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 ortex
dedicates all of its intellectual resources to the issues
of pension governance, strategic planning, and fiduciary education.
Owing to our principals’ roots in management consulting, we
are familiar with the workings of large organizations and
have a keen understanding and appreciation of the senior management
issues and concerns that pension executives must deal with.
In addition, Cortex is one of the few consulting firms in
the pension and investment field with organizational process
design capability, which can facilitate board and staff consensus
on governance solutions.
Cortex Applied Research Inc. was founded by John Por in 1991.
Prior to that time, John was Practice Leader of William M.
Mercer’s Strategic and Organizational Practice in Toronto.
Tom Iannucci joined the firm in the same year and together,
they developed a model of effective pension governance
which has become highly regarded in North America.
The elements of this framework include:
- Understanding pension plan risks and rewards
- Documenting clear accountabilities and decision-making
structures
- Ongoing development of fiduciary knowledge
- Existence of a comprehensive policy framework
- A Sound reporting and monitoring system
- Periodic review
Cortex has focused on pension board governance and fiduciary
decision-making because of the tremendous impact these issues
have on the overall success of a pension plan. Studies
have found that effective governance and decision-making systems
significantly improve long-term investment performance and the
quality of services to members.
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Our own work and experience lend support to such studies.
Governance systems that incorporate clear decision-making
structures, sound policy-setting processes, tailored fiduciary
education, and relevant and timely reporting systems will
better position fiduciaries to make prudent decisions and
provide effective oversight.
Cortex is generally regarded as a pioneer in the field of
pension governance, and a developer of services that
support best practices in the industry, such as:
- Preparation of board and committee mandates
- Governance Policies
- Governance Reviews
- Statement of Investment Principles & Beliefs (SIP&B),
or investment philosophy
- Investment Policies
- Strategic/Business Planning
- Fiduciary Seminars and workshops
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