OPTRUST - Key Persons
Job Titles:
- Chief Risk Officer and Senior Vice President, Actuarial Services and Plan Policy
Dani joined OPTrust in 2010 and was responsible for leading the Actuarial Services and Plan Policy team. He also now leads the Investment Risk, Enterprise Risk and Compliance teams.
Previously, Dani was a consulting actuary for over 10 years at many public and private sector pension plans. He also served as a member of the Pension Plan Financial Reporting Committee of the Canadian Institute of Actuaries and has served and led a number of Designated Groups examining Actuarial Standards of Practice.
Dani holds an Honours Bachelor of Math degree in Actuarial Science and Statistics as well as an MBA from the Ivey School of Business.
Job Titles:
- Chartered Financial Analyst
Deborah Leckman was appointed to the Board of Trustees by the Government of Ontario in January 2019. Deborah became Chair of the Audit, Finance and Risk Committee, effective November 1, 2022.
Deborah is a senior investment professional with over 30 years of experience in the pension fund and retail wealth industries. Deborah previously served a six-year term as Commissioner, Director and Adjudicator at the Ontario Securities Commission (OSC), whose mandate is investor protection, promoting fair and efficient capital markets and contributing to financial stability. In 2022, she was appointed a member of OSC's Investor Advisory Panel for a two-year term.
Deborah held the role of Senior Vice President at TD Waterhouse and was responsible for a $15 billion public equity program at OMERS prior to that. She is a trustee of various other pension plans and life health trusts.
Deborah is a Chartered Financial Analyst and holds a B. Comm and an MBA from McGill University. In 2022, she completed the Pension Governance Education Program at the International Centre for Pension Management University of Toronto Rotman School of Management.
Deborah Leckman was appointed to the Board of Trustees by the Government of Ontario in January 2019. Deborah is a senior investment professional with over 30 years of experience in the pension fund and retail wealth industries.
The Government of Ontario appointed Don Wilkinson to OPTrust's Board of Trustees in July 2017.
Don brings over 30 years of public accounting experience providing assurance and advisory services to Canada's largest pension funds, institutional investors, telecommunications, and real estate companies. He was a Vice Chair of Deloitte and led their National Asset Management Group in addition to being a member of the Global Financial Services Industry Steering Committee. He was a member of the Deloitte Canadian Board where he chaired the Governance Committee and a representative on the US Board of Directors.
Don led Deloitte's Corporate Governance Centre with an objective of providing education and guidance to directors on current issues with a theme of "Beyond Compliance". He moderated Deloitte's Directors' Series which is broadcast to cities across Canada.
He is a chartered accountant (CPA, CA) and holds a Bachelor of Commerce from the University of Saskatchewan.
James Davis - Chief Investment Officer
James Davis is the Chief Investment Officer of OPTrust and leads the organization's global investment strategy and operations.
With more than 30 years of experience leading investment teams, developing investment strategies and managing risk, James is passionate about retirement income security and responsible investing.
Prior to joining OPTrust in 2015, James held the role of Vice President, Strategy & Asset Mix and Chief Economist at the Ontario Teachers' Pension Plan, where he led a team providing investment strategy, economic analysis, emerging market insight and responsible investing expertise to the pension fund.
He has also served as the President of FuturesTrend Capital Corporation in Prince Edward Island and Vice President & Head, Global Fixed Income & Currencies at RBC Global Investment Management in Toronto. Before embarking on a career in investments, James worked as a Meteorologist with Environment Canada.
James is a CFA® charterholder and has an MBA, Finance from Dalhousie University
Jason has been active with OPSEU for many years. He is currently the president of OPSEU Local 582 at Toronto East Detention Centre and serves as the Co-Chair of the Training and Development Sub-Committee for the Ministry Employee Relations Committee.
OPSEU named Jason Mushynski to the Board of Trustees in January 2024. Jason has over 25 years experience as a Correctional Officer at the Ministry of the Solicitor General including 20 years as a member of the Institutional Crisis Intervention Team and five years as a Team Lead.
Job Titles:
- Senior Vice President, Member Experience and Pension Operations
Jesusa was appointed to the Executive Team in 2023 to lead the organization's Member Experience and Pension Operations function serving over 111,000 members.
Jesusa joined the organization over 25 years ago and has held progressively senior client-service roles throughout her career, most recently as Vice President, Member Experience and Pension Operations. She leads a team of 70 employees who work to ensure OPTrust's members receive the pension benefits they have earned with outstanding service. She is a seasoned pension operations professional with deep expertise in customer service, coaching and mentoring, business transformation and risk management.
Jesusa holds a BA and an LLM from University of Toronto and a certificate in pension law from Osgoode Law School.
Job Titles:
- in 2010 As Director of Communications
- Vice President, Strategy, Communications & Stakeholder Relations
Karen was appointed to the Executive Team in August 2016. She is a senior strategic adviser to the CEO, responsible for overseeing the development of OPTrust's annual business plans and longer-term strategic plans. She also leads the Communications and Stakeholder Relations team.
Karen joined OPTrust in 2010 as Director of Communications where she was instrumental in building the organization's communications function. Since joining, she has held progressively senior leadership roles, including serving as Corporate Secretary until 2019. Previously, she worked in marketing and communications at a large Canadian investment management firm.
Karen holds a Bachelor of Arts in Linguistics from the University of Toronto and an MBA from the Ivey School of Business.
OPSEU appointed Len Elliott to the Board of Trustees in April 2019. Len is an Industrial Health & Safety Inspector with the Ministry of Labour in London, Ontario. He has more than 14 years' experience in the Ontario Public Service with a background in occupational health, labour relations and emergency management.
