Over the Horizon: How Chief Risk Officers at Major Pension Funds Are Protecting Their Portfolios
Roundtable Luncheon with Deb Barnes, Jean-Francois (JF) Bureau and Saskia Goedhart
Sponsored by:
C.D. Howe Institute events and webinars are open to members and their guests.
Please follow this link or contact events@cdhowe.org to register.
Deb Barnes, Chief Risk Officer, OMERS
Deb was appointed Chief Risk Officer in June 2023. She brings a results-oriented approach to risk management and a dedication to developing diverse teams.
She joined OMERS in 2020 as the Managing Director, Capital Markets Risk. Prior to OMERS, Deb spent 15 years at QIC, an Australian-headquartered asset management firm that specializes in Fixed Income, Infrastructure, Private Equity and Real Estate. Deb began her career in Risk in 2016 after 10 years in QIC’s Global Fixed Income team. From 2011 to 2015 Deb led QIC’s Global Trading function from London which executed trades across fixed income, currency, equity and commodity markets.
Deb graduated from the University of Queensland (Australia) in 2005 with a Bachelor of Economics and a Bachelor of Information Technology. Over the last 8 years, Deb’s commitment to learning has led to Executive Education studies at the Stanford Graduate School of Business, Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania and the Harvard Business School (HBS) in the areas of leadership and advanced risk management. Since 2018, Deb has returned to HBS annually to present to their Executive Education cohort on the application of learnings from the Risk Management for Corporate Leaders program.
In 2019 Deb was appointed to the University of Queensland’s Advisory Board for the UQ School of Economics and the Advisory Board for Trust, Ethics and Governance.
Jean-Francois (JF) Bureau, Senior Vice President and Chief Financial and Risk Officer, Public Sector Pension Investment Board
Jean-François (JF) Bureau is Senior Vice President and Chief Financial and Risk Officer at the Public Sector Pension Investment Board (PSP Investments) where he is responsible for financial reporting, performance and valuation, treasury, risk management, operational due diligence & advisory, and internal audit. He has more than 30 years of experience in the North American and European financial markets.
JF joined PSP Investments in March 2010 as Chief Risk Officer with a mandate to create an integrated approach to managing a full spectrum of risks and to develop an effective risk structure that included a total fund perspective. He was appointed Chief Financial and Risk Officer in January 2020.
Prior to joining PSP Investments, he held executive finance positions at a number of companies, notably as Vice President, Credit - Specialized Products at National Bank of Canada; Vice President, Corporate Projects – M&A at Groupe Vidéotron ltée; and Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer at DiagnoCure.
JF holds a master’s degree in finance from Université Laval. He is a CFA charterholder and was Chair of the Standards of Practice Council of the CFA Institute from September 2018 to August 2021.
Saskia Goedhart, Senior Vice President & Chief Risk Officer, Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan
Saskia Goedhart joined HOOPP in 2020 as Senior Vice President & Chief Risk Officer, and she is responsible for the evolution and ongoing enhancement of the risk management function for the organization. She is accountable for continuing to strengthen HOOPP’s risk systems, practices and monitoring to meet current and future demands.
Saskia has more than 20 years of experience in senior risk positions. She has extensive expertise in designing and implementing value-add risk management frameworks and maintaining risk-aware cultures in financial organizations around the world.
Most recently she served as Chief Risk Officer for IMCO (Investment Management Corporation of Ontario), an independent long-term investor for Ontario's public sector. Prior to that Saskia was the Chief Risk Officer of AMP Ltd., a Sydney, Australia based financial institution with a broad range of business lines.
Saskia holds a Bachelor’s degree in Public Administration with a focus on financial management, and a Master’s in Accountancy from Erasmus University Rotterdam in The Netherlands.
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