to institutional clients across Western Canada, including plan design, governance, investment performance monitoring, member engagement and financial wellness.

     

    Prior to Mercer, Dasha spent three years at Aon in a similar role. Dasha also worked for Canadian institutional managers  Connor, Clark & Lunn and Greystone Managed Investments (currently TDAM).


    Dasha holds the Certificate in Investment Performance Measurement from the CFA Institute and is a CFA® charterholder. Dasha received a bachelor’s degree from the Belarusian State University with specialty in world economy and international economic relations. 






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2020 Highlights


  • INVESTMENT BELIEFS

    EFFECTIVE INVESTMENT STRATEGY COMES DOWN TO SMART THINKING

    Here are our beliefs that underpin our approach and drive investment success.

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  • NEW TRENDS MODULE

    Compare fees, to those of other investment managers in aggregate by asset class, vehicle type, account size, and others.

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  • RESEARCH PERSPECTIVES

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  • SUSTAINABLE INVESTMENT

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Members of some professional bodies may be able to claim continuing professional development credits for attending Mercer's Global Investment Forums.