In this book project, Martijn Vos and Alfred Slager developed a framework for to help pension boards, tackling today’s challenges as long-term investments & liabilities, mandates, complex implementations and needed agility in times of market disruptions. The book provides tangible steps to plan & improve and prevent being dragged into panic, inertia, or advisor dependency. It includes topics as a decision-making framework, SAA, ALM modeling, ethics, sustainability, tackling board biases, behavioral challenges and deciding in times of crisis.

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Based on our experiences with boards, we've developed a workshop gives your board an overview of a decision-making model. As well it introduces tools, potential pitfalls and specific topics for decision making in pension organizations. Contact a.m.h.slager@vu.nl for more information.

A follow up project is zooming in on how culture and pension fund governance influences board decision making. This is especially relevant as several countries are in the midst of pension reforms and try to learn from other countries. But this is not without its dangers. Understanding the different drivers and choices in pension fund governance increasingly matter. For one, the pension reforms in the UK and the Netherlands are oriented towards adopting more choices of the Canadian model. Increase in scale, further professionalization of staff and board, increase in allocation to private, illiquid assets are among the most striking elements that are currently envisaged. But do the boards in these countries hold the same norms, view decision making similar or hold a different interpretation on what their board role is? Understanding these differences will help make boards, policy makers and regulators make more informed choices as they adapt their pension schemes and systems for the challenges ahead.

Get in touch with us to discuss opportunities for collaboration or contact a.m.h.slager@vu.nl