WISE Trust Delivers Strong 11.3% Net Return, Boosting Total Assets to $4.46 Billion in 2024
TORONTO, Feb. 27, 2025 /CNW/ - WISE Trust, the leading pension administrator of retirement solutions for Workplace Safety and Insurance Board Employees in Ontario, is pleased to announce a robust net return of 11.3% for the fiscal year 2024. This strong investment performance increases assets of the WSIB Employees' Pension Plan (Plan) to a total of $4.46 billion, enhancing long-term sustainability of the Plan and its ability to deliver financial security to members in retirement.
In a year marked by economic challenges and market volatility, WISE Trust remained committed to delivering solid financial outcomes for members by applying prudent risk management and disciplined investment strategies which produced exceptional returns. This acceleration in performance highlights the value of the Plan's collaborative partnership with its exclusive investment manager, Investment Management Corporation of Ontario (IMCO), in providing the Plan with diversification of investments across asset classes, contributing to the boost in annual net return.
Christopher Brown, Chief Executive Officer of WISE Trust says, 'The return for 2024 was led by strong results in our Canadian, global and emerging market public equities, and global credit portfolios. The WISE Trust Board of Trustees and management team remain diligently focused on balancing risk and reward to deliver strong and sustainable outcomes for members. These results in implementing the Plan's asset strategy further demonstrate the value of WISE Trust's collaborative partnership with IMCO.'
'We are very pleased to have achieved this solid 11.3% net return on WISE Trust's investment portfolio for 2024,' said Mr. Brown.
He added, 'Despite a challenging economic environment, this impressive return aids in enhancing benefit security for our 10,000+ members and beneficiaries. We have again this year comfortably exceeded the target return for the portfolio, which will serve the Plan well as we navigate the uncertainty that has characterized the early months of 2025.'
About WISE Trust
The Workplace Safety and Insurance Board Employees' Pension Plan (the Plan) is a jointly sponsored defined benefit pension plan co-sponsored by the Workplace Safety and Insurance Board (Ontario) and the Ontario Compensation Employees Union, CUPE Local 1750 (OCEU). The WISE Trust Board of Trustees (made up of individual trustees appointed by the WSIB and OCEU) is the legal administrator of the Plan.
On July 1, 2020, the Plan became the first pension plan in Ontario to convert from a single employer pension plan to a jointly sponsored pension plan.
IMCO is the exclusive investment manager for the Plan, operating to implement the investment policy and strategic asset allocation set by the WISE Trust Board of Trustees.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
an hour ago
- Yahoo
Cutting-edge farming tech to be spotlighted at Great Yorkshire Show
Cutting-edge agricultural technology will be spotlighted as part of a new feature at this year's Great Yorkshire Show. The new Machinery Demonstration Ring will make its debut at the 166th edition of the show, which will run this year from Tuesday, July 8 to Friday, July 11. The ring will host daily demonstrations of modern farming equipment by manufacturers and dealerships, with accompanying commentary for the benefit of spectators. Featured demonstrations at the Machinery Demonstration Ring will include the John Deere Auto Steer Tractor (demonstrated by Ripon Farm Services); the Fendt Combine, with 24ft header (demonstrated by Brockhills of Yorkshire); Siromer Tractors' range of compact tractors; and the latest products from Krone, in conjunction with Krone UK (demonstrated by Carrs Billington). The show holds special significance this year for one particular farm machinery businessman, Geoff Brown MBE, chairman of Ripon Farm Services, who is the 2025 show's president. To mark Mr Brown's show presidency, a new John Deere S7-850 combine harvester with a 35ft header will be displayed on the President's Lawn. Another longstanding trade exhibitor at the Show, Russells, will display a T7 tractor with a forage box, alongside machinery from Krone. Elsewhere, farming TikTok and YouTube star Joe Seels will spotlight machinery at the show as part of a new YouTube series, Great Yorkshire Show: Behind the Scenes. Mr Seels, who farms near Doncaster, said: "Farming machinery has changed so much, and it gets more and more innovative all the time. "The features that are now in modern tractor cabs are mind-blowing. "As a farmer, you have a level of control to be so precise about what you are doing, and this means you can be really productive and efficient when it comes to drilling seeds, spraying crops, and producing food. "The Great Yorkshire Show is a great place to be to get a sense of how high-tech farming has become." Rachel Coates, show director, said: "The new Machinery Ring is another exciting addition to the Great Yorkshire Show. "It is a fantastic example of how the show continues to innovate, while both celebrating and educating about how modern machinery is at the heart of food production. "Highlighting machinery in this way also demonstrates how different skills, such as engineering and mechanical design, offer routes into agricultural careers." The new Machinery Demonstration Ring will be situated near Brown Gate. Great Yorkshire Show: Behind the Scenes episodes, recapping the day's action, will be uploaded every evening of the show at The Great Yorkshire Show app can be downloaded via More information about the show is available at Discounted farmer tickets, which can be used on any day of the show, are also being offered, with more information available at
Hamilton Spectator
an hour ago
- Hamilton Spectator
From a kitchen table to the world. How Diva Cup changed menstrual products — and became a pop culture darling
