The Canadian Pension and Benefits Institute's annual forum invited attendees to collaborate, inform and be entertained
The Canadian Pension and Benefits Institute (CPBI)’s Forum 2025 began not only with an uplifting message but ended with plan sponsors, asset managers and HR administrators feeling more empowered and inspired for the work that lies ahead, particularly as geopolitical tensions continue to affect the industry and the workplace.
CBPI celebrated their 65th anniversary this week under the theme “Riding the wave: finding balance in a changing world” at the Sheraton Wall Centre in downtown Vancouver and brought together 350 attendees in-person, while 265 participated online.
To kick off the conference that featured 28 sessions, 60 speakers and moderators in the pension plan space, Canadian motivational speaker, author and founder of the Valuegraphics Project, David Allison delivered the keynote address. He emphasized the importance of personal values in everyday life and how plan sponsors can better the workplace by finding the values of their own plan members.
“There's only 56 values. There's 9 billion of us. We're fighting with each other like we've never fought before. There's all kinds of forces out there in the world that are trying to convince us that we're very, very different from each other but there's only 56 things that make us different from everybody else in the planet,” said Allison.
“There's 88 keys on a piano keyboard. It's hard to learn how to play Chopsticks or Happy Birthday on the piano than it is to understand the sum total of what's driving all of us to be who we are every day, all day long. That's a pretty hopeful finding and it makes me feel like we are going to be okay,” he added.
Allison underscored the values – which range from respect, personal responsibility, health and wellbeing and financial security - can be powerful once plan sponsors understand what they are for themselves.
“Part of what I want you to take away today is to start thinking about yourself as values driven beings walking through your day looking for anything you can find that's aligned with your values,” he said, proposing strategies to align values with organizational practices, like rebranding pension plans as "peace of mind plans" and offering customizable benefits.
Allison also advocated for values-driven decision-making to enhance workplace culture and leadership effectiveness.
Caroline Tison, CEO of Canadian Pension and Benefits Institute underscored the reason of this year’s theme was to acknowledge the current economic circumstances and help plan sponsors prepare for the work that lies ahead.
“There's currents happening, there's things happening that are out of our control, and you have to ride that wave because we don't control everything,” she said. “How can you analyze your risks, prepare for them, be ready, be educated, and see what your peers are doing? I think that's really one of the main things here is a lot of conversations that are happening are peers exchanging, talking to each other, finding out what they're doing.”
“If you can just leave this conference with one or two takeaways that have you know that have an impact and make a difference, our job is done.”
Indeed, that was certainly the case for Kellen Jibb, associate director for the market services solutions team, foreign exchange at RBC Investor Services and Mario Brizar, director of business development, RBC Investor and Treasury Services.
“The global economic outlook this morning was fascinating because a lot of these economic talks can often repeat the same dialogue, but I thought they gave some really interesting insights this morning,” said Jibb, with Brizar agreeing.
“Especially because we've been having similar conversations with our clients so it’s quite validating, in some respects, to see that spoken about on stage,” he said, pointing to the experts’ insights on US-Canada relations and investments.
“If Canadian pensions go into US positions unhedged, they can have downside risk of the market coming down, but then they also have exposure to the US dollar. And if that weakens, it's a double whammy. The asset depreciates but then your exposure to the US dollar is at risk,” he added.
For Pavithra Ravinatarajan, head of pharmacy strategy and pharmaceutical relationships, pharmacist at Manulife, she attended the conference to gain “a deeper understanding, from an employer and sponsor perspective, of where concerns and priorities are,” she said.
“We’re always trying to innovate at Manulife to fill the gaps and be at the forefront of leadership so I’d love to take away of where others’ priorities are at the moment," she added.
Cynthia-Shaw Perreira, vice-president, head of asset owner segment at CIBC Mellon also shared similar sentiments, acknowledging she wants to take away an understanding of where other plan sponsors and pension funds are at on their technology transformation.
“It's something we're monitoring at CIBC Mellon. We're trying to keep pace with the innovation so some of it is we have to make sure we're catching up to where technology is going and I see technology moving 10 times faster than any other organization,” she said. “I'm just looking to get a sense of where the market is right now by speaking to a lot of the pensions that are here.”
But there was also fun to be had this week as attendees also participated in a foosball challenge at the Forum’s opening tailgate party, with attendees sporting their favourite jerseys, cheering on their favourite team while eating gameday-like grub. An interpretive dance was also performed by the Kinshira Group during the gala dinner.
The Canadian Pension and Benefits Institute’s next forum is scheduled for June 8-10, 2026, in Quebec City, Quebec.
