Media Releases

New program in board effectiveness for investment institutions launched by University of Toronto’s Rotman School of Management

March 8, 2011

TORONTO, ON – With the rapid pace of change in the glob­al econ­o­my, the gov­er­nance of pen­sion and oth­er long-hori­zon invest­ment insti­tu­tions has nev­er been more impor­tant.

A new pro­gram aims to improve and enhance the board effec­tive­ness and gov­er­nance of pen­sion funds, as well as oth­er invest­ment insti­tu­tions such as nation­al reserve funds, sov­er­eign wealth funds, and endow­ment funds. The Board Effec­tive­ness Pro­gram For Pen­sion and Oth­er Long-Hori­zon Invest­ment Insti­tu­tions is being devel­oped by the Rot­man Inter­na­tion­al Cen­tre for Pen­sion Man­age­ment (Rot­man ICPM) and Rot­man Exec­u­tive Pro­grams, both at the Uni­ver­si­ty of Toronto’s Rot­man School of Man­age­ment. The pro­gram is aimed at trustee and board mem­bers from Rot­man ICPM Research Part­ners as well as oth­er major long-hori­zon invest­ment insti­tu­tions around the world.

“Not sur­pris­ing­ly, the gov­er­nance and man­age­ment of pen­sion and oth­er long-hori­zon insti­tu­tions has become increas­ing­ly com­plex as many have grown into finan­cial giants, ser­vic­ing the invest­ment and admin­is­tra­tion needs of their many ben­e­fi­cia­ries,” says Kei­th Ambacht­sheer, direc­tor of Rot­man ICPM and aca­d­e­m­ic direc­tor of the new gov­er­nance pro­gram. “There is evi­dence sug­gest­ing many gov­ern­ing boards and man­age­ments are strug­gling to keep up with the impli­ca­tions of this grow­ing com­plex­i­ty. The pro­gram will pro­vide the tools need­ed for direc­tors to address key strate­gic issues of their orga­ni­za­tions includ­ing pro­vid­ing an oppor­tu­ni­ty to build an inter­na­tion­al net­work for dia­logue amongst them­selves.”

The pro­gram com­bines the expe­ri­ence of Rot­man Exec­u­tives Pro­grams in deliv­er­ing world-class cor­po­rate gov­er­nance pro­grams and the research and aca­d­e­m­ic exper­tise of two lead­ing research insti­tu­tions at the Rot­man School; the Clark­son Cen­tre for Busi­ness Ethics and Board Effec­tive­ness and Rot­man ICPM.

The pro­gram will fea­ture fac­ul­ty from the Rot­man School includ­ing David Beat­ty, Peter Christof­fersen, Alexan­der Dyck, Roger Mar­tin and Glen Whyte.   Fac­ul­ty from oth­er edu­ca­tion and finan­cial insti­tu­tions include: Rob Bauer, Alan Jette, Claude Lam­oureux, Ed Wait­zer, Mark Wise­man, Bar­bara Zvan.

The first offer­ing of the pro­gram will be held in Novem­ber 2011 with a sec­ond to be held in Feb­ru­ary 2012. Reg­is­tra­tion details are avail­able at www.rotman.utoronto.ca/icpm/details.aspx?ContentID=294.

The Rot­man Inter­na­tion­al Cen­tre for Pen­sion Man­age­ment has become a glob­al cat­a­lyst for improv­ing pen­sion man­age­ment. The Cen­tre spon­sors research and fos­ters dia­logue that focus­es on build­ing bet­ter pen­sion deals, bet­ter pen­sion fund orga­ni­za­tions, and bet­ter pen­sion leg­is­la­tion and reg­u­la­tion. In addi­tion, the Cen­tre looks for oppor­tu­ni­ties to raise pen­sions-relat­ed con­tent in under­grad­u­ate, grad­u­ate, and exec­u­tive pro­grams at the Rot­man School and oth­er edu­ca­tion-ori­ent­ed forums. Fur­ther details on the Rot­man Inter­na­tion­al Cen­tre for Pen­sion Man­age­ment, includ­ing access to the Rot­man Jour­nal of Inter­na­tion­al Pen­sion Man­age­ment, are avail­able at www. rotman.utoronto.ca/icpm.

The Rot­man School of Man­age­ment at the Uni­ver­si­ty of Toron­to is redesign­ing busi­ness edu­ca­tion for the 21st cen­tu­ry with a cur­ricu­lum based on Inte­gra­tive Think­ing. Locat­ed in the world’s most diverse city, the Rot­man School fos­ters a new way to think that enables the design of cre­ative busi­ness solu­tions.  The School is cur­rent­ly rais­ing $200 mil­lion to ensure Cana­da has the world-class busi­ness school it deserves. For more infor­ma­tion, vis­it www.rotman.utoronto.ca.

 

-30-

For more infor­ma­tion, please con­tact:

Ken McGuf­fin
Man­ag­er, Media Rela­tions
Rot­man School of Man­age­ment
Uni­ver­si­ty of Toron­to
416–946-3818
mcguffin@rotman.utoronto.ca
Fol­low Rot­man on Twit­ter @rotmanschool