Last week, OTPP announced the appointment of Dale Burgess as Executive Managing Director, Equities: 

Toronto, Canada - Ontario Teachers' Pension Plan Board (Ontario Teachers') today announces the appointment of Dale Burgess to the position of Executive Managing Director, Equities, effective immediately.  In this role, based in the Toronto office, Mr. Burgess oversees the Equities investment department globally.  He has served in this role on an interim basis since February 2025.

Mr. Burgess joined Ontario Teachers' in 1996 and most recently served as Executive Managing Director, Infrastructure & Natural Resources (INR), responsible for overseeing infrastructure acquisitions and asset management globally. He was previously head of the INR team for Latin America where he oversaw portfolio companies as well as business development and origination in target countries across the LATAM region. Mr. Burgess will continue to oversee the global INR team in the interim until a replacement has been appointed in the near term.

In his new role, Mr. Burgess will continue to be a member of the Investments Senior Leadership Team and report to Gillian Brown, Chief Investment Officer, Public & Private Investments.

“Dale is a seasoned investing leader and highly respected colleague who has made significant contributions over his almost three decades at the Plan,” said Ms. Brown.  “He is well positioned to lead our Equities department, which will continue to play an important role in creating value for our members.”

Mr. Burgess holds a BA (Accounting) from the University of Waterloo, is a Chartered Accountant, a CFA charterholder and a graduate of the Institute of Corporate Directors.

About Ontario Teachers’

Ontario Teachers' Pension Plan Board (Ontario Teachers') is a global investor with net assets of $269.6 billion as at June 30, 2025. Ontario Teachers’ is a fully funded defined benefit pension plan, and it invests in a broad array of asset classes to deliver retirement security for 343,000 working members and pensioners. For more information, visit otpp.com and follow us on LinkedIn. 

Let me begin by congratulating Dale Burgess on this important appointment.

Dale is a seasoned veteran who has delivered solid long-term results overseeing Infrastructure and Natural Resources.

He was asked to oversee Equities when Romeo Leemrijse who had replaced Karen Frank as Head of Teachers' Private Capital left the organization earlier this year.

I think Gillian Brown, Chief Investment Officer, Public & Private Investments, made the right decision by placing Dale is charge of all Equities, including private equity.

They need stability, to focus on execution and value creation and this appointment sends that message. 

Recall, back in March, OTPP was reassessing its private equity strategy to work more closely with strategic partners and do less purely direct deals. 

When I recently spoke to Gillian Brown when I covered their mid-year results, she shared this with me on the challenges in private equity:

I asked Gillian if she thinks there is a secular shift going on in private equity and gong back to what Stephen said about tariffs and we haven't seen the full effects on inflation, I wonder how this will play out on all asset classes including private equity.

I also asked her how much they're leaning more on their strategic partners because Jo made a reference to that last time we spoke to dive value creation and get better co-investment opportunities.

She responded:

I'll take the beginning and the end of that and let Stephen respond to other bits. I do think there's a secular shift going on, there's clearly been a shift in the rates and inflation environment that we are living in and that means companies cannot lever the way they used to have at the same rate as in the past.

I think we've also seen an adjustment where there was probably a modelled assumption around multiple expansion during the life of an asset that just doesn't hold anymore. When we are looking at new assets, we now are assuming a turn or so less on exit rather than assuming you're going to get your returns out of that. 

And what that means is you're actually leaning into the operating performance of that business, again it's part of our plan of setting up the Portfolio Solutions group that can get into the operating aspects of a business. We will sit down with the deal teams even during underwrite, here are the five value creation levers we see for this company, and none of those are going to be multiple expansion or financial engineering, they're going to be actual operating performance growth of the company.  

And the Portfolio Solutions group can work hand in hand with deal team around making sure the KPIs that were identified on the way in are being delivered during the life of the asset.  

So I do think you're filling into that more and with that comes the strategic partners you referenced making sure we are humble about where we are experts and not, and where we are not, let's make sure we are finding the right partners to be with. There are certain sectors that are going to require very specialized knowledge, very specialized operating support so let's make sure we are picking the right partners to work on those assets.  

So there are certain geographies we are not going to have a big presence, so let's make sure we are picking the right partners versus some where we feel we have a good track record that gives us conviction that sector will continue to perform and we will continue to be competitive there. 

There you have it, time to focus and execute through value creation with the right partners.

Below,  Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan (OTPP), one of Canada’s largest pension funds with over C$266 billion in assets, is pivoting its private equity approach—moving from direct acquisitions toward partnerships and co‑investments. CEO Jo Taylor says this shift helps mitigate risk amid high interest rates, geopolitical uncertainty, and the growing complexity of managing entire companies.

Below is an abstract of a WorldatWork member-only article at The Journal of Total Rewards. You can learn more about the productivity-pay gap here. 

This paper focuses on the historical divergence between typical workers’ compensation and economy-wide productivity, and the implications of this divergence for workplace inequality. Commonly referred to as the “pay-productivity gap”, we show that while inflation-adjusted pay and productivity grew in lock step from the end of WWII until the 1970s, productivity has outpaced pay since 1979. We use publicly available data sources to document this gap and discuss key methodological considerations.

