Pension Advisory Committee

Members' Autobiographies

Anthony Benjamin (Toronto, Ontario) is a consulting actuary with Eckler Partners Ltd.. He has over 15 years of experience in the design, funding and administration of pension and employee benefit plans, and he is actively involved in committees of the Canadian Institute of Actuaries dealing with public policy and regulatory issues affecting pension plans.

Mary Bishop (Ottawa, Ontario) is a chartered accountant and certified employee benefits specialist. She has 6 years of pension related financial experience and is currently the director of Pension Services Finance for the Canada Post Corporation Pension Plan.

Brenda Carson (Toronto, Ontario) is a consultant in the Pensions and Benefits Department of Osler, Hoskin & Harcourt LLP where she provides advice to clients on pension and benefits plan design, drafting and compliance and assists clients with difficult administrative issues. She has been in the pensions and benefits industry for over 25 years. Brenda has experience as a pension committee member for private pension plans and is the chair of the Pension Review Committee which is an informal industry committee of pension consultants, actuaries and lawyers that liaise with and provide written submissions to pension and tax regulators on legislative change and policy matters.

Andrew Donelle (Kitchener-Waterloo, Ontario) worked in CRA's Registered Plans Directorate for 9 years, as a team leader and trainer. For the past 5 years he has worked for two leading benefit consulting firms as a Compliance Specialist advising colleagues and clients on legislation and regulatory policies that affect registered pension plans and other retirement arrangements.

Paul Duxbury (Cambridge, Ontario) is a pension actuary with almost 30 years of experience in the pension field, including almost 20 years as a consulting actuary. He has had his own practice for the past five years. Mr. Duxbury has extensive experience with both multi-employer and single-employer pension plans and in assisting unions with their pension-related issues.

Mark Eagles (Toronto, Ontario) is a lawyer and Principal at Mercer Human Resource Consulting, practicing in the area of pension and benefit plan design, documentation and compliance. Mark has been actively involved in the pension industry for over 14 years, and he advises a variety of public and private sector clients about the application of pension benefits standards legislation and relevant tax law.

George A. Garbutt (Calgary, Alberta) spent 15 years in group insurance and pension administration and sales with a major Canadian insurance carrier. Since 1980 he has been employed with Lehigh Cement Limited, a large Western employer, and is currently the Manager, Employee Benefits - Canada. He is a Past Chair of the Alberta Chapter of the Canadian Pension & Benefits Institute.

Ross Gascho (Toronto, Ontario) is a partner in the pension and employee benefits practice of Fasken Martineau DuMoulin LLP. He is a Past Chair of the Ontario Bar Association Pension and Benefits Section and has worked extensively on that Association's submissions to regulators concerning proposed legislative and regulatory changes.

Christian Girard (Montreal, Quebec) as advisor on Legislative Compliance within Desjardins Financial Security Savings and Segregated Funds department, Christian Girard has been responsible for ensuring compliance and monitoring compliance regulations for all group retirement savings products marketed by DFS since 1991. He has been working in retirement savings compliance for over 20 years. He is a member of the Régie des rentes du Québec's financial institutions committee and participates on various Canadian Life and Health Insurance Association committees responsible for commenting on government proposals with respect to retirement.

Denis Guertin (Montreal, Quebec) is a vice president and a consulting actuary at Aon Consulting and has 19 years of experience in the pensions and benefits field, specializing in public sector pensions. Denis is one of Aon's specialists on the Income Tax Act and as such acts as a reference for other Aon consultants.

Karen Harper (Victoria, British Columbia) has over 20 years of experience in the pensions and benefits field, specializing in public sector pensions. She is currently the chief knowledge officer at the BC Pension Corporation, and previously worked for 14 years at the BC Teachers' Federation in pensions and income security staff person including 4 years as advisory board member to the BC Teachers' Pension Plan.

Ken Harrison (Toronto, Ontario) has been employed by the Ontario Teachers' Pension Plan for 17 years and is currently director of actuarial and tax services. His previous experience has also been in the pension industry at consulting and insurance companies.

Stephanie Kalinowski (Toronto, Ontario) is a lawyer in the Pension and Benefits practice group at Hicks Morley Hamilton Stewart Storie LLP. Before joining Hicks Morley, Stephanie was a member of the retirement practice at a global human resources consulting firm, where she developed an expertise in cross-border pension and related tax issues. She is on the Executive of the Ontario Bar Association's Pension and Benefits section and is a member of the International Pension and Employee Benefits Lawyers' Association. Stephanie has authored articles for the Federated Press publication "Taxation of Executive Compensation and Retirement" and has spoken at numerous conferences and seminars.

