Canadian Lawyer InHouse

audrey mak associate general counsel and vice president, pension legal, ontario municipal employees retirement system debate on adequate retirement income for Canadians. Given OMERS' experience, we think we have a lot to contribute to the discussion. OMERS' position is that it is important to provide enough options for people to retire on an adequate income. My team is a key contributor to both pension reform and these important public policy discussions. WHAT DO YOU SEE AS THE PRIMARY CHALLENGES FOR THE OMERS PENSION LEGAL DEPARTMENT IN 2014? HOW DO YOU APPROACH RISK MANAGEMENT FROM THE PERSPECTIVE OF THE OMERS PENSION LEGAL DEPARTMENT? orking at a pension fund is not what one would have thought it would be like even 10 years ago. Pensions are in the forefront right now. At OMERS our CEO is a dynamic, innovative person and that really trickles down so we get some really interesting work. We are very focused on OMERS' strategic plan which has a growth agenda. Part of that strategy is to get more assets under management which will ultimately help the sustainability of the fund and benefit our plan members. Globally, we now have offices in London and New York. This of course raises challenges in terms of complying with foreign laws. Domestically, we are focused on plan consolidation and membership growth. We're hoping that other plans can consolidate their assets and liabilities with us. We're waiting for the regulations we need to make this happen. Another high priority is being innovative on what we can offer our members. For example, in 2011, at members' request, we added the Additional Voluntary Contribution option into the OMERS Primary Pension Plan. Two new features are being added to the AVC option (year-round lump sum transfers and automatic payroll deduction). In addition, depending on pending PBA regulations and necessary approvals, we hope to provide members with the option to receive an income stream from their AVC account at age 71. Not only do we care about our plan but we're also involved in the general public Given the evolving case law and legislative reform in the pensions area in the last few years, it is critical that we continue to closely monitor these developments and determine how they affect our plan. For example, the Carrigan case really threw a curve ball to all plan administrators; we have to figure out how to administer the plan now that that case is out there. Is the government going to do something in the legislation to fi x it or do plan administrators have to figure it out on their own? Another area that is high priority for my team is safeguarding the privacy of our over 429,000 members' personal information, especially with the increasing use of electronic communication (such as myOMERS). We need to constantly consider and implement best practices throughout OMERS and monitor things like the Canada anti-spam legislation which is due to come into effect July 1. Finally, good governance is always a way to mitigate risk so it is important to make sure we're ahead of the issues and fully inform our board. As a result of a recommendation of the Dean Report, the OMERS Administration Corporation has a new independent board chair, George Cooke, as of Oct. 1, 2013. The OAC board will also have five new board members over the next few months. Board education and orientation will be a high priority for the whole OMERS legal team, given that OMERS is so highly regulated and the activities in which we engage are unique and complex. W canadianlawyermag.com/inhouse February 2014 21

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