Speaker bios
Gale Rubenstein
Chair, Board of Trustees of the University Pension Plan (UPP)
Ms. Rubenstein serves as the Chair of the Board of Trustees of the University Pension Plan (UPP), a position she has held since the Board was constituted on January 1, 2020. She also serves as counsel in the Restructuring Group at Goodmans, which is consistently and widely recognized as Canada’s leading corporate restructuring practice. She practises in the areas of commercial insolvency, corporate restructuring, pensions and regulatory matters.
Throughout her career, Ms. Rubenstein has been recognized as a leading practitioner of restructuring and insolvency. Ms. Rubenstein received the Ontario Bar Association Award for Excellence in Insolvency Law in 2013. She is a fellow of the Insolvency Institute of Canada.
Ms. Rubenstein was a director of Hydro One from 2007 through 2018, a director of Algoma Steel Group Inc. since October 2021 and a director of Scarborough Health Network since 2019 and Scarborough Health Network Research Institute.
Alex McKinnon
President, Multi-Employer Benefits Council of Canada (MEBCO)
Mr. McKinnon retired as Research Director for the United Steelworkers Union (USW), Canadian National Office, where he worked on staff for over 38 years. Mr. McKinnon was the first rank and file member hired to the USW’s National Office Research Department and, in 2013, became the first rank and file member to be promoted to the Research Director until his retirement in 2023.
Mr. McKinnon is the Chair of the Canadian Energy and Related Industries Pension Plan (CERi) and continues his work with the Steelworkers Pension Plan as the Promotion, Engagement and Strategy Officer. He also serves on the Stakeholders Advisory Committee (SAC) and the Multi-Employer Pension Plan (MEPP) Committee for the Financial Services Regulatory Authority of Ontario (FSRA).
Mr. McKinnon is the President of the Multi-Employer Benefit Plan Council of Canada (MEBCO). He is also a Trustee on the University Pension Plan (UPP), of which he chairs the Pension Services Committee and sits on the Governance Committee. Mr. McKinnon is a spinal cord peer support volunteer and the Vice Chair of Spinal Cord Injury Ontario, as well as chairing the Governance & Nominating Committee and serving on the Finance Committee.
Mr. McKinnon earned a bachelor’s degree (Economics) from Sir Wilfred Laurier University and holds the Certified Employee Benefit Specialist (CEBS) designation in addition to a variety of certifications in pension fund governance (MTMS).
Penny Somerville
Chair of the Audit & Risk Committee, Ontario Municipal Employees’ Retirement System (OMERS)
Ms. Somerville is one of the two Directors nominated by the Association of Municipalities of Ontario (AMO). She is Chair of the Audit & Risk Committee at the Ontario Municipal Employees’ Retirement System (OMERS), and serves as a member of the Pensions Committee, and Asset-Liability Study Committee.
Ms. Somerville held a number of senior leadership roles during her nearly 30-year career with BMO Financial Group. This experience reflects her strong grasp of the interplay between corporate/financial strategy and risk. Her roles at BMO included the following: Executive Vice President, Technology & Operations Initiatives; Executive Vice President & Senior Market Risk Officer; Executive Vice President & Treasurer; and Senior Vice-President & Corporate Controller.
Prior to working at BMO, Ms. Somerville provided accounting and auditing research advice to the Canadian operating offices of a large accounting firm.
Ms. Somerville is a member of Cidel Bank Canada and Cidel Trust Company Board of Directors, Governance & Conduct Review Committee and is Chair of the Audit Committee. Previously, she served on Runnymede Healthcare Centre’s Board of Directors and Finance/Audit Committee as well as the University of Toronto’s Audit Committee, the Board and Audit Committee of Moneris Solutions Corporation and the Board of Bank of Montreal (Barbados) Limited.
Ms. Somerville holds an Honours Bachelor of Commerce from Queen’s University. She is a member of the Institute of Corporate Directors and a Fellow of the Chartered Professional Accountants of Ontario.
