CEO Jeremy Phillips weighs in on how Plannera is borrowing from DB to strengthen DC, why they launched the Lifetime Pension product
Saskatchewan may just be 6 per cent of Canada's land mass and 3 per cent of the population, but Jeremy Phillips wants the pension industry to pay attention to what's happening there.
Phillips, president and CEO of Plannera Pensions and Benefits (formerly known as PEBA), oversees what he calls a rare setup in Canadian pensions: a not-for-profit corporation that administers both the country's largest defined contribution plan and a top 100 defined benefit plan under one roof. The Public Employees Plan (PEP) holds $15 billion in assets across 77,000 members, while the Municipal Employees Plan (MEP) manages over $4 billion for more than 30,000 members.
PEP covers the Government of Saskatchewan and Crown corporations, while MEP includes close to 750 employers ranging from towns and villages to rural municipalities and school divisions. Together, Plannera has close to $19 billion under administration and serves almost 900 employers across the province.
“We’re the [defined contribution] capital of Canada,” said Phillips, noting the two largest DC plans in the country - Plannera's PEP and the Co-operative Superannuation Society in Saskatoon - are both based in the province.
“It's such a great privilege to work here and it's such a unique opportunity because I don't think there's anywhere else in Canada that has exactly what we have,” said Phillips.
What Plannera’s pension model looks like
Plannera became an arm's-length not-for-profit corporation in January 2024 after decades operating as a government agency under the Saskatchewan Ministry of Finance. That structural shift, from crown entity to statutory corporation, gave Plannera a corporate board, independent governance and a mandate to run both plans side by side, Phillips explained.
Plannera's governance model, Phillips suggests, sets it apart from other pension administrators in Western Canada. In British Columbia, pension administration runs through crown corporations; in Alberta, the government is the sole shareholder.
Whereas Plannera is a statutory not-for-profit created by the Saskatchewan legislature but operating at arm's length from the province. PEP and MEP themselves are the two corporate members as they appoint the board, and the board appoints the CEO.
Plannera’s cross-pollination model built around DB and DC plans
The dual mandate creates what Phillips calls cross-pollination: taking what works on one side of the pension divide and applying it to the other. On the investment front, MEP's traditional DB portfolio structure has shaped how PEP now approaches its DC investment program.
"PEP has begun to build what is essentially a DB style investment portfolio, managing liquidity very carefully because of what we've learned and because of what we've implemented on the MEP side," he said.
That model has attracted attention. Phillips noted his CIO is frequently asked at public events how Plannera runs alternatives inside a DC plan and manages the liquidity constraints that come with it - something he said is rare even at a global level.
The cross-pollination works in reverse as well. Because DC members are responsible for their own investment choices, PEP developed a more advanced member engagement program than a typical DB plan would require.
"We're able to use some of the same techniques and the same approaches to engage DB plan members," he said. "They share, they co-invest in our facilities, in our IT systems and then in the way we administer pensions.”
According to Phillips, both PEP and MEP follow a three-portfolio approach - equities, fixed income and alternatives - built around diversification rather than tactical positioning.
"We don't hedge or we don't overweight or underweight based on market conditions. We think that the portfolios are built responsibly through diversification to weather whatever's going on," he said.
Phillips acknowledged the organization has spent more than a decade delivering a consistent message to PEP members about staying invested and making informed choices — through newsletters, the website, workshops and one-on-one planning sessions. Members can fill out an investor profile, and any moment of concern is treated as an opening for a deeper conversation about how they are positioned.
Still, time horizon is the variable that matters most for the Plan as members closer to retirement are encouraged to take on less risk, and those conversations happen on an ongoing basis.
"We know all the market research, all the intellectual research indicates the same thing, which is you need to stay invested, that humans are emotional. They can react and typically they will sell low and buy high," said Phillips, adding that message runs year-round.
“If you think about one of the challenges DC plan members have, there are many, many benefits of a DC plan, but one of the challenges is managing longevity risk. How long am I going to live and am I going to run out of money?”
Why Plannera launched a variable annuity product
That’s why Plannera launched Lifetime Pension for PEP members in April 2025. The variable annuity guarantees retirees will not outlive their savings, and it adjusts each year based on investment performance and the mortality experience of the pool. Phillips believes the product is the first of its kind in Canada, launched under the federal variable payment life annuity framework that came into effect in the early 2020s.
According to Phillips, the University of British Columbia has operated a similar structure since the 1960s, but under a different legislative framework. PEP members can now pair Lifetime Pension with the plan's existing flexible drawdown options, giving them a way to lock in predictable monthly income alongside discretionary spending.
"As a not-for-profit corporation, our interests are aligned. There's no profit motive; we don't sell any products. We work with the members to understand their perspective, their unique needs and wants in retirement and then we help them achieve that secure financial future," he said.
Consolidation is top of mind for Plannera’s CEO
Looking further out, Phillips sees consolidation reshaping the Canadian pension landscape. He pointed to the roughly 16,000 pension plans serving just over 40 million Canadians, with the vast majority covering fewer than 100 members. He suggests the math doesn’t favour small plans facing system upgrades, rising costs or the retirement of long-tenured administrators who are difficult to replace.
While Canada has yet to go down the route of some its sister countries, Phillips expects the economics will force the conversation among pension plans in the next decade.
"The benefit to plan members would be economies of scale, better access to services, lower investment fees, better outcomes, better retirement products in these larger plans," he said.
