OUR COMPANY BACKGROUND & CULTURE

UPP is the first pension plan of its kind in Ontario’s university sector, proudly serving over 41,000 members across five universities and fourteen sector organizations. Our purpose is to bring greater retirement peace of mind to the university sector by investing with integrity and serving members with care. As a sector-wide plan designed for growth, our doors are open to all Ontario universities.

Together, we’re a team of progressive thinkers and agile doers operating within a fast-paced culture of collaboration and respect. We believe in bringing smart and capable people together to create, solve, and grow with a clear shared vision and values of integrity, inclusivity, ingenuity, and impact. Our culture is intentionally welcoming and purposefully rooted in equity, diversity, inclusion, and reconciliation (EDI&R). We believe diverse teams, perspectives, and lived experiences contribute to better decisions and a better workplace.

As a pension plan, UPP approaches investing through a long-term lens to generate and safeguard value. Our commitment to investing responsibly accounts for material risks that impact our investment portfolio to generate sufficient risk-adjusted returns to meet the pension needs of our members.

Join us in building a bright future for our members, our organization, and each other.

THE ROLE

As the Senior Specialist, Governance Support, you will be responsible for supporting governance and relationship management with the Joint Sponsors of University Pension Plan Ontario, as well as their advisory groups and the Ontario Association of Non-Unionized University Employees (OANUE). Your role will ensure effective communication, coordination, reporting and meeting management across multiple stakeholder groups. You will help ensure UPP’s governance framework operates smoothly, efficiently and in a spirit of partnership.

This role is based in downtown Toronto in a hybrid work environment, allowing employees the flexibility to work remotely and in-office (minimum two days per week in-office).

SPECIFIC ACCOUNTABILITIES

Stakeholder Engagement & Relationship Management

• Act as a point of contact for the Joint Sponsors and their advisors, as well as OANUE leadership, liaising to coordinate information flows, meeting schedules, communications and reporting.
• Support development and maintenance of strong working relationships with the Joint Sponsors and OANUE, anticipating and responding to stakeholder needs.
• Monitor Sponsor and OANUE engagement and feedback, escalate issues or opportunities for improvement, and partner with management to enhance Joint Sponsor and OANUE experience and collaboration.

Governance Support & Committee Servicing

• Provide administrative and logistical support for UPP hosted or attended Joint Sponsor and OANUE meetings, including ad hoc and advisory committees (agenda preparation, distribution of materials, minute-taking, action tracking, follow-up). Ensure action items and follow-ups are recorded in Salesforce.
• Maintain open lines of communications with external support coordinators for each Sponsor Committee and OANUE to ensure alignment on scheduling, meeting attendance, and ad hoc status updates.
• Liaise internally to ensure coordination among the Executive Leadership Team (ELT) or their delegates on meeting attendance, relevant agenda items, and background material requirements and due dates.
• Maintain Joint Sponsor and OANUE forward calendars for UPP-initiated items, and share up-to-date workback schedules for all Joint Sponsor and OANUE meetings to ensure enterprise-wide line of sight into meetings and material due dates.
• Schedule and support executive briefings and planning meetings in advance of governance meetings.
• Maintain accurate records of committee membership, terms, rotations, contact information, governance documentation, and associated communications.
• Assist in preparing governance-related reports, presentations and briefings for the Joint Sponsors, OANUE, management, and the Board of Trustees.
• Prepare, review, and package materials for distribution to the Joint Sponsors and OANUE, and any associated committees or groups.
• Support the escalation and resolution of issues or inquiries raised by the Sponsors or OANUE, following up on actions and ensuring timely completion.
• Monitor governance timelines (e.g., committee terms, renewals, elections, delegations) and ensure assigned governance processes and practices under management purview adhere to UPP’s policies, plan text requirement, and regulatory requirements.
• Ensure all material correspondence, decisions, and records are recorded in Salesforce.
• Maintain all Joint Sponsor and OANUE records in Salesforce and ensure their accuracy and currency at all times.

