Barbara Zvan

Barbara Zvan is the President and Chief Executive Officer of the University Pension Plan Ontario (UPP), where she leads strategies to provide lifelong pension security and service excellence to over 41,000 members. Recognized as Canada’s 2022 CEO of the Year and Corporate Citizen of the Year by The Globe and Mail’s Report on Business magazine, she is a prominent advocate for defined benefit pensions and responsible investing.

Previously, Barbara was the Chief Risk and Strategy Officer at the Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan (OTPP), playing a key role in its transformation into a global pension leader during her 25-year tenure at the Plan.

She chairs the McConnell Foundation’s Investment Committee and Climate Engagement Canada’s steering committee, serves on the board of the Responsible Investment Association, and is a Senior Fellow at the C.D. Howe Institute. Additionally, she co-chairs the C.D. Howe Pension Policy Council and is a member of her alumni McMaster University’s Faculty of Science Dean’s External Advisory Board.

Barbara has held leadership roles in numerous organizations, including prior board chair of the International Centre for Pension Management (ICPM), advisory board member of the Institute of Sustainable Finance at the Smith School of Business, and board member of the Global Risk Institute (GRI), the Canadian Coalition for Good Governance (CCGG) and the Pension Investment Association of Canada (PIAC). She was appointed to the Government of Canada’s Expert Panel on Sustainable Finance in 2019 and its Sustainable Finance Action Council in 2021.

A Fellow of the Society of Actuaries and the Canadian Institute of Actuaries, Barbara holds an ICD.D designation from the Institute of Corporate Directors and a Master of Mathematics degree from the University of Waterloo.

Barbara Zvan

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Barbara Zvan

Will Farrell

Federated Hermes
Assistant Manager, EOS
London

Will co-leads the climate change theme at EOS, the stewardship arm of Federated Hermes Limited, where his coverage includes companies in Europe and Australia, primarily financial services, energy, chemicals, and materials. Prior to joining EOS, Will worked in the energy and infrastructure investment banking team at Macquarie Capital, where he specialised in renewable energy. Before that, Will held a number of roles across the UK climate policy space, including as a parliamentary researcher for Rt. Hon. Chris Skidmore MP on climate and energy issues, and as a climate and economic policy analyst at a diplomatic institute. He was appointed as a voluntary adviser to Rt. Hon. Alok Sharma MP, President of COP26, on preparations for COP26 after co-founding a Westminster climate policy group in 2019, which engaged MPs and Members of the House of Lords to advocate for more ambition on climate action in public policy. Will has a Bachelor’s degree (1st Class Honours) in Economics from the London School of Economics and Political Science.