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University of Victoria Combination Pension Plan
The University of Victoria Combination Pension Plan covers eligible faculty and administrative and academic professional staff.
University of Victoria Combination Pension Plan
The University of Victoria Combination Pension Plan covers eligible faculty and administrative and academic professional staff. It operates as a defined benefit plan alongside two other pension schemes administered by UVic Pension Services. Plan sponsorship rests with the university, which appoints half of the Pension Board of Trustees, while the plan's assets remain legally segregated for pension liabilities under British Columbia pension legislation. The plan deploys capital across a diversified institutional portfolio. Asset classes typically include Canadian and global public equities, fixed income, and a significant allocation to real assets. The real estate program is executed through the BCI Real Estate Program, which holds mixed-use properties across global markets. An infrastructure allocation adds further diversification, also managed externally. Specific direct holdings are not publicly itemized in a manner that allows portfolio-company attribution, consistent with the disclosure posture of many Canadian university pension plans. The board is chaired by Barry Gros, with day-to-day governance overseen by Randi G. as Executive Director of Pensions and Plan Governance. Andrew Coward, UVic's Associate Vice-President Financial Planning and Operations, serves as a trustee. The fund participates in benchmarking surveys through the Pension Investment Association of Canada, signaling an emphasis on peer-relative governance and performance measurement. The plan's most salient structural feature is its legal separation from UVic's operating budget. Unlike an endowment, which a university board can allocate at its discretion within donor restrictions, each dollar in the Combination Plan is exclusively earmarked for member pensions. This statutory firewall means the plan's investment posture is shaped entirely by asset-liability matching and fiduciary duty to plan members, not by the university's capital campaign cycles or operating deficits.
General information
Firm type
Pension Fund
Year founded
—
AUM
Undisclosed
Location
Region
North America
Country
Canada
City
Victoria
Corporate office
Victoria, British Columbia, Canada
Principals
Barry Gros
Chair of the Pension Board of Trustees
Randi G.
Executive Director, Pensions and Plan Governance
Andrew Coward
Board Trustee; Associate Vice-President Financial Planning and Operations, UVic
Sector focus
Frequently asked questions
Who runs investment decisions at the University of Victoria Combination Pension Plan?
The plan's Pension Board of Trustees holds fiduciary responsibility for investment oversight. The board is chaired by Barry Gros, and half its members are appointed by the university. Day-to-day operational governance is led by Randi G., Executive Director of Pensions and Plan Governance. The plan does not employ a dedicated internal investment team; it works through external managers, including the BCI Real Estate Program for property assets.
How is this plan different from the University of Victoria's endowment?
The plan's assets are legally ring-fenced for pension obligations under British Columbia pension law and cannot be used for university operations. An endowment, by contrast, is a university-controlled pool of donated funds — its spending may be restricted by donor intent, but the university board retains broad discretion. The pension plan answers solely to plan members and pension regulators.
Does the plan invest directly in real estate or infrastructure, or through funds?
Both allocations are accessed through external program managers rather than direct balance-sheet ownership. The real estate exposure is managed via the BCI Real Estate Program, which pools capital from multiple British Columbia public-sector pension clients. The infrastructure allocation follows a similar model, executed through an external mandate.
What asset classes does the plan exclude or avoid?
The plan has not published a formal exclusion list. Like most Canadian university pension plans, its primary constraints are statutory fiduciary duty and the prudent-person standard under British Columbia's Pension Benefits Standards Act. There is no public evidence of a fossil-fuel divestment mandate or a specific ESG screen embedded in the investment policy statement.
How does the plan benchmark its performance?
The Combination Plan participates in the Pension Investment Association of Canada (PIAC) asset and return surveys, which allow it to measure performance against a peer universe of Canadian institutional pension investors. Individual benchmark return targets or reference portfolios are not publicly available.
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