KEYNOTE SESSIONS

Its all in the Choice

Life is all about choices: choosing your path, choosing to learn from a loss, choosing your attitude, choosing the people you surround yourself with, choosing how to view the situations that arise in life, and the big one, choosing to ignore the outside noise. Everything you become is based on the choices you make. You and only you are responsible for every choice made and every path taken.

In an era where artificial intelligence (AI) is reshaping landscapes across industries, Preet Banerjee intertwines the adrenaline-fueled world of professional racing and behavioural finance with the dynamic realm of financial services to explore the critical role of human expertise in an AI-dominated future. 

Drawing from his personal experience as an aspiring race car driver, Banerjee offers a fresh and engaging perspective on the role of technology in financial services. He shares real-world examples and applications to equip audiences with the tools needed to not only coexist with AI but leverage it to enhance their value and expertise.

Attendees will leave with a renewed appreciation for their role in the financial sector, how to apply strategies from the world of behavioural finance, and understanding how to blend AI with human insight to provide unparalleled value to clients. They’ll be equipped to not only survive but thrive in the rapidly evolving landscape of financial services.

Navigating Economic Terrain: Insights into the 2024 Capital Market Landscape and Beyond

Gain valuable perspectives on the current economic climate and anticipate the trajectory of capital markets for the remainder of 2024 and beyond.

This Would Be Funny... If It Wasn’t Happening To Me! How To Navigate the Future With Enthusiasm & Vigor

Sometimes life just gets in the way. Do you ever think, “Why can’t things just go the way I want for a change?” or “Why can’t people just leave me alone?” This hilarious and provocative presentation shows you how to buoyantly face stress and navigate the future. Embrace challenging situations and people with new ideas, innovation and conviction.

Increase your comfort and confidence in the face of stress and change. Through stand-up comedy, audience interaction and analogy, we will unfold inspiration to compel the audience to appreciate that the way you lead yourself is the way you lead others, and all change starts with you.

• Derive strength from change
• Embrace work with a sense of urgency, conviction and vitality
• Get your team on board with change
• Move forward and feel good despite uncertainty

Growth Unlocked: Sharing Critical Insights on How to Leverage AI Today and Into The Future!  

This session is designed to offer a comprehensive exploration of AI, covering its current state, associated risks, opportunities for growth, real-world experiences, future visions, the mysterious world of algorithmic secrets, and the anticipated impact of AI on the future of work. Walter will initiate the session by setting the stage, while our panel of experts will contribute diverse perspectives and practical insights, creating a valuable and engaging discussion for the audience.

BREAKOUT SESSIONS

From deficit to surplus: Is your plan ready?

Transforming Mental Health Care Through Innovation!

The data is clear! People are struggling with mental health conditions and away from work like never before and the related costs are skyrocketing.

By fusing a bio-psycho-social-spiritual treatment model in an innovative medically managed intensive outpatient program (MMIOP) model, people can overcome deeply embedded traumas that prevent them from living fully in their everyday lives. Dr. Tanguay will explain how mental wellness can be achieved for those experiencing conditions such as PTSD, Trauma, Anxiety, Burnout, Depression, Addiction and Chronic Pain with evidence-based psychotherapy delivered by an inter-disciplinary medical team.

The research is clear, MMIOP’s do speed the rate of recovery for many people suffering from these conditions. By shortening the period of time for the  employee to return to work and a healthy life, skyrocketing disability costs will be reduced for the plan members and plan sponsors.

Dr. Tanguay will review:

• The medical science of MMIOP’s for occupational and non-occupational psychological injuries, addiction, and chronic pain;

• How the MMIOP is designed and what clients can expect;

• How the program coordinates with disability managers and supports effective and successful return to work plans; and

• A case study of one patient’s journey and why this patient-centered approach to intensive treatment achieves results!

Harmony in Energy: A case study on merging Pension and Benefit Plans

Have you ever wondered what it would be like to change your entire benefits and pension package at the same time? In this session, a pension actuary and benefits professional combine to explore the intricate process of harmonizing the legacy Cenovus and Husky Energy benefits, vacation, leaves of absence and pension/investment programs. In keeping with the conference theme "Navigating the Future," the session shares insights into the strategic decisions, challenges faced, and successful outcomes achieved in merging these vital components. The case study serves as a roadmap for navigating the complexities of integrating diverse plans, fostering collaboration, and charting the course for a harmonious transition. Attendees will gain valuable insights into the intersection of financial planning and employee benefits within the energy sector, offering practical lessons for those steering their organizations through similar transformative journeys. Join us as we illustrate the power of harmony in shaping a resilient and forward-looking future for energy sector pension and benefit plans.

