Eckler announces 2024 Principal appointments
As Canada’s leading independently owned actuarial and consulting firm, Eckler is managed by its active Principals. We are pleased to announce our most recent Principal appointments across Canada and Jamaica.
Alicia Ganess, MBA
Based in Jamaica, Alicia has been with Eckler since 2014 and has more than 16 years of pension consulting experience in both the United States and Jamaica. She provides consulting services to and manages clients that span all business segments in both the public and private sectors. Alicia has strong pension expertise covering defined benefit and defined contribution plans, other post-retirement benefit plans, and social security benefits. She has comprehensive understanding and expertise in financial statement reporting, pension plan design, plan governance, plan mergers and conversions and plan wind-ups. She also conducts trainings for Plan Administrators, Trustees and Plan Members. Alicia is a former Trinidad and Tobago National Scholar, and her formal education includes an MBA with Distinction and an undergraduate degree in Actuarial Sciences from the University of the West Indies.
Congratulations, Alicia!
Lewis Gascoigne, CFA
Lewis joined Eckler’s Vancouver office in 2020 as an investment consultant. He works with a range of institutional asset owners, from pension plans to charities and endowments, to help them meet their investment objectives. As an investment consultant with a decade of experience in Canada and the United Kingdom, he advises on many different issues institutional investors face, from investment strategy and asset mix to manager selection and ongoing monitoring. Lewis also specializes in alternative investments, leading Eckler’s manager research in real estate and infrastructure. Before joining Eckler in 2020, Lewis worked as an Investment Consultant in London, UK, for the largest independent investment consultancy in the UK. A Bachelor of Economics graduate of the University of Reading in the United Kingdom, Lewis is also a Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) charterholder.
Congratulations, Lewis!
Gino Girard, FCIA, FSA
With Eckler since 2023, Gino is a fully qualified actuary with over 30 years’ consulting experience with pension plans sponsored by organizations in the public, academic and private sectors. Throughout his career, he has served a wide range of clients, including many plans administered by joint pension committees. Before Eckler, Gino worked for another major consulting firm for 18 years, where he was a senior pension partner. Gino has extensive experience in pension plan consulting and administration, particularly in the areas of funding, employee future benefits accounting, spin-offs/mergers, governance and risk management. A graduate of Laval University, Gino is a Fellow of both the Canadian Institute of Actuaries and the Society of Actuaries.
Congratulations, Gino!
Rohan Hall, AIA
With Eckler since 2007, Rohan is a Principal and senior actuarial consultant in our Jamaica office. He has over 15 years of experience in the Pensions industry. At Eckler, Rohan’s work is focussed on retirement plans, employee health and welfare benefits, and general insurance. He excels at managing the relationships with his clients which covers all business sectors in the private and public sectors. Rohan has deep expertise in the valuation of pensions and other post-retirement liabilities and leads many engagements for a variety of clients with defined contribution and defined benefit plans. An Associate of the Institute and Faculty of Actuaries, Rohan graduated from The University of the West Indies, Mona, with a Bachelor’s degree in Actuarial Science with First Class Honours. He also holds a Master’s degree in Actuarial Science with Distinction from Heriot Watt University, Edinburgh.
Congratulations, Rohan!
Kimberly Hart, CFA, CAIA
Kim joined Eckler in 2022 with over a decade of industry experience. She has worked with a wide range of clients. Her specific areas of expertise include governance, investment policy and risk management, asset allocation, manager selection and ongoing portfolio monitoring. In addition to her consulting responsibilities, Kim is a leader in the investment practice’s intellectual capital development and research. With a keen intellectual curiosity and passion for investment markets, Kim spearheads the coordination of economic and capital market information. Kim is recognized particularly for her efforts to develop and deliver information and education sessions for clients. Kim graduated from Queen’s University with a Bachelor of Science degree in Mathematics and Economics. Her professional qualifications include Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) and Chartered Alternative Investment Analyst (CAIA).
Congratulations, Kim!
Josh Ingram, FCIA, FSA, CERA
With Eckler’s pension practice since 2009, Josh started his career at Eckler following a co-op placement. Josh specializes in target benefit multi-employer and jointly sponsored pension plans with members from numerous different sectors and jurisdictions across Canada. He advises boards of trustees and sponsors of these defined benefit plans on all matters including plan governance, design, funding, administration, and risk management. Josh is a pension actuary for some of Eckler’s largest and most complex clients. A graduate of the University of Waterloo, Josh holds an Honours Bachelor of Mathematics degree in Statistics. He is a Fellow of both the Canadian Institute of Actuaries (FCIA) and the Society of Actuaries (FSA).
