Julie Cays, CFA
CAREER HIGHLIGHTS

• In 2001, joined Healthcare Ontario Pension Plan
• In 2006, joined CAAT Pension Plan
• Member of the Board of Directors, Canadian Coalition for Good Governance
• Member of the Investment Committee, The J.W. McConnell Family Foundation
• Former Chair of the Pension Investment Association of Canada

Can you share some of the highlights of your career and how the CFA designation and the knowledge gained from it has contributed to those highlights?

After graduating, my first job (other than working as a teller to help put myself through university) was working for a small, high net worth investment management firm, where I did everything from the trading, to clients’ tax returns, to driving a Mercedes home from Florida for a client. I worked there for a couple of years, learned a lot about the investment management world, and found it really exciting.

I already had my undergraduate degree in economics and knew I wanted to expand my education, so I narrowed my options down to an MBA or CFA. At the time, the CFA designation was less widely held, so that, combined with my time at the investment management firm, tipped the scale in favour of the CFA.

I went on to work for 16 years at CIBC, again taking on a number of different roles over the years, ranging from interest rate risk management, to capital funding and allocation, to regulatory disclosure. Eventually, I was fortunate enough to be asked to help out with the bank’s pension fund investment function, and I think this was mainly because I had my CFA. So I was back to the investment world and had found my niche!

I then got involved in the Pension Investment Association of Canada (“PIAC”) where I really started to develop my network within what is a great collaborative community of pension plan sponsors. Through PIAC, I learned of a role at Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan managing their external manager program within their internal investment management group. I was hired, and worked alongside a great team of portfolio managers for several years, and learned a ton.

My role at the CAAT Pension Plan, which started in 2006, took me back up to the total fund perspective with a view of a range of asset classes. Over the years, with the help of good governance in a jointly sponsored pension plan model and a relatively small but highly effective team, we’ve built a diversified portfolio of asset classes in public and private markets. It’s been my most rewarding role yet, as I can see the impact of what we’ve done here.

What are the greatest pension fund investment issues that you are facing?

Ultimately, our investment goal is to help ensure the pension benefit security for our 40,000 members. Our return target over the long term is 4.5 percent real. We’ve exceeded that target, historically, but it may get tougher to consistently meet this objective, going forward, given interest rate changes and expected growth rates around the world.

There’s a prevailing belief in the investment world that bigger is better when it comes to asset size. With just under $8 billion, the CAAT fund is certainly not small, but it is nowhere near the size of some of the large pension and sovereign wealth funds around the world. That said, we’ve been able to invest directly and indirectly through funds in attractive small- and mid-market investment opportunities that large investors wouldn’t bother with because they don’t move their return needle.

What significant progress have you seen in gender diversity throughout your years in the financial industry?

In time, I hope and expect that the balance of men versus women coming through universities is going to naturally change things with regard to gender diversity. The pension plan sponsor community in Canada already has a good balance of genders, I think, in part due to the nature of the role. We’re able to take a relatively long-term view and carefully evaluate the risks before making decisions.

As a mentor with CFA Society Toronto’s mentorship program and throughout your career, what advice would you offer someone seeking a mentor or a champion?

It can be informal or formal, but ideally, it happens naturally and isn’t forced. To some extent, a mentor/mentee relationship has to be earned by both parties with trust and mutual respect. That said, I had a great experience mentoring a fellow CFA Society Toronto member a few years ago, and we’ve continued our friendship since.

Do you have any advice for new CFA charterholders that you would like to share?

The volunteering that I’ve done for CFA Society Toronto and PIAC has been a huge help to my career, both from the perspective of networking and of learning. You always get out more than you put in.

Don’t try to find the perfect job right away. You learn an awful lot about yourself and the financial/investment world by trying a bunch of different jobs, not all of which will be a fit.

Can you share some of the best advice you have received in your career?

Decide on the big picture stuff (i.e., whether you want to be a generalist or a specialist, a client or a service provider, etc.) and work toward getting there, either in your current role or in another role.

Who is your career role model? Why?

Both my parents. My Dad spent his entire career at Imperial Life Assurance Company of Canada, and when he retired, he said that he had had fun of some sort every day. His job was diverse—he was General Counsel and Corporate Secretary—which is something I really value in a job.

My Mum qualified as an architect in England and practised first there and then in Canada up until I was born. When my brother and I were in our teens, she attended a course at University of Toronto, “Second Careers for Women,” and then went to work at an engineering firm for several years.

Are there any books or research papers that have influenced your work?

Sheryl Sandberg’s Lean In: Women, Work, and the Will to Lead. I really like its message that women need to take the initiative to “sit at the table” and be heard.