Dr. Michael Hartmann
Professor of Medicine and Management at McMaster University
Dr. Hartmann is a jointly appointed Professor of Medicine and Management at McMaster University, Co-Director of the University’s Health Leadership Academy, and Principal of The Directors College – Canada’s founding professional development program for board directors (2003-2025). He also serves as the Executive Advisor of an Executive Master of Business Administration (EMBA) program in Digital Transformation, teaching courses on Corporate Innovation, Digital Entrepreneurship and Business Modelling.
Dr. Hartmann has held senior leadership roles with universities in the UK and Canada. He previously served as Deputy Dean and CXO of Manchester Business School (2007-2012) and Assistant Dean of Rotman School of Management (1998-2007), where he established a globally ranked executive education business (Top 20 Business Week and Top 50 Financial Times). He is also the Founder and Principal of the educational consultancy The Leadership Portfolio.
Dr. Hartmann has over 30 years of global experience working with senior leaders across every major industry sector on a range of leadership, governance and innovation topics. A sample of his client assignments includes work for Novartis (Switzerland), Ziraat Bank (Turkey), Thales Group (France), JCB (USA), Omantel (Oman), Al-Futtaim Group (Dubai), AECL (S. Korea), NU (China), the NHS, Manchester Airport Groups, British Sky Broadcasting, NBCUniversal (UK), Dentsu Aegis Network (Singapore, New York, London), BDO, SOCAN and OMERS (Canada). He is also a past advisory member of Stanford's Digital Cities Centre and the Australian Institute of Company Directors (AICD) Technology and Innovation Panel. Currently, he sits on the advisory board of Treehouse Innovation, a UK-based innovation consultancy.
Dr. Hartmann holds graduate degrees from the University of Toronto (MA) and York University (MBA) and a Ph.D. from the University of St. Gallen, Switzerland. He also holds professional accreditation with The Directors College (C.Dir.) and le Collège des administrateurs de sociétés (ASC). His work on corporate governance and executive and director education has been published in academic journals and the professional press. He also hosts a regular podcast series called the Collaboratorium, which can be found on Spotify.
Michael Mazzuca
Partner, Koskie Minsky’s Pension and Employee Benefits Group
Mr. Mazzuca is a Partner in Koskie Minsky’s Pension and Employee Benefits Group. Mr. Mazzuca has extensive experience in providing legal advice across Canada to multi-employer pension plans (MEPPs), jointly sponsored pension plans and other jointly governed plans, including health and welfare plans and training funds. He also advises trade unions as well as plan members and retiree groups across Canada concerning legal matters related to plan governance, fiduciary duties and plan investments.
Mr. Mazzuca's experience includes litigating significant pension and benefit cases before administrative tribunals and various levels of court across Canada including class actions. Also, Mr. Mazzuca has represented clients before the Ontario Financial Services Tribunal on matters relating to statutory and regulatory compliance, including partial wind-ups and funding requirements.
Mr. Mazzuca is a former adjunct professor at the University of Western Ontario, Faculty of Law and is a regular speaker at conferences on pensions and employee benefits. Mr. Mazzuca served on the Firm’s Executive Committee and then as the Firm’s Managing Partner from 2020-2024.
Evan Howard
Former Chief Pension Officer
Mr. Howard is the former Chief Pension Officer at the CAAT Pension Plan, a jointly- sponsored multi-employer pension plan with over 100,000 members and more than $20B in assets. Originally created to support the Ontario college system, the CAAT Plan now proudly serves more than 600 participating employers in 20 industries including the for-profit, non-profit, and broader public sectors. He oversees the Plan’s service delivery, communications, policy, legal and public affairs functions.
Prior to joining the CAAT Plan, Mr. Howard was a partner in the Toronto office of Norton Rose Fulbright, and before that, a partner at Osler, Hoskin & Harcourt, practicing exclusively in pension and benefits law, with a special focus on the pension and benefit issues in mergers and acquisitions, and corporate restructuring. From 1998 to 2000, he practiced pensions at Freshfields in London, England.