A Fireside Chat about the Future of Defined Contribution Plans

Looking forward, for many if not most Canadians their future retirement will be DC based, whether it be through a DC Pension, RRSP or DPSP arrangement. This market has evolved massively, 20 years ago we had hardly heard of target date funds, definitely not heard of tax free savings accounts and never envisaged how integral technology would be to our DC plans. But what will the future bring? Or what is already here but may evolve further. This will be a fireside chat discussing the evolving and future trends that are likely to influence the DC market. Expect to walk always with insights into: · How DC plans may address decumulation? · The increasing desire/ tension regarding the need for personalized solutions and advice for DC members · How corporate DC plans are disappearing in other countries, being replaced by Multiple employer plans, and an insight into whether this is the future for Canada.

Leverage Technology to Improve Employee Well-Being

The integration of technology is a powerful tool for employers seeking to gain an edge in supporting employee mental health. By leveraging innovative digital solutions, employers can enhance accessibility, engagement, and effectiveness of mental health initiatives. In particular, teletherapy and virtual counseling provide convenient access to mental health professionals, ensuring employees can seek support from anywhere. Through mental health apps and online resources, employees can feel empowered by proactively managing their well-being with evidence-based tools. Such digital mental health assessments offer personalized insights and recommendations for individual support, therefore acting as comprehensive hubs for accessing resources and engaging in virtual wellness activities. Additionally, E-learning and webinars deliver informative sessions on stress management and resilience. The presence of smarter and more efficient mental health chatbots can provide immediate support and guidance where needed. Moreover, remote support groups create a sense of community, while wellness challenges and gamification boost engagement. Such technology enhanced communication tools can facilitate ongoing mental health communication where data analytics and feedback mechanisms accumulated by use of these services optimize initiatives through data-driven insights. Overall it is evident that embracing technology with a strategic approach can ensure employers stay ahead in promoting a mentally healthy and thriving workforce.

Rising up: How Canada’s Pension Plans are Positioning for the Future

Canada’s pension plans enjoy a well-deserved global reputation for strong management and resilient performance, but they still face complexities and challenges amid today’s evolving market and business landscape. From higher interest rates and global geopolitical shocks to domestic pressures impacting both financial and non-financial factors of institutional investments, there are many rising pressures to contend with. To find out how the industry is approaching these many issues, CIBC Mellon surveyed 50 of Canada’s leading pension funds. In this session, we will explore key findings and trends from CIBC Mellon’s latest research results. The session will provide practical industry insights and examples from an asset owner perspective. Topics include considerations, risks and opportunities that are top of mind for Canadian asset owners, how they plan to rise to these challenges and seek to position their organizations on the path forward.

Data - The Hottest Asset for Institutional Investors

Data is the lifeblood of any investment organization, and those who make maximum use of it will generate a meaningful market advantage. As more and more organizations turn to the cloud to modernize their infrastructure and workloads, data as a service, or DaaS, is becoming an increasingly popular solution for data integration, management, storage, and analytics.

Pension funds are at different stages on their data journey; from a few with embedded enterprise-wide operating models generating significant insights and using advanced analytics; to those who operate with a more fragmented reliance on siloed data initiatives and lower level of in-house capability, to some that may not consider data a strategic priority.

Stephen will discuss some key themes from a recent series of pension fund-focused discussions on the subject of harnessing data to improve governance, operational efficiency and generate alpha.

For clients considering their data strategy:
• Know where you are today and what you are trying to achieve
• Don’t let technology be the sole guide to success
• Don’t underestimate the challenges of organizational and behavioral change

Revitalizing Wellbeing: A Case Study Journey through Employee Mental Health Innovation

When COVID 19 hit in March 2020, employers scrambled to address the mental health impacts, especially for those on the front line of the pandemic. For many, mental health processes and treatment options were created on the fly. The Health Benefit Trust of Alberta (HBTA) had developed a strategy in 2017 that was already in place and considered widely as one of the most innovative among Canadian employers. It included preventive and educational options and focused on sustaining performance through mental health during a time of acute anxiety. Among the initiatives was an early intervention treatment service which accelerated access to medical care by psychiatrists so employees could return to healthy personal and professional lives. In this session, Gayle Shurvell, Director, Employee Benefits and Retirement Programs, will discuss the HBTA mental health strategy (including its treatment service), its impact on the workplace and the measurements that demonstrated its success. Carolyn Chapman, Organizational Health Consultant, Canada Life and Chris Anderson, President, Medaca Health Group, will join Gayle, to outline how the strategy was developed and executed. Attendees will take away a key best practice for mental health which has become imperative post-COVID.