Congratulations, Josh!
Kerem Leylek, FCIA, FSA
A pension consultant in our Winnipeg office, Kerem has been with Eckler since 2018 and focuses primarily on consulting for defined benefit pension plans. Kerem’s consulting assignments have spanned a broad spectrum from technical valuation work to plan design for defined benefit plans. He is a key relationship resource for local Manitoba plans and regularly presents at board or pension committee meetings. Kerem has an in-depth knowledge of pension legislation and regulatory requirements along with expertise in pension accounting standards. Kerem holds a Bachelor of Commerce (Honours) degree from the University of Manitoba majoring in Actuarial Mathematics, and is a Fellow of both the Canadian Institute of Actuaries and the Society of Actuaries.
Congratulations, Kerem!
Maxime Romano, FCIA, FCAS
An actuary in Eckler’s Quebec City office, Maxime has been with Eckler in a full-time capacity since 2015. He started with the firm in 2013 in a part-time role. Maxime consults to a variety of clients including corporations and provincial workers’ compensation boards. His expertise includes workplace health and safety financing, actuarial valuation of claim benefit liabilities, premium rate-setting of large public insurance schemes, as well as financial risk modelling and quantification. With a keen interest in and experience with emerging technologies and techniques and their application to actuarial problems, Maxime is known for improving and streamlining business processes through the thoughtful integration of software. A graduate of McGill University with a degree in Mechanical Engineering, Maxime is a Fellow of both the Canadian Institute of Actuaries (CIA) and the Casualty Actuarial Society (CAS).
Congratulations, Maxime!
Johanan Schmuecker, FCIA, FSA
Johanan (Joe) joined the firm in 2020 as our first Saskatchewan employee to support a growing roster of clients in the province. A pension expert with a varied and broad background, Joe’s consulting assignments range from technical valuation work and programming to governance consulting, along with plan design for defined benefit, target benefit and defined contribution pension plans. He also has experience with valuing post-employment and long-term disability benefits. Joe has an in-depth knowledge of pension legislation and regulatory requirements along with expertise in pension accounting standards. Joe has worked with a variety of pension clients across the Prairie provinces and Ontario during his career, from small private sector plans to very large public sector plans. Joe holds a Bachelor’s degree in Actuarial Science from the University of Regina and is a Fellow of both the Canadian Institute of Actuaries and the Society of Actuaries.
Congratulations, Joe!
Laura Strachan, FCIA, FIA
Laura joined Eckler in 2016 after working in the United Kingdom for the first part of her career. She has over 15 years of consulting experience advising a variety of clients including broader public sector organizations, not-for-profit organizations and private sector corporations. Laura has a diverse skill set with experience in both pension and group benefits consulting. Her expertise includes pension and post-employment benefit plan valuations, plan design and administration, pension legislation and accounting for both DB pension plans and group benefit plans. Laura is also an expert on dynamic pensions (or variable payment life annuities) – an innovative decumulation option for DC plan members. A graduate of the University of St. Andrews, Laura is a Fellow of both the Canadian Institute of Actuaries and the Institute and Faculty of Actuaries in the UK.
Congratulations, Laura!
Jennifer (Jenn) Welch
With more than 25 years of consulting experience, Jenn has provided strategic communication advisory and implementation services to clients in a variety of industries across Canada and the United States, including corporate, trustee, multi-employer, and jointly sponsored arrangements. She joined Eckler in 2018 and currently leads the Communications Consulting team. Her deep expertise in communicating [complex] change related to compensation, pension, benefits, and well-being further enables her to deliver solutions that address the target issues, aligning objectives with the organization’s business realities. Fluently bilingual, Jenn is an award-winning strategic communication leader. A lifetime member of the International Association of Business Communicators (IABC), she is also the recipient of Gold Quill, Silver Quill, and Ovation awards for Communication excellence.
Congratulations, Jenn!
We congratulate all our new Principals. We know they will continue to live our purpose to care and to do right by people, while helping to grow our business and delivering the best-in-class services our clients have come to expect.