Mr. Howard is on the Board of Directors for the Association of Canadian Pension Management and serves on its National Policy Committee. He also serves on the Canadian Public Pension Leadership Council (CPPLC) as Secretary-Treasurer, lending his experience to a Canada-wide pension council. Mr. Howard is also the past-Chair of the Trinity College Board of Trustees, where he served as a Trustee from 2008 to 2015. He is a recipient of an Arbor Award from the University of Toronto, in recognition of his volunteer service at Trinity and the University of Toronto. Mr. Howard was called to the Ontario Bar in 1996 and became a solicitor in England and Wales in 2000. He holds a B.A. from the University of Toronto (Trinity College) and an LL.B. from the University of Western Ontario.
Susan Nickerson
Partner, McCarthy Tétrault’s Pensions, Benefits, & Executive Compensation Group
Ms. Nickerson is the Leader of McCarthy Tétrault’s Pensions, Benefits, & Executive Compensation Group. A seasoned practitioner, Ms. Nickerson's advice covers fiduciary duties and risk management, plan administration and funding, and the implementation of new designs, as well as the pensions and benefits aspects of corporate transactions, restructurings, and insolvencies. As one of the sector’s preeminent thought leaders and past Chair of the Board of the Association of Canadian Pension Management, Ms. Nickerson continues to help shape the policy environment of pensions and benefits across Canada. Ms. Nickerson is recognized as Band 1 in Pensions and Benefits by Chambers Canada; as a leading lawyer in Pensions and Benefits by Chambers Global and others; and as one of Benefits and Pensions Monitor’s Elite Women in 2024 and 2025.
Mitch Frazer
Managing Partner, Toronto Office of Mintz
Mr. Frazer is the Managing Partner of the Toronto Office of Mintz and the Chancellor of Ontario Tech University. Prior to joining Mintz, Mr. Frazer served as the chair of the Pensions and Employment Practice of an international law firm based in Toronto. His practice focuses on all aspects of pension, benefits and employment law.
He is the co-founder of the National Institute on Ageing at Toronto Metropolitan University, a former adjunct professor at the University of Toronto Faculty of Law and a published author. A committed philanthropist, he supports numerous educational and health-related organizations and causes. He currently serves as chair of the North York General Hospital Board of Governors, is a member and former chair of the Toronto French School (TFS) Board of Directors and sits on the Forum Income and Impact Fund Board of Trustees. He is the past chair of Toronto Metropolitan University’s Board of Governors and a former member of the Ontario Science Centre Board of Trustees.
An avid runner, Mr. Frazer has completed all seven Abbott world marathon majors. He was named one of the 25 most influential lawyers in Canada by Canadian Lawyer magazine and is a recipient of numerous awards and honours including the Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Medal, the King Charles III Coronation Medal, the Ontario Bar Association’s Award of Excellence in Pension and Benefits Law, the CCAE Friend of Education Award and an Honorary Doctor of Laws from Toronto Metropolitan University. He has also been admitted to the Order of Ontario.
Andrew K. Fung
Executive Vice President, Pensions
Mr. Fung has close to 40 years of experience across actuarial consulting, pension plan leadership, and regulatory oversight, Mr. Fung brings a uniquely comprehensive perspective to pension regulation in Canada. Since joining FSRA (and formerly FSCO) as Chief Actuary in 2018, he has been instrumental in shaping FSRA’s transition toward a principles-based, risk-focused supervisory model for pension plans.
Mr. Fung's background includes senior executive roles at one of Canada’s largest jointly sponsored pension plans, where he led actuarial services, pension policy development, sustainability planning, government relations, communications and stakeholder strategy. His work has consistently bridged technical actuarial insight with real-world operational challenges, enabling him to influence both policy and practice in the Canadian pension landscape. At FSRA, he has been a key driver behind regulatory modernization, sector engagement, and the advancement of outcomes-focused supervision.