We argue that the equal growth in pay and productivity before 1979 and the subsequent fracturing were driven near-entirely by intentional policy decisions. Beginning in 1979, the efforts by employers and capital-owners to undercut the bargaining power of typical workers in labor markets through policies such as deregulation, corporate-led globalization, erosion of the minimum wage, deunionization, macroeconomic policies that tolerated excess unemployment, and tax cuts for high earners led to a divergence in pay and productivity that has yet to be remedied. Not only have these intentional policy decisions created a large pay-productivity gap since 1979, but they have also coincided with a productivity slow-down across the total economy during this time period, resulting in growth that was slower and less equal.

Productivity-Pay Gap

Recent advances in generative artificial intelligence (AI) have sparked increased awareness and adoption of AI tools in the workplace. While AI systems and tools have been used in the workplace for decades, this acceleration in capabilities and greater public attention have motivated more concerted and urgent policy efforts, including a focus on protecting and empowering workers. During the Biden-Harris administration, leadership and agencies across the federal government acted to better understand the potential implications of AI for workers and to protect workers from risks to their livelihoods and rights. 

The Database of Biden Administration Actions on AI can serve as a resource for state, local, and federal efforts to tackle these challenges and opportunities.

Biden-Harris administration actions to protect workers and the public

In October 2022, the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy released the Blueprint for an AI Bill of Rights to help guide the design, development, and deployment of AI and other automated systems. This document outlines protections that should be guaranteed and served as a guiding resource by affirming the values that must be front and center when undertaking policymaking on AI. 

A few months later, OpenAI released ChatGPT, which spurred an increased sense of urgency for this work. President Biden’s October 2023 executive order (EO) on “Safe, Secure, and Trustworthy Development and Use of AI” was—at the time—the most significant government action globally on AI safety, security, and trust. The EO highlighted a commitment to supporting U.S. workers and directed a number of related agency actions, including the Department of Labor’s (DOL) principles and best practices for developers and employers, which provide a roadmap for responsible use of AI in the workplace. 

From the start of Biden’s administration, federal agency leaders were clear that existing laws and regulations ensure rights and protections related to AI, and that agencies would play an active role in regulation and enforcement. Agency actions included:

• The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission launched an initiative on AI and algorithmic fairness, and shared tips for workers focused on disability discrimination and the use of software. 
• DOL issued a guide for federal contractors on AI and equal employment opportunity—which included a set of promising practices for employers—and addressed AI in other regulations and guidance, including the Good Jobs Principles; rulemaking on independent contractors; and guidance on the use of AI and automated systems and federal labor standards. 
• The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau released guidance to protect workers from surveillance and decision-making that violates Fair Credit Reporting Act rules. 
• The National Labor Relations Board issued guidance focused on unlawful surveillance which could interfere with employees’ ability to engage in collective bargaining and other protected activities. 
• The Federal Trade Commission addressed harmful commercial surveillance by major companies and brought to light the collection and monetization of personal data and the use of corporate surveillance pricing software. 

Trump administration and a new federal landscape

Immediately upon taking office, the Trump administration rescinded President Biden’s executive order on AI and issued a new executive order requiring an immediate review of all actions taken under the previous administration’s executive order. Relevant documents have already been removed from public websites, and many worker protective actions have already been rolled back, along with ongoing cuts decimating many of these agencies. 

In a speech at the February 2025 Artificial Intelligence Action Summit in Paris, Vice President Vance decried excessive regulation of AI domestically and internationally. He also said the Trump administration would “maintain a pro-worker growth path for AI,” but did not provide any policy specifics. The White House and many in Congress also backed a measure in the Republican budget mega bill that would have imposed a 10-year moratorium on any meaningful regulation of AI at the state and local levels, to supposedly avoid hindering tech innovation. While this measure fortunately failed to pass in the final version of the legislation in July 2025, the enthusiasm for ramming it through is a worrying sign of the administration’s priorities, particularly for worker advocates seeking to make meaningful change at the state and local levels.

In July 2025, the White House released its AI Action Plan, which continues to emphasize stripping protections from the public. While the plan purports to focus on empowering workers, the actions it outlines do not address workplace rights, surveillance and privacy, or algorithmic discrimination. Further, the Action Plan’s focus on the importance of deregulation as a prerequisite for AI advancement suggests that worker protections will be put aside. Instead of putting forth a real vision for worker empowerment, the plan suggests that unfunded actions around the edges can make a meaningful difference in worker opportunities and outcomes. 

Looking forward

In this new landscape, the tech industry has been emboldened and is increasing lobbying at the state level in addition to its efforts at the White House and in Congress to undo and prevent meaningful protections related to AI. The combined power, collaboration, and messaging of labor, civil rights, consumer protection, and community groups will be critical. 

A broad and ambitious vision for responsible AI governance is essential at a time when protections are under attack and AI-related risks are more pressing than ever. The Biden-Harris administration began to tackle many questions about the implications and opportunities for workers of advances in AI and automated systems. But this was just a first step and much of the progress at the federal level is now being undone. The vast resources, guidance documents, and innovative enforcement actions can and should be a model to augment existing state, local, and federal efforts to protect and empower workers in an age of rapid AI development and adoption. 

Earlier today, OTTPP announced it has launched a joint venture with Sagard Real Estate to acquire and industrial facility in Houston: 

Toronto, Canada – Sagard Real Estate, a leading U.S.-based real estate investment advisor, and subsidiary of Sagard, a multi-strategy alternative asset management firm with US$32B+ of AUM, and Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan (“Ontario Teachers’”), have completed the acquisition of a 163,402 square-foot industrial facility in Southeast Houston. The facility is located within Houston’s premier submarket and offers immediate access to Beltway 8, Highway 225, and proximity to the Port of Houston’s busiest container terminals, ensuring strong regional connectivity.