Recent Benefit & Pension Law Developments

This session will delve into the latest legal developments of interest to administrators and sponsors of pension and benefit plans in Western Canada. Meghan will discuss new and upcoming changes to pension standards legislation and the Income Tax Act, regulatory updates and recent court decisions of note.  

Human and portfolio longevity, together at last?

Decumulation presents defined contribution plan members with additional challenges and questions they didn’t face during their working years as they accumulated assets. This session will cover what makes this phase of an employee’s financial lifecycle uniquely difficult, will provide an overview of Longevity Risk Pooling, highlight some innovative Canadian decumulation solutions, and provide plan sponsors ideas around how to implement a decumulation strategy to help their members tackle the decumulation phase.

Group insurance and productivity: The ups and downs of long-term disability

Following a series of pandemic-related fluctuations, long-term disability cases in Canada suddenly began to fall in January 2022, ending the upwards trend of the past 10 years.

How can we explain this unexpected drop? Does it mean that Canadians are enjoying better health? Is it a longer-term trend or just a passing phase? What reality lies concealed behind the statistics?

This conference is an opportunity to review the situation based on exclusive data from the Desjardins Insurance portfolio. We'll gain a better understanding of how long-term disability cases have changed over the past decade and consider possible scenarios for the coming years. We'll also look at some tools to help business leaders and HR professionals better manage long-term disability.

This presentation will help participants:
- Get a complete picture of disability insurance in Canada
- Understand how long-term disability has changed across the country: general trends over the past decade, pandemic-related fluctuations, post-pandemic situation
- Explore how economic conditions (inflation, interest rates, etc.) affect the behaviour of employees dealing with health problems
- Analyze the 2024–2026 outlook and the various factors likely to influence the disability curve
- Understand how group insurance and group retirement savings plans can help contain future disability increases.
- Access tools to better control long-term disability in organizations

Current Challenges in the Pharmaceutical Environment in Canada

Join Shanta Zurock, Director, Reimbursement at Innomar Strategies as she speaks about challenges in the in the ever-changing Canadian pharmaceutical landscape.  In this session, she will explore some of the following: How the evolving pipeline in key areas, such as gene therapy and other complex specialty medications, present both challenges and opportunities. How some trends and new treatment are shifting the conversation around chronic diseases to more lifestyle centered decisions and driving patient advocacy. Patient access is paramount to delivering quality care, yet the unintended consequences of administrative burdens hinder timely access to medications. The pharmacy environment is facing unique challenges such as lower markups and vertical integration and are looking for new sources of revenue. Pharmacare initiatives purportedly aim to enhance access for all Canadians, however the hype may overshadow reality.

Designed for Savings – a Deeper Dive into CAP Investment Trends

Released in 2023, Sun Life’s flagship benchmark report on workplace savings plans in Canada (Designed for Savings) analyzes data from 7,500+ capital accumulation plans.

This session will dive deeper into Capital Accumulation Plans (CAP) investments trends. We will provide some practical guidance that helps plan administrators understand the key trends when it comes to CAP investment line-ups, modernizing investment governance to include ESG, the role of real assets, member investment behaviours in times of market volatility, member attitudes on investments and more.

Examples of CAP plans are as follows:
• Registered Retirement Saving Plan (RRSP)
• Defined Contribution Pension Plans (DCPP)
• Profit Sharing Plans

Designed for Health - Paramedical and drug claims – a look through the pandemic and beyond

In this session we will share the latest trends from our Designed for Health series, drawing from Sun Life’s database of over 3 million plan members. This session will do a deep dive into the key trends in paramedical and drug claiming, across claim types and demographics and what this might be telling us about employee health and chronic disease. Who is most at risk and why, and what can be done to support employees and positively influence their overall health.

Data-Driven Decisions Help Create Inclusive Pension and Benefit Programs

It’s easy for companies to say that Diversity Equity and Inclusion (DEI) is important and a priority – but how do you back these aspirational words with well informed practical actions?
Key to creating pension and benefit programs that support organizational DEI strategy is gaining insight into your workforce – generational composition, diverse experiences, employee needs and perceptions.
• We will explore how to effectively and respectfully collect and use data to maximize program design and communication in support of DEI strategy
• Drawing on real life case studies, we will explore how organizations employ data analysis to inform and create inclusive programs
• We will also discuss some of the challenges the industry is working to unravel Please join us for an engaging discussion where we will explore new ideas and to make a difference.