Jean Lafleur (Montreal, Quebec) is a Fellow of the Canadian Institute of Actuaries. In the 1980's, Mr. Lafleur worked for a consulting firm and an insurance company, mainly in the pension area. In 1989, he moved to Canadian National (CN) where he was, among other things, responsible for the design of the pension plans and the employee benefit programs, and for the application and interpretation of the rules of such plans and programs. In 2001-2002, he was the president of the Actuarial Club of Montreal and from September 2002 to September 2004 he was a director of the Association of Canadian Pension Management (ACPM). Mr. Lafleur has been involved in the setup of individual pension plans (IPPs) since 1992. In 2002 he started his own pension consulting firm, J. Lafleur Consultants Inc. and, from a base of 80 clients, has seen the number of his clients covered by IPPs grow to 400.

Dale Lauber (Vancouver, British Columbia) is a retired teacher. He has worked in disability insurance and pensions for teachers for 10 years. He is currently a trustee on the BC Teachers' Pension Plan and Director on the BC Pension Corporation Board of Directors. He brings the perspective of pension plan members to this committee.

Simon Lee (Toronto, Ontario) is a chartered accountant specializing in income tax. He has extensive experience in the taxation of registered plans, financial products, corporations, trusts and individuals. He brings with him a broad knowledge of the Income Tax Act and Regulations governing registered pension plans. He is the senior manager, tax of CIBC Mellon.

Julian Leong (Vancouver, British Columbia) is president of an independent actuarial consulting firm and a consulting actuary with over 25 years experience in pension consulting. He has provided actuarial advice to small and large organizations, both in the private and public sectors, and collectively bargained plans. Mr. Leong has served on many committees involved with pension matters.

André Leroux (Montreal, Quebec) has 18 years experience working with group retirement services. He has worked in a legal environment for the past 8 years. He is manager of Documentation & Consulting at Sun Life Financial. In the last 10 years, he has been a Member of the Comité consultatif des établissements financiers working in committees with La Régie des rentes du Québec, Canadian Life and Health Insurance Association and Canadian Association of Pension Supervisory Authorities on different pension related matters.

Marilyn Lurz (Toronto, Ontario) is a pension consultant who runs her own consulting practice. She has been in the pension industry for over 25 years, and has extensive knowledge of the laws and regulations affecting pension plans in Canada. Marilyn has co-authored books on the tax laws affecting pension plan operations, and has worked for large consulting firms and public sector pension plan administrators. She also currently teaches various pension-related courses across Canada for Humber College.

Elaine Marchand (Montreal, Quebec) is a lawyer and partner in the Tax Department at Osler, Hoskin & Harcourt LLP's office. She was admitted to the Quebec Bar in 1987. She has extensive experience with tax issues and in matters relating to pension plans. Elaine has contributed to various federal and Quebec tax publications.

Elaine Noel-Bentley (Calgary, Alberta) is senior director of Total Compensation at Petro-Canada responsible for compensation, employee benefits and payroll/HRIS. She has extensive experience with Canadian pension plans and is a frequent speaker on compensation and employee benefits at public meetings. She is chair of the Employment Pension Plans Administration Advisory Committee, which provides advice to the Alberta Superintendent of Pensions, and is a trustee on the board of the Local Authorities Pension Plan in Alberta.

Claire Ouellet (Montreal, Quebec) is a lawyer specializing in pension law. She has been working in the pension field for the last 30 years. The majority of her efforts are directed to advising clients on pension plan design matters, including amendments required to ensure plan compliance with the Income Tax Act and pension legislation across Canada. She also devotes part of her time to research. She is a principal at Morneau Sobeco and is the National Specialist for legislation.

Pat Suzuki (Calgary, Alberta) is the director of Pensions, Benefits & Investments at Suncor Energy Inc., based in the corporate office in Calgary. She has responsibility for the company's pension plan including plan design and administration, investments and funding and is a member of the company's Pension Committee. A chartered accountant with over 10 years of experience in the pension area, Ms. Suzuki participates in various industry committees including the Alberta Council of the Association of Canadian Pension Management, the Pension Investment Association of Canada and the Alberta Employment Pension Plans Administration Advisory Committee.

Lyle Teichman (Toronto, Ontario) is a lawyer and principal with Towers Perrin. He has over 16 years experience as a pension lawyer and consultant, with particular emphasis on pension tax matters and supplemental plans. He is a member of the Canadian Bar Association, the Canadian Tax Foundation, the International Pension & Employee Benefits Lawyers Association, the Canadian Pension & Benefits Institute and the Pension Review Committee.

Paul Timmins (Toronto, Ontario) is a lawyer with the consulting firm of Watson Wyatt and during his career of over 21 years he has developed an extensive knowledge of the tax laws governing registered plans. His practice includes plan design and documentation, ensuring compliance with tax and pension legislation, plan governance, and assisting clients with their overall human resource and financial objectives.