The acquisition marks the inaugural transaction under a new joint venture between Sagard Real Estate and Ontario Teachers’. The joint venture is structured to ensure alignment between both firms through a flexible, institutional investment approach. It will focus on value-add industrial opportunities across major U.S. markets and reflects both institutions’ conviction in the fundamentals of the industrial sector and their shared commitment to building scalable, strategic partnerships. The approach is also rooted in active asset management, strategic capital improvement, and value creation.

"We are excited to partner with Ontario Teachers’ on this new U.S. industrial initiative,” said Mark Bigarel, COO & Head of Investments at Sagard Real Estate. “This relationship brings together two institutions with aligned values, a disciplined investment philosophy, and a shared perspective on opportunity in the industrial sector. We view this as the right time to initiate a strategy focused on lasting value creation in a sector supported by enduring demand drivers."

“As we look to expand in the U.S. industrial sector, this investment fits well with our long-term, global strategy. We also believe that, with the underlying market dynamics, this asset provides long-term growth potential,” said Karl Kreppner, Senior Managing Director, Real Estate, Ontario Teachers’. “We are pleased to be working with Sagard—a partner with deep sector expertise and an operator mindset—and we are looking ahead to identifying and collaborating on future opportunities.”

About Ontario Teachers'

Ontario Teachers' Pension Plan Board (Ontario Teachers') is a global investor with net assets of $269.6 billion as at June 30, 2025. Ontario Teachers’ is a fully funded defined benefit pension plan, and it invests in a broad array of asset classes to deliver retirement security for 343,000 working members and pensioners. For more information, visit otpp.com and follow us on LinkedIn.  

About Sagard Real Estate

Sagard Real Estate is a real estate investment advisor and operator providing investment management services throughout the U.S., including portfolio management, acquisitions, debt origination, asset management, development, and property management for investors. With US$5.2 billion in assets under management, Sagard Real Estate offers commercial real estate investment strategies through separate accounts and commingled funds. Founded in 1997, the firm is headquartered in Denver and maintains regional investment offices in New York City, Charlotte, Austin, Los Angeles, and San Francisco metro areas. Sagard Real Estate is a part of Sagard, a multi-strategy alternative asset management firm. For more information, visit www.sagard.com/realestate or follow us on LinkedIn.

About Sagard

Sagard is a global multi-strategy alternative asset management firm with more than US$32B under management, 190 portfolio companies, and 400 professionals.

We invest in venture capital, private equity, private credit, and real estate.  We deliver flexible capital, an entrepreneurial culture, and a global network of investors, commercial partners, advisors, and value creation experts.  Our dynamic and supportive ecosystem gives our partners the advantage they need to learn, grow and win at every stage. The firm has offices in Canada, the United States, Europe and the Middle East.

For more information, visit www.sagard.com or follow us on LinkedIn. 

OTPP teamed up with Sagard Real Estate which is a a real estate investment advisor and operator providing investment management services throughout the US including acquisitions, asset management, development and property management for its investors.

Formerly called EverWest, Sagard Real Estate has a very experienced team and their investment focus is across sectors, offering a a variety of commercial real estate investment strategies, including separate accounts and commingled funds, for all property sectors and lifecycles. 

They've completed a few nice deals over the past year which you can view on LinkedIn here. 

I remember two years ago when Sagard brought on PSP's former CEO, Neil Cunningham, to be an adviser to Sagard Real Estate:

 

The Demarais family led by Paul Desmarais III has done a wonderful job growing Sagard from its humble beginnings in 2002 to a global alternative asset manager active in venture capital, private equity, private credit, real estate. 

Since 2016, Sagard has experienced significant growth, with assets under management increasing to over $32B, some 400 professionals joining the team and over 150 companies in the portfolio.

This week, Baird, a Milwaukee-based privately-held financial services firm, took a minority equity stake in Montreal-based Sagard and as part of the deal, Baird will look to distribute Sagard’s products in its US private wealth business. 

All this to say, Sagard is the real deal and that's why OTPP's Real Estate division completed this deal with Sagard Real Estate to acquire an industrial property in Houston, its first industrial property in the US.   

Also worth noting what Karl Kreppner, Senior Managing Director, Real Estate, Ontario Teachers’ stated in the press release:

“As we look to expand in the U.S. industrial sector, this investment fits well with our long-term, global strategy. We also believe that, with the underlying market dynamics, this asset provides long-term growth potential. We are pleased to be working with Sagard—a partner with deep sector expertise and an operator mindset—and we are looking ahead to identifying and collaborating on future opportunities.”  

Bottom line, strong alignment of interests, values, a disciplined investment philosophy, and a shared perspective on opportunity in the industrial sector as Mark Bigarel, COO & Head of Investments at Sagard Real Estate stated in the press release.

Below, watch a clip on Sagard Real Estate and see why it's the right fit for OTPP and other institutional and high net worth investors.  

U.S. Census data released this week showed that national median household income held strong in 2024. However, income growth was uneven and regional poverty disparities persisted.

Today, the Census Bureau released 2024 state-level income and poverty data from the American Community Survey (ACS). Although these data come from a different survey than the national income and poverty data, the overall trends are similar, with a range of outcomes across states.

