OPTrust CEO in Washington to promote Canadian pension model

Posted: May 26, 2016

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Washington, May 26, 2016 – OPTrust executives travelled to Washington this week to meet with prominent American economic leaders and pension experts to strengthen ties and promote the Canadian pension model.

“We’ve come here for two main reasons: to build and deepen relationships in the US over the long term and to talk about the benefits of the Canadian model of pension plans,” said OPTrust President & CEO Hugh O’Reilly.

OPTrust is one of Canada’s top 10 public pension organizations and the fifth largest public sector pension plan in Ontario. It has a global footprint with offices in Toronto, London and Sydney.

“As U.S. policy makers begin to focus more on pensions and retirement security, there seems to be significant interest in learning about the Canadian approach, including on Capitol Hill,” said O’Reilly after meeting with Senate officials.

On Tuesday OPTrust met with pension experts at the Brookings Institute as well as senior officials at the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), the World Bank and International Monetary Fund (IMF). Today they met with Ontario’s Representative in Washington, The American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations in addition to Senate briefings of the Finance and the Health, Education, Labour and Pensions committees.

O’Reilly was joined in Washington by OPTrust’s CIO, James Davis, and Tim Shortill, Vice President, Strategy, Communications and Public Affairs.

About OPTrust

With assets of $18.4 billion, OPTrust invests and manages one of Canada’s largest pension funds and administers the OPSEU Pension Plan, a defined benefit plan with almost 87,000 members and retirees. OPTrust was established to give plan members and the Government of Ontario an equal voice in the administration of the Plan and the investment of its assets, through joint trusteeship. OPTrust is governed by a 10-member Board of Trustees, five of whom are appointed by OPSEU and five by the Government of Ontario. www.optrust.com

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For more information, contact OPTrust Communications:

Karen Danylak
AVP, Strategic Initiatives & Communications
416-681-6784
kdanylak@optrust.com