Concerns raised about CEO’s consensual relationship with employee, executive departures
A $1.6‑million vacation payout and a workplace relationship involving the CEO of the CAAT Pension Plan have triggered a governance crisis at the $23‑billion Ontario fund, according to a report.
The development has led to senior departures, a board suspension and regulatory scrutiny. Board chair Don Smith was recently suspended from his position as a trustee by the Ontario Public Service Employees Union (OPSEU), which had appointed him to CAAT’s board, three sources told The Globe and Mail.
The governance dispute surfaced publicly after three of CAAT’s top executives — chief investment officer Asif Haque, chief financial officer Mike Dawson and chief pension officer Evan Howard — left the organisation on Jan. 19. In an all‑staff email the next day, according to the report, Dobson said the three were “leaving the organization on good terms” and cited a need for “the right alignment of our executive team.”
In a Jan. 28 statement, CAAT said it was "grateful for the service, contribution and impact they have had in CAAT’s growing success."
Executive changes include CHRO departure
Jillian Kennedy remains Chief Strategy Officer and Kevin Fahey has been promoted to Chief Investment Officer after 17 years in various leadership roles on CAAT’s Investments team. John Baiocco continues to oversee funding and sustainability of the Plan as Vice President of Actuarial Solutions, according to the pension plan.
“CAAT possesses a depth of talent that allows the Plan to continue to deliver its pension promise and build on its momentum under the leadership of the CEO and Plan Manager,” said CAAT in a statement.
The recent exits follow other changes in CAAT’s leadership. The plan’s CHRO left in June 2024, and its senior vice‑president of technology and IT services management as well as its head of policy and government relations departed earlier this year, according to the Globe.
Julie Giraldi was CHRO at CAAT from 2020 to 2025, according to her LinkedIn profile.
Concerns about CEO's leadership
However, three sources told The Globe and Mail that the executives had warned board members they had lost confidence in CEO Derek Dobson’s leadership, including concerns related to a large vacation payout and his workplace relationship. The board ultimately backed the CEO, and the departures were negotiated, the sources said.
One of the key flashpoints was a $1.6‑million vacation payout that board leadership approved last year in lieu of vacation time.
A separate source of tension has been a workplace relationship involving the CEO. Stephen Hewitt, director of communications and brand at CAAT, told The Globe that Dobson informed CAAT’s board in November 2024 that he “had commenced a consensual relationship with a CAAT employee.” The employee does not report directly to the CEO, and CAAT said external legal counsel reviewed his “full compliance” with company policies.
“Both the CEO and the employee will continue in their current roles within the organization and CAAT has implemented a number of measures to prevent any perceived conflicts of interest or perceptions of favouritism in light of the relationship,” Hewitt said. Those measures include barring the CEO from having input into the employee’s performance appraisals, compensation decisions or potential promotions.
Despite these steps, internal sources told The Globe and Mail there are still questions about the propriety of the relationship and whether trustees should have sanctioned it, given the CEO’s authority over employees.
Romantic encounters among workplace colleagues can lead to unexpected management concerns, according to one expert.
CAAT — a multi‑employer plan serving Ontario’s colleges and more than 800 public‑ and private‑sector employers — has about 125,000 members and more than $23‑billion in assets.