Importantly, these data describe trends for 2024 and tell us nothing about economic conditions this year, in which Trump administration actions—chaotic tariffs, mass deportations, attacks on federal employees—have weakened the labor market, put upward pressure on prices, and threatened to undo recent progress of historically high wage growth and declining inequality.

State-level changes in household income

Between 2023 and 2024, U.S. median household income rose 2.0% to $81,604.1 Median household income varied significantly by state, from a low of $59,127 in Mississippi to $109,707 in the District of Columbia in 2024. Compared with 2023, median household incomes saw the largest decline in Rhode Island (–4.5%) and the largest increase in Alaska (7.3%). Twenty-nine states had a statistically significant increase in median income while the remaining 21 states and D.C. had no measurable year-over-year change in household income, positive or negative.

Because single-year changes can be volatile, it’s useful to look over a longer timeframe to identify trends. Specifically, we compare 2024 data with 2019—the year before the COVID-19 pandemic began—to understand the change in median household income between two recent years in which the economy was relatively strong. Between 2019 and 2024, ACS-measured median household income nationally increased only 1.1% after adjusting for inflation. Idaho (8.3%) and Montana (7.3%) experienced the largest increases in median household income since 2019, while Wyoming (–5.4%) and Minnesota (–4.9%) saw the largest declines. Overall, 30 states experienced an increase in median incomes from 2019 to 2024 and 20 states plus D.C. experienced a decline (see Figure A).

Figure A State-level changes in poverty

The Census reported that poverty rates measurably fell in 13 states from 2023 to 2024. The share of people with incomes below the poverty line ranged from a low of 7.2% in New Hampshire to a high of 18.7% in Louisiana in 2024, compared with the U.S. average of 12.1% as measured by the ACS. Regionally, poverty rates were higher in the South and lower in the Northeast and West. Since 2023, poverty declined nationwide by 0.4% but declined much faster in Montana (–1.5%), New Mexico (–1.4%), and South Dakota (–1.4%). Poverty increased by more than one percentage point in DC (3.3%) and North Dakota (1.3%).

Poverty rates declined slightly less over the past year compared with 2019, but most states made progress nonetheless. Twenty-nine states had lower poverty rates in 2024 than in 2019, while 18 states and D.C. had poverty rates above their 2019 rates, and there was no change in California, New Jersey, and Wyoming (see Figure A). Since 2019, the poverty rate increased the most in D.C. (3.8%)—from 13.5% to 17.3%.

Trump administration actions will harm working families and deepen inequality

The Biden administration’s fiscal response to the COVID-19 pandemic prevented prolonged economic pain, particularly in comparison to the Great Recession. Though inflation was pronounced in 2022, inflationary pressures declined in 2023 and 2024 while wages continued to rise, outpacing inflation and bolstering household income.

Unfortunately, Trump administration policies will undermine recent progress and exacerbate economic precarity for low-income households. In the years ahead, the Republican “One Big Beautiful Bill Act” will decimate access to health care and nutrition assistance for the poorest households while providing a massive tax cut for the wealthy—a giveaway that will cause pain for millions of U.S. households. And Trump’s chaotic trade policies and mass deportation agenda will harm U.S.-born and immigrant workers alike. In fact, some of these harms are already being felt. This month’s jobs report showed slowed growth and rising unemployment.

The Trump administration has also taken actions to undermine the work of civil servants who collect and analyze the data summarized here. The Bureau of Labor Statistic and U.S. Census Bureau provide high-quality, nonpartisan economic data that allow policymakers at all levels of government—as well as business leaders—to plan and make decisions that keep our economy functioning. But the Trump administration has implemented deep staffing cuts at federal agencies and politicized the work of economists and statisticians, eroding trust in government and threatening the credibility of future data collection and analysis efforts.

Amid federal attacks on working families, state lawmakers can advance economic justice

While recently released household income and poverty data showed some improvement in 2024, much more progress is needed to address income inequality and disparities by race and gender in every state. For example, policymakers need to raise the minimum wage, increase workers’ access to a union, implement pro-family policies like affordable child care and paid leave, and make our tax system fairer. In the face of anti-worker policies at the federal level, state lawmakers have an opportunity and responsibility to champion policies that enable workers and families to thrive.

Note

1. According to the data released on Tuesday from the Current Population Survey (CPS), U.S. median household income in 2024 was $83,730—a small (1.3%) but not statistically significant change from 2023. The 2024 value was also essentially the same as that from 2019 ($83,260). The ACS data released Thursday show that median household income rose 2.0% nationally from 2023 to 2024. The differences between these values reflect differences in the methodologies of the two surveys that make them not directly comparable; however, the fact that the ACS change was a statistically measurable increase validates the direction of the change reported by the CPS.

Celine Chiovitti, Chief Pension Officer at OMERS welcomes back OMERS President and CEO Blake Hutcheson for his third appearance on the Pension Blueprint podcast. Blake offers his perspective on OMERS in the face of global economic and political turbulence, and why a strong pension fund matters to every Canadian:

Celine Chiovitti (VO): Hello, and welcome to our exciting new season of "The Pension Blueprint." I'm your host Celine Chiovitti, Chief Pension Officer at OMERS. In my day-to-day work, I have the privilege of seeing how our various teams work together to deliver the pension promise for our 640,000 members across Ontario. This season, with insight from both internal and external experts, we take a deeper look at issues that impact all of us regarding pensions, personal finance, the gender pension gap, AI's impact on retirement, and more.

