CAAT Pension Plan names OPTrust’s Peter Lindley as CEO

CAAT Pension Plan has appointed Peter Lindley as chief executive officer and plan manager, installing a new leader after a year of turmoil that led to the departure of most of the plan’s executive team.

Mr. Lindley is stepping down from another pension plan, OPTrust, where he has been CEO since 2019. He starts at CAAT on Jan. 6.

CAAT’s leadership ranks have been in a state of flux for most of the year after failures in the plan’s oversight spurred an abrupt overhaul. Those issues included a $1.6-million vacation payout to previous CEO Derek Dobson, as well as a relationship he was having with a CAAT employee.

CAAT is a multiemployer pension plan with $25.4-billion in assets that serves Ontario’s colleges and about 850 public- and private-sector employers with more than 130,000 members. The Globe and Mail has been a participating employer since 2022.

In July, after a third-party review of the plan’s governance, CAAT told members it was making “enhancements” to its governance procedures to improve oversight of executive compensation, workplace relationships and succession planning.

CAAT board chair Janet Greenwood praised Mr. Lindley’s “depth of leadership, experience and perspective” in a statement.

“The board is confident Peter will keep members’ interests at the centre of the plan’s work, strengthen our partnerships with participating employers and continue to focus on the stability and strength of the plan,” she said.

Mr. Lindley was not available for an interview on Tuesday, but said in a statement that CAAT “has done remarkable work expanding access to defined benefit pensions, and I’m drawn to the plan’s strong culture.”

OPTrust has appointed its chief risk officer, Dani Goraichy, as its interim president and CEO, effective immediately, and has launched a process to find a permanent CEO, the plan said in a news release.

Mr. Dobson left the plan in March as part of a settlement that required him to repay $1.6-million in vacation pay that became a central concern about the plan’s oversight.

Mr. Dobson was the plan’s CEO for nearly 17 years and oversaw a period of rapid expansion.

Since then, chief investment officer Kevin Fahey has led the plan as interim CEO, with a revamped executive team. He will stay on as CIO, and Ms. Greenwood said he created “a strong bridge to permanent leadership.”

CAAT’s board initially stood by Mr. Dobson when multiple top executives sent a letter to trustees late last year that urged them to investigate Mr. Dobson’s conduct. Three of those executives subsequently left the plan in January, setting a governance crisis in motion.

CAAT’s previous board chair, Don Smith, was then ousted in February and vice-chair Kareen Stangherlin resigned.

The search process to choose the plan’s permanent CEO formally started in June and was led by leadership advisory firm Egon Zehnder.