# Health Association Nova Scotia

Health Association Nova Scotia is a Pension Fund based in Bedford, Canada.

## Overview

- **Organization type:** Pension Fund
- **Headquarters:** Bedford, Canada
- **Region:** North America
- **Address:** 2 Dartmouth Road, Bedford, NS B4A 2K7, Canada
- **Founded:** 1976
- **Assets under management:** Undisclosed
- **Website:** healthassociation.ns.ca
- **LinkedIn:** linkedin.com/company/health-association-nova-scotia

## Regulatory record

- **Reports private funds:** No

## About

Health Association Nova Scotia (HANS) specializes in the delivery of shared services and support for Nova Scotia’s health sector.

## People

- Catherine Butler — President and CEO
- Annette Elliott Rose — Board Chair

## Questions

### What is Health Association Nova Scotia's role in the Nova Scotia Health Employees' Pension Plan?

HANS is one of the five joint sponsors of NSHEPP, alongside four healthcare unions — CUPE, NSNU, NSGEU, and Unifor. The sponsors jointly govern the plan and appoint trustees to the Nova Scotia Pension Services Corporation board. This gives HANS a fiduciary role in overseeing the investment policies and administration of the province's healthcare pension assets.

### Does Health Association Nova Scotia manage pension assets directly?

No. HANS does not operate as an asset manager. Its fiduciary role is governance-based — it helps set investment policy and selects the managers and advisors who execute the NSHEPP portfolio. Day-to-day investment management is delegated to external firms within parameters approved by the sponsor group.

### Who oversees investment decisions at NSHEPP?

Ultimate authority rests with the plan's joint sponsors, who appoint representatives to the Nova Scotia Pension Services Corporation board. The board establishes the statement of investment policies and procedures and engages investment consultants and external asset managers. Catherine Butler, as HANS President and CEO, represents the employer-side sponsors in those governance discussions.

### How is Health Association Nova Scotia structured — is it a pension fund, an association, or both?

It is structurally both. HANS is a member-based industry association that represents health-sector employers in collective bargaining and labour relations. Simultaneously, it functions as a pension plan sponsor for NSHEPP. This dual mandate is unusual: most Canadian pension sponsors are single-purpose entities, not associations with concurrent advocacy responsibilities.

### What is igility and how does it relate to HANS?

igility is a wholly owned subsidiary of Health Association Nova Scotia, based in Bedford, Nova Scotia. It operates as a shared-services and consulting firm providing operational, technology, and human-resources support to healthcare organizations across the province. It is separate from HANS's pension-sponsorship function but sits under the same corporate umbrella.

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Last updated: 2026-06-03T20:00:00.000Z

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