To get us started, it felt appropriate to sit down with a captain of our ship, President and CEO at OMERS, Blake Hutcheson. Blake is an appointee to the Order of Ontario and a former recipient of Canada's Top 40 under 40, as well as a graduate of the University of Western Ontario. In this one-on-one with Blake, we talk about how he and the rest of the OMERS leadership team are charting a course through the current economic and political environment, and keeping the security of our members as priority number one. We also get to know him a little more as a person outside the walls of OMERS.

So without further ado, my conversation with Blake Hutcheson.

Celine Chiovitti: Hello, Blake, welcome to season three of "The Pension Blueprint."

Blake Hutcheson: Good morning, Celine. Thanks for having me.

Celine: It's so hard to believe that we are actually in season three. You've been here three times already, and I don't want this to go to your head, but you're a bit of a fan favourite.

Blake: Well, put me to work, my friend, anytime. Anytime. And I think you do a great job, so it's fun to be here with you.

Celine: Thank you. Well, you were the most downloaded and listened-to episode in season two, so let's get right into it.

Blake: Okay.

Celine: So when you think of OMERS books, your investment strategy, we have about 50% of our assets invested in the US, again, going back to tariffs, and we've got 28 billion, I believe, invested in Canada. Are you seeing anything different? What are you watching for right now?

Blake: If you look at the strength of OMERS, it actually goes back to our foundation because for the first 30 or 40 years, OMERS was a small, Ontario-based plan, primarily focused on hiring others to invest its money, primarily stocks and bonds, but around 1990, we started to build our own private muscles. So we started getting into the infrastructure business, we bought Oxford Properties in 2001, we set up our own private equity business soon into this century so that we had a diverse portfolio and a diverse group of people deploying our capital. And then for the last 15 years, we've diversified globally, and a very wise investor told me many years ago, "If you want to get wealthy, put all your chips on one square, and if you want to stay wealthy, you diversify." So OMERS just keeps broadening its shoulders, first by asset class, then building the strength of our investment teams, and then going global.

And today, Celine, we have really 10 global offices. We have more than that, but 10 primary ones, 14 time zones. We've got roughly 30 big infrastructure assets representing $30 billion, roughly 25 big and powerful private equity businesses invested here, primarily in this continent, some in Europe. We have 850 real estate assets through our portfolio Oxford, and at any given day, we have between 30 and $40 billion in credits, fixed instruments, private and public credits, and equities. Today, our equity's roughly 140 billion and our balance sheet's roughly 250 billion, which includes debt. And when you layer in third-party capital, we're fast approaching 350 billion. So it is a sizable enterprise, Celine, and we think between now and 2030, we'll be four to 450 billion of assets under management, almost a half a trillion dollars.

Celine: Almost a half a trillion dollars.

Blake: On behalf of our members. Yeah. Incredible. So in the US today, we have a little more than 50, it ranges between 50 and 60% of our exposure to the United States, and so on a balance, it feels right to deploy about that much in America. And notwithstanding the noise and notwithstanding how one might feel temperamentally about what's going on there at this particular time, it is still the strongest economy. It is still providing us with extraordinary opportunities. If you look at our Canadian GDP, it's less than 3% of the global GDP. It's probably 6% of the investible universe of the countries we invest in, but it's actually, for us, we hover somewhere around 20% of our portfolio in Canada, and we like the currency. We have a home-court advantage, we have deep relationships. We understand the rule of law, and we own extraordinary assets in this country. And when anyone criticizes pension plans for not investing enough, that's not directed at OMERS.

Celine: Yeah.

Blake: To our members, you out there, you own Yorkdale, Square One, Scarborough Town Center, all with partners, Shadow Lake Louise, Jasper Park Lodge.

Celine: The most iconic hotel.

Blake: Iconic hotels. Great office product.

Celine: What about the Maple Leafs, Blake?

Blake: A small piece of the Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment, the Raptors, the Leafs.

Celine: We're not going to hold the loss against you this year, but next year might be our year.

Blake: Oh my goodness, let's hope so. It's only been 59 years.

Celine: Yeah, there you go.

Blake: But Bruce Power, we own 50% of Bruce Power. We own Ontario's land registry system. So I like our diversification. It is serving OMERS well. I like our global reach, I like our exposure to Canada. Our exposure to the United States is sensible. I think we're really well positioned to see through this period. So the truth is the diversification is real, it's complicated, and yet that's what allows us to see through cycles is having, if one market's down, the other market's up, if one asset class is weakened, there's often an equal and opposite effect to strengthen the balancing of our portfolio. We have a strategy that's really clear.

Celine: So can you speak a little bit more then about, I'm going into the minds of our members of listeners and the world feels uncertain, the economy feels uncertain. We've had a number of years now of economic uncertainty. If I have my own portfolio that I'm trying to manage, it's hard not to pay attention to all of the noise. You talked a little bit about high-quality investments and diversification. What sets us apart? Why is our plan so resilient than the other sort of Maple Eights? Speak a little bit to the fundamentals around that for Ontario.

Blake: I think we're doing a really credible job for the plan. And the beauty of a pension plan is we can think long term, and so many people with their private portfolio need immediate cash flow, and they're trying to time the market and trying to get it right, which is impossible in an environment like this one with leaders waking up and changing the rules of the game every day, and you see the volatility that that creates.

