New chair of CAAT Board says admin changes are necessary and are in the “best interests of the Plan”
Amid a governance crisis at one of Canada’s largest pension plans, CAAT Pension Plan announced additional sweeping leadership changes today, placing CEO Derek Dobson on immediate administrative leave while appointing a new acting chief executive, board chair, and vice chair.
Kevin Fahey, CAAT's long-serving chief investment officer with more than 16 years at the organization, has stepped into the role of acting CEO and plan manager.
The move comes as the pension plan navigates what the board described as a period of "significant change" prompted by governance concerns tied to a vacation payment of $1.6 million made to Dobson.
Audrey Wubbenhorst, an employee-appointed trustee since 2023 and faculty member at Humber Polytechnic (formerly Humber College), has been named the new chair of the board, succeeding CAAT’s board chair Don Smith.
Meanwhile, Janet Greenwood, an employer-appointed trustee with over three decades of global wealth management experience, takes over as vice chair following the resignation of former Vice Chair Kareen Stangherlin.
Wubbenhorst underscored that “the CAAT Board of Trustees determined that these changes are in the best interests of the Plan and are necessary to restore stakeholder trust in CAAT’s leadership, governance and plan management,” she said in a press release.
“Kevin is a veteran CAAT executive with a strong track record of high performance and his extensive experience and institutional knowledge make him ideally suited to lead the organization through the current period of significant change.”
Fahey brings a deep background in pension investment, having chaired the Pension Investment Association of Canada and served on the Investment Committee for Teachers' Pension Plan Corporation of Newfoundland and Labrador. He holds degrees from Queen's University and Osgoode Hall Law School and is a CFA Charterholder.
The plan, which manages the retirement dollars for some 125,000 members from more than 800 employer has been under public scrutiny recently. Notably, the announcement coincides with an independent governance review launched by the board after concerns surfaced regarding the vacation payment to Dobson.
CAAT said the review is expected to conclude later in February and emphasized that the issues under examination do not affect the plan's financial health or its ability to deliver pensions to members.
Wubbenhorst underscored the importance of the review, noting that "good governance is the backbone of a pension plan's stability and strength" while pledging that the board would carefully consider its findings.
The plan's most recent independent valuations show a funded status of 124 percent, meaning it holds $1.24 in assets for every dollar of promised benefits.
“The Plan is well positioned to withstand market volatility, demographic change, and other risks. Stress testing confirms a greater than 99 per cent probability that the Plan will remain fully funded over the next 20 years,” CAAT said in the release.
