Introducing Christie, Shannon, and Yale
Christie Stephenson, Shannon Dunn and Yale Loh are the newest members to join the SPP Board. We asked them about their past experience and what they look forward to in their new roles on the SPP Board.
QUESTIONS: What experience do you bring to the SPP Board? What are you looking forward to in your role on the SPP Board?
CHRISTIE: Over the past 25 years, I’ve been lucky to have served on the boards of cooperatives, non-profit organizations, university senates and private companies, as well as been involved in training directors and governance professionals. Currently, I’m on the board of Canadian Business for Social Responsibility and the governance committee of BlueShore Financial. So I’m hoping to bring what I’ve learned in these governance contexts to the UBC SPP Board.
Prior to coming to work at UBC, where I’m now the executive director of the Dhillon Centre for Business Ethics at UBC Sauder, I spent more than 15 years working in responsible and impacting investing. My role allows me to keep up with what’s happening in this exciting and rapidly advancing field. As a member of the pension board, I look forward to contributing my understanding of environmental, social and governance investment risk to the oversight of the Plan’s investment manager.
SHANNON: I am a business person who has worked in both the private and public sectors for 30 years serving on a host of boards and policy committees. For 14 of those years I have worked for UBC at the Okanagan campus responsible for the delivery of business operations. My work brings me into constant interaction with both campuses giving me insight into some of the cultural similarities and differences. For six years I was fortunate to serve on the UBC Board of Governors. This experience taught me a great deal about governance and the necessity to operate with a very long lens to ensure intergenerational equity and sound fiduciary responsibility. I bring a natural curiosity, a desire to learn, practical sensibility and sound reasoning.
I am looking forward to the in-depth learning necessary to fully understand how the SPP is both managed and governed. As a member of the Plan myself, I see it as one of our most valued assets and look forward to representing the interests of the members from different salary bands.
YALE: I’ve been directly involved in pension matters and issues for both defined benefit and defined contribution plans for a large portion of my career. My first experience with pensions was at BC Hydro where I was a member of the pension management committee and led a team responsible for pension investment monitoring and reporting. More recently, I was the chair of the pension management committee at Finning International, overseeing pension plans for both our Canadian and United Kingdom employees.
I’m most looking forward to learning about the issues facing the SPP today, and how we can build upon and improve different aspects of the Plan to ensure that individual retirements are well funded and the overall plan is sustainable for generations. I’m also looking forward to meeting as many Plan participants as possible, so that I can learn and understand your concerns and bring that perspective for consideration to the rest of the Board.
Learn more about the SPP Board
Visit our Plan Governance section to learn more about the SPP Board and the role of board members and their responsibilities.