And so what we do is we see through cycles, I often say a quarter for us is not three months, a quarter is 25 years. In years like this, when great equities, for example, are hit hard because of one tweet or one comment or one sort of series of decisions that affect economic stability and certainty and confidence, we've been loading up and buying those very equities with great dividends. Stocks that last year were 30 or 40% higher than they would be this year, and so we've been very strategic in thinking about the future, thinking long term, not worrying about this quarter or next, will those equities come back this year? And so by year end, will that prove to be a spectacular decision? I don't know, but do I think buying at deep discounts some of the greatest securities and companies, by the way, that we could possibly buy in a down cycle? Do I think that they'll stand the test of time for us? 100%, I do. It may not happen this year, it may not happen next year, but over time, we have the advantage of thinking that way, which is part of what makes us resilient, which is part of what gives us purpose, and which is part of what allows us not to try to time cycles to precision, but make good decisions over the long term.

Celine: I think that's great and I think it really speaks to, we started off by saying we've been paying pensions for over 62 years, and that is the value of the defined benefit plan.

Blake: Doesn't matter, you don't need to worry about the noise and paying attention to it. We are doing that for them. Your team is doing that for them. And as a result of that, it doesn't matter how old you are, we will continue to pay pensions for the rest of your life. That is our pension promise. A promise is a promise, last time I checked. That’s real to us. And I've often said, Celine, a pension doesn't know what happens to the economy on a given week. Interest rates, inflation, what a politician may add or not, a pension just knows one thing and it knows it needs to get paid. And when it needs to get paid, it makes our life really simple. That's why we go to work in the morning to make sure that people are looked after. They've paid in in good faith, they have earned it, they deserve their pension. And you and I, as I say, will do everything we can, not only for the next 10, but for the next several decades to ensure that our good members are looked after exquisitely as they deserve.

Celine: Yeah, 640,000 strong right now.

Blake: Amazing, right?

Celine: So you talk about the resilience of the plan and the fact that we've been paying pensions now on time and as planned for over 60 years. Our youngest member is 14 years old. Our oldest member is 109 years old and has been receiving a pension for over 40 years. When you think about resilience and being there for the 14-year-old, what does that mean to you?

Blake: Well, first of all, heart goes out to the 109-year-old. Let's hope it's 110 soon. Yes. And we can celebrate, 'cause you send out cards.

Celine: I do. I just signed a whole slew of them. We have 335 centenarians in the plan today.

Blake: Amazing, amazing. Great story. Yeah, listen, when we plot the resilience, we always have a strategy that's consistent for the times. And so up until recent history, we've been taking in more from our pensioners than we pay out, so we've had a surplus. In recent years, that's reversed. So that we do have a negative money in/money out delta that we have to cope with. As we look at it for the next five, 10, 15, 20 years, and we've modeled it, it'll never be greater than 2% of the asset base. So while the number may grow, it's a very manageable outflow, and it doesn't mean we are concerned about it in any way. It just means we will design our portfolio with a little more income to provide for that than we historically have, where we've usually had more capital appreciation. So it's good information for us to plan for. It's not daunting. Okay. I'm confident we get there, and as we see through the decades ahead, it's highly manageable, and we may have to morph our strategy from time to time for more income and a different asset class model than we currently have, and that's life when you have multi-generational pressures and new obligations as the different cohorts roll through. And certainly, you live with the various generations that are affecting the plan in different ways. Our actuarial teams and scientists model that all into the mix.

Celine: So talk a little bit about 2030. You've recently got our OMERS 2030 strategy approved by the board, and I know you talk about the one, two, three, four, five. Can you tell us what the one, two, three, four, five is?

Blake: Well, everybody needs a strategy, right? And, whether you're a government, whether you're a company, frankly, I've always had a personal strategy for five, 10, and 15 years so that I know when to say no and I know what to focus on. So we have, with a very thoughtful group within our organization and deep input from you and your team with gratitude, Celine, put together a strategy that I think makes absolute sense for us between now and five years hence, and so the north star of that strategy, as we say, is one, two, three, four, five. So that all of our 3,000 employees know exactly where we're headed. I would submit to you that all 3,000 could give the one, two, three, four, five.

So one stands for 100% funded plus. We think we'll be greater than 100% funded between now and 2030. In the last few years, we hovered just under 100%—call it 97, 98, 99—and where we're headed clearly is 100% funded plus, goal number one.

Goal number two will be 200 billion of equity. So two stands for 200. Today, we're a shade under 140, depending on what day you look at it, billion of equity. We believe with reasonable, thoughtful processes and procedures and strategies between now and five years hence, we will then be 200 billion of equity.

Three stands for three continents, and those are the 12 countries that I've referred to. And really within those countries, one or two cities, and so when people talk about the general economy of the UK, for example, it doesn't matter to me what the general economy of the UK has in store. It matters to me what's really happening in city center, London, in a few ports, in a few of the strategic areas that we've invested in that city. And we can study it, study it, study it so that we understand those fundamentals. So three stands for three continents.

Four stands for 400-plus billion of assets under management, and that includes our equity with some modest leverage plus some third-party capital. And as I say, we think it should be approaching four to 450 billion of assets under management. Half a trillion dollars. Four stands for 400 billion.

And five, when we deliver a 5% real return, and real return means without inflation, so that's more akin to a 7.5 to 8% nominal return with inflation, but five real. Five plus inflation. 100% funded, $200 billion, three continents, 400 billion-plus of assets under management, 5% real return, delivering an unbelievably healthy story for the pensioners for the next decade to follow. That's the story.