OPSEU appointed Lindsey Burzese as Chair of OPTrust's Board of Trustees, effective November 1, 2022. OPSEU named Lindsey to the Board of Trustees in January 2018, and she previously was Vice-Chair, and is now Chair of the Governance and Administration Committee.
Job Titles:
- Chief Executive Officer
- President
Peter Lindley is President and CEO of OPTrust, one of Canada's largest defined benefit pension plans with offices in Toronto, London and Sydney.
Since joining OPTrust in 2019, Peter reprioritized the organization's Strategic Plan and increased focus on the Plan's members. He has also emphasized inclusion, diversity and equity as demonstrated by achieving a more gender diverse Executive Team. He established OPTrust's Sustainable Investing and Innovation (SII) department, giving it a mandate to identify new investment opportunities across asset classes at the intersection of sustainability and innovation.
A financial services industry veteran with over 30 years of experience in strategy, investments and leading high-performance teams, Peter is a strong advocate for defined benefit pensions and responsible investing. Prior to joining OPTrust, Peter served as President and Head of Investments at State Street Global Advisors, where he was responsible for the firm's overall Canadian business strategy.
Peter obtained a Bachelor of Engineering from the University of Leicester, U.K. and a Bachelor of Education from the University of Toronto. Peter is a board member of the Canadian Coalition for Good Governance and serves on its Member Engagement Committee and Public Policy Committee.
Job Titles:
- Chairman of the Human Resources and Compensation Committee
OPSEU named Ram Selvarajah to the Board of Trustees in April 2021. Ram became Chair of the Human Resources and Compensation Committee, effective November 1, 2022. Ram is a Senior Systems Analyst with the Ministry of the Solicitor General and has more than 20 years of experience in the Ontario Public Service.
Richard Nesbitt was first appointed to the Board in September 2019 by the Government of Ontario and is now Chair of the Investment Committee and Vice-Chair of the Board. Richard is an Adjunct Professor of the Rotman School of Management, University of Toronto. Richard is now based in London, United Kingdom where he is working with the London School of Economics as Chair of a new research institute "The Inclusion Initiative at LSE". His book (with Michael King) is titled "The Technological Revolution in Financial Services" (UTP 2020). In June 2017, Richard published a book (with Barbara Annis) titled "Results at the Top" on the issue of men's responsibility for gender diversity to improve their organizations (Wiley 2017).
Richard currently serves on several corporate boards and he works closely with a small number of companies building innovative businesses. He was CEO of CIBC World Markets and Chief Operating Officer of CIBC from 2008 to 2014. From 2004 to 2008 Richard was Chief Executive Officer of the Toronto Stock Exchange, having joined TSX as President of TSX Markets in 2001. Richard graduated from LSE with an MSC in Accounting and Finance in 1986, Rotman School of Management with an MBA 1985, and from Ivey Business School with an HBA 1978. In 2022 Richard completed the Institute of Corporate Directors 3 module course "Board Oversight of Climate Change".
Job Titles:
- Consultant
- Member of the Board
- Consultant, Board Member, Economist
- External Member of the Senate 's Standing Committee
The Government of Ontario appointed Robert Plamondon to the Board of Trustees in January 2019.
Robert is a consultant, board member, economist, historian and author. He has extensive expertise in strategic planning, organizational transformation, performance management, finance and public policy.
Robert was appointed as an external member of the Senate's Standing Committee on Audit and Oversight in 2021. He also serves as the Vice Chair of the Ontario Internal Audit Committee. Robert served of the board of the National Capital Commission (2014 - 18) where he was the Chair of the Audit Committee, member of the Executive Committee and was elected Interim Chair. Robert was on the board of the Sierra Club of Canada as Treasurer. He collaborates with the Professional Development Institute for the University of Ottawa where he serves as the Director of the Comptrollership and CIO institutes.
Robert has led governance evaluations for VIA Rail Canada, Export Development of Canada and the governance regime for Canada's national debt under the shared authority of the of the Bank of Canada and Finance Canada. He's an advisory board member of the National Portrait Gallery and bestselling author who supports school literacy programs. Robert is a FCPA - FCE and is an Institute Certified Director (ICD.D) from the Institute of Corporate Directors. He has completed ICD workshops and programs on environmental management and sustainability reporting.
Job Titles:
- Vice President, Information Technology Operations and Security
Since joining OPTrust in 1999, Satwant has held progressively senior leadership roles and was appointed to the Executive Team in June 2023. She is responsible for delivering, supporting and securing information technology solutions for OPTrust to be both agile and efficient as technology continually underpins everything we do.
Sharon Pel was appointed to the OPTrust Board of Trustees in February 2017 by the Government of Ontario. Sharon recently served as Chair and Vice-Chair.
Job Titles:
- General Counsel
- Senior Vice President
Stephen joined OPTrust in 2018 and became a member of the Executive Team in February 2020. As General Counsel, he leads the Legal Services team which provides legal and regulatory counsel to the organization, with a focus on investments and member experience.
Job Titles:
- Head of People
- Senior Human Resources Leader
Tracy joined OPTrust as Head of People in October 2021.
Tracy is an accomplished senior human resources leader with a broad range of experience including strategy, employee engagement, talent management, HR operations and labour relations. Previously, Tracy was Vice President, Human Resources at GTY Technology Holdings where she was responsible for the overall people strategy and creating alignment among six acquired companies.
Tracy has also held human resources leadership roles in the telecommunications sector. She began her career as a lawyer.
Tracy received her Bachelor of Journalism from Carleton University, her law degree (JD) from the University of Toronto and completed her MBA at the Rotman School of Management.
Upton joined OPTrust as Chief Financial Officer and a member of the Executive Team in May 2021. Prior to this appointment, Upton served as Global Vice President Finance and Chief Accountant at Sun Life Financial, where he led critical operational finance activities including financial reporting, accounting policy and education, managed external audit, tax and capital structures.