Derek Gerard

A Principal in the firm, Derek is a senior consulting actuary and practice leader for Eckler in Halifax. Derek has over 30 years of experience in the pension consulting field, including the design, funding, and administration of pension plans. In addition to traditional defined benefit pension consulting, he has significant experience with strategic pension risk management, pension change management, and asset planning. Derek is the lead consultant and client relationship manager for numerous clients in Atlantic Canada.

Derek is one of Eckler’s, and the industry’s, leading experts in pension risk management. He promotes pension risk management as a key element of good governance and program success.

Derek has significant experience with the wind-up of pension plans including acting as Administrator for complex insolvency situations where the pension plan is a creditor with an underfunded pension plan. In this capacity, he has been involved with the exploration of alternative decumulation approaches beyond annuity purchase for underfunded pension plans.

He was a member of the CIA Task Force on Target Benefit Plans (TBPs) that recently produced a significant report on TBPs for use by government, regulators, and other stakeholders when considering the key issues associated with expanding the TBP environment in Canada.

Derek is a past member of the Canadian Institute of Actuaries (CIA) Pension Plan Financial Reporting Committee (PPFRC), the committee responsible for making recommendations to the Actuarial Standards Board and Actuarial Guidance Council regarding professional standards and guidance for Canadian pension actuaries and, by extension, for defined benefit pension plans operating in Canada. In 2009, Derek joined the CIA Practice Council, an oversight body for actuarial guidance and standards in Canada and completed his three-year term with Practice Council in 2012.

He has presented at many industry conferences and is a published author of articles on pension-related matters. He is also a past long-serving member of the Canadian Pension and Benefits Institute Atlantic Regional Council.

Derek graduated from Dalhousie University with a degree in Mathematics, and is a Fellow of both the Society of Actuaries and the Canadian Institute of Actuaries.

• Defined benefit pension plan valuation and administration
• Executive retirement arrangements
• Change management
• Pension Plan wind-up
• Pension Plan mergers
• Pension plan financial risk management
• Stakeholder liaise support and governance

Professional Qualifications

• Dalhousie University, Bachelor of Science in Mathematics
• Fellow of the Canadian Institute of Actuaries (FCIA)
• Fellow of the Society of Actuaries (FSA)