Celine: I love it. It's simple. You can understand it. It's ambitious.

Blake: And you know what? I find that almost the best part about a plan is you know when to say no.

Celine: Yeah.

Blake: When people throw ideas at you, when you're focused on what you're great at and what the team is great at, we know where we're headed. We don't waste any time getting sidetracked by things that aren't on strategy. Yeah. And that utilization of our time allows us to be focused, allows us to really be disciplined about where we're headed, and when we are all those things, I like our odds.

Celine: So Blake, I want to bring our conversation back to Canada, and I was in the audience when you delivered a letter to Canada at the Toronto Region Board of Trade dinner. I know it’s been all over social media; it’s been in various publications. I had the honour of sitting in the room and listening to it. And I can tell you especially in that moment in time it was truly remarkable to sit in the audience that day, and you delivered something I haven't heard you do before, which was a letter that was raw, that was vulnerable, that was very honest, and that gave us some really tough truths about Canada. I wanted to read a few excerpts from it and then ask you about it. And so it starts off like this: “I am a guy who grew up in the small town of Huntsville, Ontario. An idyllic typical Canadian community that reflects the values and virtues of our nation. I could not have asked for a more wholesome and hopeful upbringing we were a humble community and admittedly we had a lot to be humble about yet we knew what a neighbour was how consistent friendship and allyship worked how any local success enriched us all. A town where kindness meant strength not weakness by your example Canada we were each other’s keeper.” You went on to talk about your father and grandfather and their entrepreneurial lessons and how they built their business from the ground up and supported the local community. You go onto talk about some of the things we need to do better. You say “although I’d like this speech to begin and end as a love letter to you Canada the reality is we all have some hard work at hand we have a real conundrum on our hands and we must admit despite our many advantages we find ourselves falling behind.” You actually end with three calls to action that I love: the first draws from you grandfather and is about trust and having the tough conversations so it’s easy to criticize our friends in the US but instead of doing that let’s tell our story and bring people together the second comes from your father’s favourite word which it’s “finitiative” so let’s figure out what we can control and get it done. And the third I call this a Blake ism it’s about fiercely competitive and incredibly humble. I welcome anyone to read this letter and speaks to how we should be living our lives right now. I wanted to ask you what was going through your mind at the time and what did it feel like to deliver this to Canada.

Blake: Well, first of all, I was asked to speak, it was the 135th anniversary of the Board of Trade and I was asked to be one of the keynotes, and it was a big dinner. I don't know how many, at least 1,000 people. There were a lot of people in there. And so, like many times when you speak, you start to think about it a week in advance as opposed to a month in advance, and I sat down that weekend, and I kid you not, my pen just felt compelled to write and my heart just started to flow. And I sat back and thought, you know what, I've never thought about writing a letter to Canada, I've never seen anybody else take that lead, but to me, the speech just took the form of a letter to Canada. It was, at the time then, when the rhetoric around the 51st state was very high. It was around the time that the idea of secession was not impossible. My entire life, it's been a zero percentage chance. And I think we all needed to come together and show our strength and our solidarity.

So it kind of drew on a lifetime of my experiences. I did grow up in a little town where the handshake meant something, and allies weren't to be dismissed and mutually beneficial relationships were patently beneficial to all those who were involved, and it's not a zero-sum game in life. And that's how I roll and that's how Canada rolls. And it's not the message we are getting from south of the border, and so we had to frame the context.

I wish it could be a love letter, but it isn't, Celine, 'cause there's a lot of hard messages that have to be delivered to our country right now to get our act together, and one of the things that I said, which I fundamentally believe, is our great wealth in this country isn't just the oil and gas and the strong financial system. It is, in fact, our people. It is, in fact, the great Canadians and the grit that they possess that are going to get us from here to where we need to get as a nation. So it was just one of those moments in time, I thought it was a message worth sending. I hope if you make it available to people, they can interpret it in their own way, and it happened to coincide with a moment in history where our very sovereignty was in question.

I think it also said, 'cause I mean it, there are a few nations that wear their pride and their patriotism on their sleeve perhaps better than we do. Doesn't mean that they are more proud or patriotic than we are as a country. We just don't celebrate it the same way. And our patriotism is intact and we are not for sale. And it's a message that's worth resonating. And now, let's pivot, let's recognize the strength that this country has, let's recognize that we have as its citizenry. And let's pick up and make sure that we use this time to the advantage of all Canadians and use our platforms and invest in This country and invest in each other and not sit idly and let anybody try to abuse us in unfriendly and unneighborly ways. It's not our style.

Celine: It's a great message, Blake, and I really appreciate you sharing it with everybody. Okay, we're going to end with a series of fast five questions, which are just fun short questions to allow people to get to know you better. You're up for it?

Blake: Go for it, my friend.

Celine: Okay, first thing you do in the morning.

Blake: Well, historically, I exercise.

Celine: Good answer.

Blake: I try my best to do it. It's probably five days a week. It's not seven. I have a fitness person that I patch into at six twice a week for sure, and I've been a runner. I hurt my knee playing lacrosse last summer, and so this is the first year in my time on the planet that I haven't been running as much. I did go for a run this morning.

Celine: Oh, there you go.

Blake: I'm starting to get back at it.

