Website: myupp.ca
Head office address (Canada): 16 York Street, Suite 3300, Toronto, ON M5J 0E6
Year established: 2021
Ownership structure: multi-university jointly sponsored pension plan (JSPP), Ontario; governed equally by university employer sponsors and employee union and faculty association sponsors
Target market/client profile: eligible faculty, staff, and non-unionized employees at Ontario universities and affiliated sector organizations
Number of professional staff: around 260
Canadian office locations: Toronto (head office)
University Pension Plan Ontario (UPP) is a Toronto-based jointly sponsored defined benefit pension plan built for Ontario’s university sector. The plan covers more than 46,000 working and retired members at six universities and 21 affiliated sector organizations. As at December 31, 2025, it held $13.5 billion in net assets.
UPP took shape from conversations that started in the late 2000s. Employee groups, faculty associations, and university administrators joined forces to build a jointly sponsored pension plan for the sector. Those discussions ran for more than a decade before the plan launched in 2021.
In 2009, formal talks began among university unions, faculty associations, and administrators. Legislative changes drafted in 2014 came into force the following year and made JSPP conversions possible for the first time. Three founding universities and their employee groups stepped forward as the plan’s first participants in 2016 and 2017.
A joint Milestones Agreement in 2018 set out the key steps for establishing University Pension Plan. Members at the founding universities voted in 2019 to convert their existing plans.
University Pension Plan finalized its formal governance structure in January 2020 and appointed an inaugural 14-member Board of Trustees. In November 2020, UPP received formal solvency funding exemption as a JSPP.
In 2021, University Pension Plan officially became the pension provider for its founding participants and their 37,000 members. Trent University also joined as the fourth member institution in 2022.
In 2024, the Association of Professors of the University of Ottawa (APUO) joined as a participating employer. The Ontario Confederation of University Faculty Associations (OCUFA) followed suit.
A 2025 Benefits and Pensions Monitor (BPM) feature on UPP’s investment approach found the plan had committed over $1 billion to private markets since 2022. Those investments ran across six fund partnerships and eight co-investments in real estate, infrastructure, private equity, and private credit.
Victoria University and Trent University brought more staff and faculty groups to UPP at the start of 2025. Wilfrid Laurier University then joined as the sixth member institution on January 1, 2026. Two more participating employers followed in May 2026: the Southeastern Ontario Academic Medical Organization (SEAMO) and the Scarborough Charter Inter-Institutional Forum.
A 2026 BPM report on UPP’s annual results found that University Pension Plan posted a 5.2 percent annual net return for 2025. Its three-year annualized return reached 8.5 percent, and the plan ended that year fully funded with a $0.3 billion surplus.
University Pension Plan Ontario offers a defined benefit pension plan and member services for Ontario’s university sector:
University Pension Plan’s in-house investment team manages plan assets with a focus on long-term, stable returns. The plan expanded its digital member tools in 2025 with new self-service features within the myUPP Member Portal.
Barbara Zvan serves as president and CEO of UPP. She previously held the role of chief risk and strategy officer at the Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan. Zvan holds FSA and FCIA designations and completed a Master of Mathematics at the University of Waterloo.
Zvan leads University Pension Plan’s executive team:
University Pension Plan’s board of trustees serves as the plan’s legal administrator and oversees both day-to-day administration and investment activities. The board is appointed by UPP’s Joint Sponsors and operates independently of the employer and employee sponsor groups.
University Pension Plan serves faculty, staff, and eligible employees at Ontario universities and affiliated sector organizations. Coverage extends to active members, deferred members, and retirees across the province.
Full-time continuous employees at participating institutions typically join UPP automatically. Part-time and non-continuous employees can elect to join after meeting earnings or hours requirements over two consecutive calendar years.
Members access pension and account information through the myUPP Member Portal. University Pension Plan says it can accommodate employer groups with or without a prior pension plan in place.
University Pension Plan has earned national employer recognition, and several of its leaders have been named in our annual BPM awards.
UPP runs an equity, diversity, inclusion, and reconciliation (EDIR) program with a three-year roadmap. The program is part of the organization’s broader commitment to the Truth and Reconciliation Commission’s Call to Action #92.
University Pension Plan says it advanced recommendations to the Ontario government on measures supporting DC-to-JSPP pension conversions. The province adopted those measures in 2025. UPP states the change will expand access to defined benefit pension arrangements for more workers across the sector.
In 2026, CEPO Omo Akintan spoke about UPP’s workplace culture, flexible work policies, and employee feedback practices. That conversation showed how the plan operates not only as a pension administrator but also as a standalone employer with its own approach to HR.
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