Hard work and emotional intelligence outrank employer loyalty among this year’s 22 winners
Benefits and Pensions Monitor has released its Rising Stars 2026, naming 22 benefits, pensions, and institutional investment professionals aged 40 and under across Canada.
Now in its second year, the program recognizes professionals nominated by their employers or colleagues and judged on performance, leadership, and demonstrated commitment to the industry over the preceding 12 months.
Nominations opened last May, with eligibility set at age 40 or younger as of September 30.
What the 2026 cohort rewards is depth rather than speed.
Winners rated hard work and emotional intelligence as the two traits that matter most for rapid career advancement, both scoring at or near a perfect 5 out of 5, while the importance of a long career at the same employer fell from 4.33 to 2.91 between the 2025 and 2026 cohorts, the sharpest swing of any trait the survey measured.
“A rising star today is someone who combines deep technical competence with the ability to operate in a world of accelerating complexity,” said Dawn Jia, president and chief executive officer of UBC Investment Management in Vancouver, British Columbia, one of two subject matter experts BPM interviewed for the report.
Chris Gory, employee benefits advisor at Orchard Benefits in Toronto, told BPM that standout professionals share a singular trait of focus. “If they’re really going to be a rising star, they’re going to get involved in the community,” he said. “They’re going to focus on one segment and get involved, not just learn from people but also give back.”
Among the 22 named this year, several stood out.
Jon Knowles, institutional portfolio manager at Fidelity Investments in Ontario, has worked on Canadian target date strategies through a period in which Fidelity’s Canadian target date assets grew by $24.9bn, a 351 percent cumulative increase, to more than $32bn.
He has also led Fidelity Canada’s team in the Princess Margaret Cancer Foundation’s Ride to Conquer Cancer for eight years, raising more than $430,000.
“Life has this weird way of being fairly balanced in the long run,” Knowles said. “For me, helping others is an efficient way to fill my cup.”
Kate Finkler-Kemeny, vice president of portfolio management at BentallGreenOak (BGO) in British Columbia, moved into institutional real estate from geological engineering and urban planning, and has led a shift from scattered spreadsheets to standardized reporting in Power BI.
She also serves as the fund’s Western Canadian point of contact for investors and presents to Quebec investors in French, which is not her first language.
“People remember when you make an effort to meet them where they are,” she said.
Heather Macartney, senior benefits consultant at Belmont Health and Wealth (The JDB Group), led the adoption of a governance board portal for union clients, replacing email exchanges with a secure, centralized system for trustees.
She holds the Certified Employee Benefit Specialist (CEBS) designation and spent eight years on the board of the Saint John Family Resource Centre, most recently as chair until June.
“In a union space, employers take their hats off at the table, and every decision is made for the member,” she said. “I really love that approach to benefits.”
These three are among 22 winners recognized this year, spanning pension administration, institutional portfolio management, benefits consulting, law, and group insurance.
