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Benefits and Pensions MonitorOntario Municipal Employees Retirement System (OMERS)The Ontario Municipal Employees Retirement System (OMERS) was established in 1962 as the pension plan for employees of local governments in Ontario. Today, OMERS serves roughly 355,000 active and inactive employees of municipal governments, school boards, libraries, police and fire departments, children’s aid societies, and other local agencies throughout Ontario. With almost 900 participating employers, OMERS is one of the largest, most competitive, and cost-effective pension plans in Canada, managing about $35.7 billion in net assets. OMERS is jointly managed by a board of directors appointed by the Ontario government. Six members of the OMERS board represent employers, six (including one retiree) represent plan members, and one represents the Ontario government. With director education as part of its strategy to improve governance, the Ontario Municipal Employees Retirement System (OMERS) has sent its directors back to school – to Directors College to be exact. OMERS conducts a board self-evaluation every two years so the directors can assess how they are doing and where they need to focus their attention on improvements. This led to the decision to increase board training. The organization had already put in place a mandatory orientation of new board members. New members took various pension courses, including pension investment management, and attended conferences across North America. In addition to that, they took board education on a monthly basis at board meetings. “Director education has been improving over time,” says Debbie Oakley, senior vice-president, corporate affairs. “We have also established a new committee structure, which includes an audit committee and a governance committee.” With all these new decisions to be made, Oakley says it seemed appropriate to offer yet more education to each of the members of the board of directors. A new course offered by the Directors College was a fitting solution. The Directors College offers a university accredited director education program. Graduates earn the title ‘Chartered Director’ (C. Dir.), an internationally recognized designation. Founded by The Conference Board of Canada and the DeGroote School of Business at McMaster University, the Chartered Director curriculum includes five modules, each two-and-a-half days long. In addition to technical knowledge, the program focuses on strategies to foster the critical boardroom behaviours necessary to maximize governance effectiveness. Once all five modules are completed, including the Board Simulation, a written test must be passed for participants to graduate and receive their designation.
At this point, eight of the 13 board members have gone through the process. David Kingston is one of those members. Kingston, a police officer with York Regional Police Force, is board vice-chair and represents the employee side. He says the designation is important because “we’re a lay board and it shows our stakeholders – and we have 355,000 people that we have to look after – that we care. We’re getting the best education we can to manage their funds.”
“We have a new HR committee, a governance committee, and an audit committee,” says Kingston. “What we’ve tried to do is allocate the work to the committees so the board can deal with strategic issues.” In addition, the board redefined or reformed mandates for committees that already existed, such as the investment and pension committees and the HR compensation committee. OMERS didn’t stop at enrolling board members. Senior staff members, including chief executive officer Paul G. Haggis, are also working on their accreditation. “I think the heart of good governance is the relationship between the board, senior staff, and the CEO,” says Oakley. “This will help them to effectively work with their board and understand the board’s role in terms of governance and fiduciary responsibility. It has brought a very healthy dynamic to the group.” |
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Chartered Directors must also subscribe to The Directors College Code of Conduct and commit to undertake continued professional development to maintain their designation. The decision was made that all OMERS directors will be required to take the certification course. “Our board is a lay board of people who come from the sector they serve and it’s a very important value-added in that our directors have a very significant commitment to what they’re doing here,” says Oakley. “It’s also very beneficial to prepare them for the fiduciary responsibilities that they’re going to take on. We felt it would increase the competencies of the board members.”
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