Continuous Improvement & Reporting

• Identify opportunities to streamline governance processes, improve stakeholder communications, elevate sponsor engagement, and enhance documentation practices.
• Support development and dissemination of periodic governance dashboards or metrics (e.g., committee attendance, action-item closure rates, stakeholder satisfaction) for internal leadership review.
• Assist in preparing briefing materials for governance leadership and senior management regarding sponsor engagement, governance considerations or emerging issues.
• Monitor trends and regulatory developments in jointly sponsored pension plan governance, stakeholder management and industry good practices, sharing insights within the team.

QUALIFICATIONS & EXPERIENCE

• A university degree in business administration, governance, communications, stakeholder relations, or a related field. An equivalent combination of education and experience may be considered.
• Additional training or certification in governance (e.g., certificate course in governance practices, stakeholder relations) is an asset.
• At least 7 years of relevant experience working in governance, stakeholder engagement, committee servicing, or relationship management within a complex environment (e.g., pension plan, large employer organization, public sector, association).
• Demonstrated experience interacting with senior-level stakeholders, such as board members, Sponsor committees or member associations.
• Strong meeting-management and minute-taking skills; experience preparing agendas, materials, tracking actions and ensuring effective follow-up.
• Excellent written and oral communication skills, with the ability to translate and present complex governance or pension-related content to a variety of audiences.
• Highly organized, detail-oriented and capable of managing multiple priorities in a deadline-driven environment.
• Strong interpersonal and relationship-building skills, with the ability to work collaboratively and diplomatically in a shared-governance model.
• Proficiency with Microsoft Office (Word, Excel, PowerPoint) and comfortable with digital collaboration tools; experience with stakeholder-relationship or governance-management software is a plus.
• A proactive, improvement-oriented mindset, with the ability to identify opportunities for process enhancements, and to follow through on implementation.

ATTRIBUTES

• At least 7 years of relevant experience working in governance, stakeholder engagement, committee servicing, or relationship management within a complex environment (e.g., pension plan, large employer organization, public sector, association).
• Demonstrated experience interacting with senior-level stakeholders, such as board members, Sponsor committees or member associations.
• Strong meeting-management and minute-taking skills; experience preparing agendas, materials, tracking actions and ensuring effective follow-up.
• Excellent written and oral communication skills, with the ability to translate and present complex governance or pension-related content to a variety of audiences.
• Highly organized, detail-oriented and capable of managing multiple priorities in a deadline-driven environment.
• Strong interpersonal and relationship-building skills, with the ability to work collaboratively and diplomatically in a shared-governance model.
• Proficiency with Microsoft Office (Word, Excel, PowerPoint) and comfortable with digital collaboration tools; experience with stakeholder-relationship or governance-management software is a plus.
• A proactive, improvement-oriented mindset, with the ability to identify opportunities for process enhancements, and to follow through on implementation.

LIFE AT UPP

Do work that matters. We are duty-bound to serve our members’ interests, and it’s a responsibility we don’t take lightly. That’s why we’ve ingrained sustainability in our work from day one—to ensure our members have a resilient future to retire into, both today and for generations to come.

Stronger together. Collaboration is how UPP was born, and it’s how we work with each other and our partners day in, day out. No one at UPP is just a number (even if they are excellent at math) and every win is a shared win.

Grow every day. You’ll have the opportunity to work on unique, once-in-a-career projects that maximize your skill set and probably teach you some new ones—at any stage in your career.

Prioritize wellness. At UPP, wellness takes many forms. Ultimately, it’s about ensuring our people are cared for in the ways that matter to them. Check out some highlights of our inclusive employee-focused benefits program including:

• Defined benefit pension plan
• Flexible hybrid work model
• Work from abroad up to eight weeks/year
• Comprehensive group benefits including medical, dental, vision etc.
• Extended paramedical and mental health service coverage
• Health care and lifestyle spending accounts
• Fertility treatments, paid parental leave, and gender affirmation coverage
• Education Assistance program

UPP enthusiastically welcomes applications from all qualified applicants and especially invites people with lived experience as an Indigenous person, a person with a disability or as a member of another Human Rights Code protected group that faces barriers to employment to apply. Our goal is to create a barrier-free experience for every candidate throughout the recruitment process, so if you require accommodation at any point during the process, please let us know so that we can make the appropriate arrangements. It would be our honor to work with you to adapt our processes to ensure that you can meaningfully participate.

UPP respects your privacy. For information on how UPP handles the personal information you provide during the application process, please see our Job Applicant Privacy Statement.