Preparing for the future

Ron Mock reflects on his time at Ontario Teachers’

From my first day at Ontario Teachers’, I have been driven by our mission – to provide outstanding service and retirement security to our members. This has challenged me, every single day, to do better.

When I became CEO in 2014, I set out to make that mission our operational focus at every level. We attracted new people and sharpened our skills. And our peripheral vision got better as we stepped further out onto the global stage.

A true measure of performance for our pension fund is financial returns over time. Our OneTeachers’ investment strategy was key to aligning our board and management team with paying pensions over the long term, not just beating benchmarks. This inspired new departments, services and strategies— like our Total Fund Management and Global Strategic Relationships teams, our entrance into debt markets, and the launch of Teachers’ Innovation Platform and Koru. And, we’ve seen results. Our annual total-fund net return was 10.1% over the last 10 years, and 9.7% since inception in 1990 and we’ve held a surplus for six years straight.

We expanded more fully into global markets to diversify our portfolio, gain access to new opportunities and decrease risk. The local knowledge and relationships we have built help us navigate complex markets. This approach also helps us source, develop and motivate talent – the engine of our organization.

I’m extremely proud of the people who work at Ontario Teachers’. They foster insights that shape and sharpen our thinking. They nurture the relationships that drive our success. And the incredible depth of knowledge within our organization elevates good talent to great heights. We have a history as leaders in the pension industry, but we are not content with yesterday’s performance.

All these efforts are inspired by our members – good teachers impart knowledge, challenge expectations and nurture the progress of the next generation. While today’s changing world presents a lot of uncertainty, I believe the organization is well placed to fulfill our mission well into the future.

To the teachers of Ontario, it has been an honour.

Sincerely,

Ron Mock