Meghan Vallis, Chris Gory, Kin Chin, and Sunil Hirjee top a field narrowed from hundreds to 30
Benefits and Pensions Monitor has named 30 winners to its fourth annual Hot List, recognizing the financial executives and professionals shaping Canada’s benefits, pensions, and institutional investment industry in 2026.
Nominations opened in June 2026 and were submitted by peers and by the nominees themselves. Candidates needed at least 10 years in the industry to qualify, and BPM’s editorial team reviewed hundreds of entries for evidence of what each person built, fixed, or led over the previous 12 months before narrowing the field to 30. Nomination and inclusion carry no fee.
The 2026 cohort marks a shift in who the industry recognizes.
C-suite representation has fallen to 23 percent, the lowest share since the list launched in 2023 and down from a peak of 36 percent in 2024. Advisors, partners, and specialists now hold 27 percent, the highest share yet.
Winners with 10 to 20 years of experience have grown every year, from 20 percent in 2023 to 37 percent in 2026, while the winner pool itself has narrowed from 45 honourees in 2023 to 30 this year.
Ontario accounts for 53 percent of this year’s winners, more than Quebec and British Columbia combined, and 37 percent work for plan sponsors, the largest single sector represented.
“The Canadian benefits and pensions industry is collaborative. Leaders who don’t try to do things on their own, who work with peer organizations and industry associations, are the ones who deliver superior outcomes,” says Korinne Collins, chief executive officer of the Association of Canadian Pension Management in Toronto.
Among the 30 named this year, several stand out for what they delivered over the past 12 months.
Meghan Vallis, group sales vice president for Western Canada at Equitable in British Columbia, relaunched the insurer’s myFlex Benefits product around small business, opening a plan design once reserved for employers with 100 to 300 staff to companies under 50.
Her team posted an 86.6 percent jump in sales, the highest in Equitable’s history, alongside 20.5 percent block growth and zero churn since 2023.
“It’s safe to try things out and fail. That’s how we get better,” she says.
Chris Gory, employee benefits advisor at Orchard Benefits in Ontario, used AI to automate renewal-document and claims-report processing, cutting a task that took 20 to 30 minutes down to about two, then taught the process to advisors nationwide at no charge.
His one-person firm now handles 125 groups and $12.2m in premium.
“I’m just trying to help do my part to automate our little corner of the industry,” he says.
Kin Chin, senior vice president at Franklin Templeton in Ontario, won a multibillion-dollar institutional mandate spanning public and private markets, notified late in 2025 with funding arriving this year.
“It wasn’t the fact that we had a single best product, but more how we are able to bring all these broad capabilities together,” he says.
Sunil Hirjee, vice president of sales and partner experience for Ontario, Western, and Atlantic Canada at Beneva, brought plan sponsors, brokers, and consulting partners to a two-day event at the insurer’s Quebec head office, putting them in front of the leaders setting strategy.
“That telephone game sometimes can convolute a message,” he says of the filtered feedback it replaced. “We’ve seen turnarounds. We’ve seen very big partnerships start to take formation.”
These are only four among 30 honourees recognized across group benefits, pensions, and institutional investment this year.
To see the full list of winners and read their profiles, view the complete Hot List 2026 report here.