Celine: Great. So the one thing I try to do is I try to exercise. Why? Because I can control the time at six in the morning. And once I get my day started, no matter how much I'm ambitious to find a time during the day, somebody else's priorities usurp mine. So exercise every morning. And I also, and I'm really grateful, I still love a real newspaper, but I have the digital. There are three papers that I patch into, and I can't say that I read them, but before I go anywhere during the day, usually with a cup of coffee, I do my exercise, I get my coffee, and I start to pour over the papers so that I don't get shocked when I go to the office and someone trumps me on some news that I missed.

Celine: I love a real paper. To me, that's a Sunday.

Blake: Yeah, me too. Sunday morning delight.

Celine: Me too. Is a real newspaper.

Blake: I designed a kitchen table so that my dear bride and I had enough room to both read our newspapers.

Celine: I love that.

Blake: Once upon a time, so we could have our coffee and we could wake up in the morning, and now with the digital stuff—It's not the same. It's not getting as much use, but I do love it too. Yeah, that's a Sunday morning treat.

Celine: Okay, last thing you do at night.

Blake: I have a half great Dane and half husky. Her name is Boo. She's sensational. She and I go for a walk, so whenever I'm ready, even last night I was working 'til quite late, and Boo comes and tells me when it's bedtime and we go for a little walk.

Celine: She keeps you honest.

Blake: And so that's my last, and to the extent we get to bed at the same time, I've been with my dear Sue for 35 years, so we usually have a little chat, just touch base.

Celine: That's lovely.

Blake: Remind each other how lucky we are.

Celine: That's so good.

Blake: And I pat my beast of a dog and off to bed.

Celine: I love that. Okay, favorite restaurant in Toronto and what's your order there?

Blake: Well, there's only one choice, right? 'Cause we happen to own it. So we own the—

Celine: I know where you're going.

Blake: The Park Hyatt. It's pretty. And that means you, the members, own the Park Hyatt. And we bought it, well, just before COVID. We renovated it, in my view, exquisitely. It's doing great as an investment for our members. And it has a restaurant at grade, which is pretty simple called Joanie's, which is great, and as importantly, the 17th floor. And if anyone hasn't been there, get there. 17th floor, there's a bar/restaurant with the best views of the city.

Celine: Best views of the city.

Blake: I don't care what other hotel thinks it can hold a candle to us, they can't. The hotel that we own is the best in this city and those views are the best in this nation. And they both got good restaurants, reasonably simple food. Usually when we go there, it's family style, so I can't say what I like the most, but it's great. And by the way, we own a lot of malls and a lot of office buildings. Any one of our Oxford owners' food courts, I'm kind of partial about those. That's the rule of thumb, any Oxford property's best. If I can create more wealth for our members with my own eating habits, that's not so bad. And the same is true for everyone out there, by the way.

Celine: Yes, I agree. Yeah. Okay, you have 48 hours, excluding travel time, to go anywhere in the world. Where do you go, what do you do, and who do you bring with you?

Blake: No, I'm really simple. It's back to my roots, back to Huntsville, Ontario. My grandfather always used to say about Toronto that the only thing decent that ever came out of the city of Toronto was the highway to Huntsville. It often goes over well when we talk to our members in any place but Toronto.

No, listen, I've got a cottage up there, happens to be beside my dad's cottage, and many of our family are in and around that same little lake just outside Huntsville. So I'd go there anytime. I'm most at peace there. I have lifetime friends there. I have lifetime family there. My dad, I don't think I've ever been there for the last 50 years without hanging out with my dad, so quite blessed to do that. So that's home for me. That's where my heart is in many ways.

Celine: That's great. Thank you so much, Blake. Honestly, thank you for being here. Thank you for everything you do on behalf of 640,000 plan members. Really appreciate you and I appreciate you being on our podcast today.

Blake: Well, Celine's now been doing this for three years, and this is a small sampling of the leadership that this incredible person and special person and executive shows for us, for all of us. I know you care deeply about our members. I know you come to work every day in service of the right thing, showing the right values. This is another indication of that. I can't thank you enough. You're a great partner and a great friend. So thank you for staging this for us.

Celine: Thank you, Blake. Thank you. 

A fantastic discussion to kick off Season 3 of the Pension Blueprint Podcast.

The thing with Blake, he's a natural communicator, people love listening to him talk because he's very knowledgeable, always optimistic but isn't afraid to tell it like it is, even it ruffles some feathers. 

The way he speaks below in the podcast in the way he speaks when you talk to him one on one, always sincere, supportive and always thinking about delivering great results for OMERS' 640,000 members over the long run. 

For Blake, having the right team and culture at OMERS is extremely important, he takes that very seriously and wants to make sure everyone is aligned, ready to perform and have fun while doing so.

Anyway, take the time to listen to the podcast below, it's well worth it.

As far as top Toronto restaurants, a buddy of mine who is a radiologist always raves about Jacobs Steakhouse but warns me it's "insanely expensive". Another friend of mine in Toronto prefers Harbour 60 which is equally expensive but "owned by Greek-Canadians."

Think I'm going to try Joanie's on the 17th floor of the Park Hyatt next time I'm in Toronto.

Alright, let me wrap it up there, I wanted to bring this podcast to your attention again and always enjoy listening to Blake.

Below, OMERS President and CEO Blake Hutcheson offers his perspective on OMERS in the face of global economic and political turbulence, and why a strong pension fund matters to every Canadian.