The Maple Model on Lac Léman
Event Overview
For more than 30 years, Canadian public pensions have been investing like few of their international peers. These ‘Maple Eight’ funds manage more $2 Trillion (and growing) and share these characteristics: large allocations to alternatives/private markets (70% is common) and ex-Canada investments (70% is common), eschewing consultants and opting for in-house talent, a penchant for principal transactions vs. funds in the private side and Managed Account Platforms vs. funds in the public side, and pay that is closer to that in industry vs in public service. This panel will speak to this model, how other plans are implementing portions of it, and what investors can do to perhaps emulate their success (100-112% funding ratios across the board).
Thank you to the University of Geneva for lending us their space and coordinating catering!
This panel is offered in person only.
Where
University of Geneva
Uni Pignon – Room: MR170
Reception closeby.
Speakers
Claude Lamoureux
Formerly: OTPP
Elena Manola-Bonthond
Chief Investment Officer
CERN Pension Plan
Blair Richards
Chief Investment Officer
Halifax Port ILA/HEA
Aleksander Weiler
Chief Investment Office – Constanter Investment Office
Formerly: CPP Investments
Claude Lamoureux
Formerly: OTPP
An actuary by training, Claude was the inaugural President & CEO of the Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan. From 1990 to his retirement in 2007, he oversaw Teachers’ development into one of the world’s leading pension plans with more than $100 billion in net assets, an innovative investment program, and outstanding services to more than 250,000 plan members.
Before 1990, Claude spent 25 years as a senior financial executive with Metropolitan Life in Canada and the US, heading the Company’s operations in Canada from 1986 to 1990. He co-founded the Canadian Coalition for Good Governance in 2002. Claude has served on many Boards.
He holds a BA from the U of Montreal, a B.Comm. from Laval University, and honorary doctorates from York University and HEC-Montreal. He is a Fellow of the Society of Actuaries and the Institute of Corporate Directors. He is an Officer of the Order of Canada and the National Order of Québec.
Elena Manola-Bonthond
Chief Investment Officer
CERN Pension Plan
Elena Manola-Bonthond, PhD, MBA, is Chief Investment Officer of the Pension Fund of CERN, the European Organization for Nuclear Research, based in Geneva, Switzerland. The Fund manages approximately 5 billion Swiss francs in assets, both internally and externally. Elena has played an instrumental role in defining and implementing an investment governance framework optimised for dynamic risk management.
Before joining the CERN Pension Fund, Elena worked in CERN’s science sector where she was in charge of safety and risk management systems of CERN’s flagship installation, the Large Hadron Collider (LHC). Before that, she worked as a research physicist at CERN.
Elena holds a PhD in particle physics from the University of Savoie, France and an MBA in international management from the University of Geneva, Switzerland. She is a CAIA charterholder.
Blair Richards
Chief Investment Officer
Halifax Port ILA/HEA
Blair Richards has served the Halifax Port International Longshoremen’s Association /Halifax Employers Association since 1984. Currently the Chief Investment Officer, his tenure included seven years as Board Chair and twenty years as Chief Executive Officer. He is also a Director for the Workers Compensation Board of Nova Scotia and Chair of their Investment Committee.
Over his long career Mr. Richards has enjoyed appointments/elections to Boards, councils, committees, and special projects touching the public, private, and not-for-profit sectors. He is a frequent presenter and volunteer member of numerous industry groups. He holds a BA (DAL’91) and an MBA (SMU’97) and multiple certifications, the most prominent being an eighteen-year Fellowship with the International Society of Certified Employee Benefit Specialists.
Mr. Richards is an avid and enthusiastic life-long learner. He practices kaizen these days, which involves a concerted effort by him at reverse mentorship.
The Evening’s Agenda
Day 1
- April 23, 2024
- 6:30 pm – 9:00 pm
- April 23, 2024
- 6:30 pm – 9:00 pm
6:15 pm
Registration
Please arrive at about 18:15 as there is a class in the room until 6pm. We will start promptly at 18:30.
6:30 pm
Welcome and Keynote Fireside
We aim to start at about 18h and begin our Keynote Fireside as soon as we can. This is possibly a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to hear the origin story of the Canadian/Maple Model that has allowed these pension plans to outpace their peers as well as their liabilities.
The audience will be treated to how this model was created and implemented in the early days (c. 1990), its evolution over the last 33 years, and how applicable it might be to today’s markets and other constraints.
Claude Lamoureux
Interviewed by:
Elena Manola-Bonthond, CERN Pension Plan
7:15 pm
Does the World Need More Canada?
The Maple Model has served the beneficiaries and plan sponsors (in many cases the Canadian and provincial governments) very will for more than three decades. Since its introduction, the roadmap has changed as staffing has increased at these plans, ex-Canada offices (e.g., London, Hong Kong, Singapore, New York) have been opened, and asset mixes have been tweaked in order to get the plans into the best possible position to make good on their commitments.
How has this evolution affected the efficacy of the underlying model and what is in store for these plans as these changes (and many more) take root and possibly affect how they invest and manage risk?
We will also hear from one plan that is a fraction the size of the typical Maple Eight plan – and come to know how they achieved incredible results without having “$7 billion in AUM” as some say is required to make the most of this scheme.
Moderated by:
Elena Manola-Bonthond, CERN Pension Plan
Claude Lamoureux
Blair Richards, Halifax Port ILA/HEA
Aleksander Weiler, Constanter Investment Office (formerly with CPP Investments)
8:00 pm
Reception
The audience’s opportunity to meet with the panel and each other!
9:00 pm
End of Event
Thank you to our panel and audience for their time and attention – à bientôt!
Members of CAASA
Multi-Family Offices, Asset Managers, & Service Providers
Complimentary
Event Registration Closed
Allocators / Investors
Pensions & Single Family Offices
(Member & Non-Member)
Complimentary
Event Registration Closed
Thank you to our sponsors
