2010 governance review
The Trustees undertook an internal governance review in 2010 to ensure that management and board structures continue to support effective decision-making in the interests of the Plan’s membership and sponsors.
This comprehensive review of governance practices identified areas where there were opportunities to implement enhancements to improve the effectiveness and efficiency of the Board’s oversight. Some of these areas include:
- increasing the scope of our existing Trustee education program to provide the Plan’s Trustees with ongoing opportunities to expand their knowledge and skills as they relate to the oversight of the Plan
- creating a more formal on-boarding program for new Trustees so they can quickly integrate and participate fully in Board activities
- enhancing communications with the Plan’s sponsors by implementing more formal mechanisms to provide updates and information
- conducting a full review of all of the Board’s advisors to ensure that they continue to meet the Plan’s needs
- establishing the role of corporate secretary to help foster and support continued best practices in governance
- formalizing the process for regular governance reviews
All of these activities will increase the capabilities of the Board, helping ensure that the Plan continues to be well-managed and able to deliver on the pension promise to its members.
Organizational structure
The Board’s review also looked at the internal structure of the OPTrust management team to determine if there were ways to more effectively manage the Plan and deliver services to its members. As a result, they made two key decisions:
- to create the role of President and CEO to lead OPTrust
- to establish a Shared Services Division to create greater internal efficiencies and improve the cost-effectiveness of our service delivery.