MICHAEL BLOCK

Senior Vice-president Strategy & Asset Liability Management OMERS

BIO: Michael is Senior Vice-president, Strategy & Asset Liability Management, for OMERS, one of Canada’s largest pension funds with over $100 billion in assets and 500,000 members. Michael is responsible for developing OMERS’ overall strategy and the long-term target asset mix. This work guides the organization towards the achievement of its objectives and ability to deliver on its mission on behalf of members. He operates across the organization, working with partners in all investment businesses, pension services and corporate functions. He serves on the boards of Purpose Financial, a fast-growing financial services company, and Lifelabs, a leading health-care diagnostics company.

BEST/MOST-VALUED CAREER LESSON IN THE PAST YEAR: For me it demonstrated the value of being prepared and not overextended. It’s easy to forget in good times that things can go wrong in a hurry. The opposite is also true – opportunities arrive, and you need to be ready!