A graduate of the University of Waterloo’s mathematics program, Mr. Fung is a Fellow of the Society of Actuaries and the Canadian Institute of Actuaries, a Chartered Financial Analyst, and holds the ICD.D designation from the Institute of Corporate Directors. A long-time advocate for industry collaboration and pension awareness, he regularly engages with plan sponsors, advisors, and administrators to support a more transparent and resilient retirement system.
David Bartucci
Head, Pension Plan Operations and Regulatory Effectiveness
Mr. Bartucci first joined FSRA as the director of policy for pensions in 2019. He also spent nearly one year as the Director in FSRA’s Consumer Office. He assumed his current role in May 2023. Prior to joining the Regulator, he spent more than a decade in progressively senior positions in the Ontario government. His past assignments included Treasury Board, Cabinet Office, and the Ministry of Labour, Immigration, Training and Skills Development. During this time, he led the development of new funding programs and policy frameworks to support training, experiential learning for post-secondary students, and the negotiations of new Labour Market Transfer Agreements with the Government of Canada.
Faisal Siddiqi
Chief Actuary, Pensions
Mr. Siddiqi is an accomplished actuary with over 30 years of experience in pension consulting, administration, investment, and governance. Since joining FSRA, he has brought deep expertise and leadership to our team. Prior to FSRA, Mr. Siddiqi served as Managing Director, Actuary at the University Pension Plan Ontario (UPP), where he was involved in creating and managing its actuarial and funding risk frameworks. Prior to UPP, Mr. Siddiqi was a Retirement Practice Leader and Senior Consultant at various major actuarial and management consulting firms in Toronto. From 2017 to 2025, Mr. Siddiqi served on Ontario’s Financial Services Tribunal hearing pension, insurance, and mortgage cases. Mr. Siddiqi is a Fellow of the Canadian Institute of Actuaries and the Society of Actuaries. Mr. Siddiqi is a graduate of the University of Waterloo with a BMath in Actuarial Science and Statistics.
James Hoffner
Head, Prudential Supervision LPSPPs
Mr. Hoffner brings over 20 years of experience working with investment regulation. He began his career as a lawyer in private practice. He then practised in-house at a large financial institution. He has worked on a range of significant transactional and advisory matters involving corporate matters, securities, life insurance, pensions and governance. He joined FSRA in 2020 to support its strategic policy and supervisory activities. Mr. Hoffner is a graduate of McMaster University (BA), Queen’s University (MA), University of Toronto (JD) and New York University (LLM).
Paul Martiniello
Head, Prudential Supervision SEPPs & MEPPs
Mr. Martiniello has 20 years of experience working with pension plans both in Canada and abroad. He has held a variety of senior level roles, providing him with experience in risk management, investment management, and pension operations. Mr. Martiniello is now accountable for providing leadership in the delivery of FSRA’s prudential supervision of single and multi-employer pension plans in Ontario. Mr. Martiniello holds a Bachelor of Commerce and International MBA in Finance, as well as designations such as the Charter Investment Manager (CIM).
Sylvie Charest
Head, Pensions Strategic Initiatives
Ms. Charest has over 30 years of experience in the pension industry with extensive experience in pensions strategy, design and delivery, for large employers, government and in unionized environments where she held senior leadership roles after her career in consulting for a global human resources firm. She has a track record of building and leading large multi-disciplinary teams in socially diverse environments.
Ms. Charest joined FSRA in September of 2021, where she oversees the strategy, automation and transformation of the pensions department, the Pensions Benefits Guarantee Fund (PBGF) modernization, and the relationship with stakeholders.
Ms. Charest graduated from the Université Laval with a Bachelor of Science Degree in Actuarial Mathematics. She is a bilingual (English and French) Fellow of the Society of Actuaries (FSA), a Fellow of the Canadian Institute of Actuaries (FCIA), and is Change Management certified.