More than two decades ago a small family business in Kitchener changed the global conversation about menstrual products. Now, Diva International is looking to do the same for other aspects of feminine care. Prior to Diva's rise menstrual products were largely limited to disposable pads and tampons, which are bad for the environment and contain potentially harmful materials. Though menstrual cups had existed since the 1930s, none had solved the design challenges that prevented them from competing with disposable alternatives. From a young age Francine Chambers believed that there was a healthier and more sustainable answer. After discovering one of the few cup options on the market, the entrepreneur secured the rights to be the Canadian distributor for a Cincinnati-based menstrual cup maker. Hopp's general manager David Riggs says the app has outpaced expectations and is already Chambers spent more than a decade selling the product across Canada and around the world. But it wasn't until her daughter Carinne Chambers-Saini graduated with a business and economics degree from Laurier in 2001 that the pair began working on their own design. Through trial and error, the mother-daughter team discovered solutions to the traditional cup's design flaws. Introducing a new category of menstrual products while competing with multinational incumbents, however, proved an uphill battle. 'We're in a category with a lot of stigma and taboo and discomfort, and most of the buyers we were talking to were grey-haired men,' company CEO Chambers-Saini says. 'Some could not make eye contact with us — their faces would turn red just saying some of those words.' Despite pushback from traditional retail gatekeepers, the product developed an organic following. After a decade, the company landed its first national retail partner, Shoppers Drug Mart, in 2013, fuelling a period of growth that would land Diva Cup on shelves around the world, in pop-culture and atop global entrepreneur and product innovation competitions. The rapid growth, however, proved too much for the small family-run business, which struggled with operational growing pains that were exacerbated by the pandemic. Now, the recently rebranded Diva International is ready for its next cycle, expanding from a single product to a new intimate care category consistent with its tradition of sustainability, innovation, health and safety. The Star spoke to Chambers-Saini from her home in Kitchener about the company's rise from small family business to household brand, the challenges that came with its rapid ascent, and how Diva International is building a healthier and more sustainable future. My mom grew up in the Sixties with all brothers, and when she started getting her period she was devastated, because she could no longer do things with them. She remembers sitting on the beach watching her brothers play in the water, unable to join them, wearing this massive pad, thinking there had to be a better way. Square Canada's Go To Market Lead Steve Kelly says Trump tariffs and the economic fallout might She had dreamed of this cup back then, and when I was 14, she saw a classified ad for that exact product. She ended up calling the company, getting the product, and dedicated the next 10 years of her life to promoting it. Both of my parents are entrepreneurs, and they worked on the business together. My mom ended up selling the retail stores she owned to become a Canadian distributor, and my dad, who was a tech entrepreneur, helped her develop an online store all the way back in 1992. She dedicated her whole life to promoting menstrual cups around the world from our kitchen table. I started using menstrual cups when I was 13, and by the time I graduated university I had a lot of experience with them. We had a lot of ideas on how to improve it, so we started to work on our own design. We found a company in Bolton called Silcotech, founded by Michael Maloney, an expert in design and tooling. We showed him our ideas and he helped us design a prototype, which completely failed, but we continued to work together on it. It took us years of gathering feedback from my mom's customers to modernize the menstrual cup. The early versions were made of latex rubber and looked like mini toilet plungers. They even used the same hard rubber. With indoor farms for leafy greens near Guelph, Montreal, Calgary and Halifax, GoodLeaf CEO Andy We moved to a medical-grade silicone and made it more comfortable by smoothening out the hard edges around the rim. The biggest issue that nobody knew how to solve for at the time was that you need air holes to release the pressure to allow it to unfold and open properly, so we found a way to make the ventilation work. We added ridges on the outside at the bottom to allow easier, no-slip removal, and the overall shape was slightly longer and narrower, with a shorter stem. We were selling online mostly, and at consumer trade shows, because retail buyers wouldn't even look at us. Tampons and pads bring customers into the store every month, and we were threatening that. And honestly, a lot of people we talked to were completely freaked out and thought it was disgusting. One retail buyer literally told us nobody would ever buy this, and we should give up, but we knew better, because it had already changed our lives. We were working around the clock, dedicated to getting this out there, no matter how much time it took. It was through a series of serendipitous events that sealed the deal with our first national retailer. In early 2012 a Carnival Cruises boat sank , and they decided to give up their billboard in Times Square. The sales rep happened to be a woman in Hamilton who reached out to us to offer an incredible deal on the ad space because she loved our product. 'Sometimes people look at beauty as a little bit superficial,' says L'Oréal Canada CEO An It was a huge investment for us, but it was too good of an opportunity to pass up. That digital ad ran four times every hour, twenty-four hours a day, for a whole year. That was before we had significant distribution in New York, so it was a big risk. We had been trying to reach a buyer at Shoppers for several years, and they kept saying no, but then they got a new buyer. She had seen our banner in Times Square and agreed to give us a meeting. That buyer took a risk because our budgets were nothing compared to the multinational conglomerates that spent hundreds of millions a year advertising pads and tampons, but women were tired of what was out there and interested in trying something new. When we started out nobody really cared about sustainability — nobody was carrying reusable water bottles and grocery bags or talking about health and wellness — but by then the conversation had changed. Pretty soon after Shoppers we got into major American retailers, like CVS, and before you knew it, we were in 60,000 stores across the United States. We were featured on a Larry King show about sustainable innovation, and we started seeing the Diva Cup in pop culture. The first time was in 2014 in the Adam Sandler movie Blended, and since then it's been mentioned in Modern Family, Amy Schumer had a whole bit about Diva Cups; people send us Diva Cup songs, poetry and artwork. In 2016 we won two EY Entrepreneur of the Year Awards — one in the sustainable products category, and another for being an industry disrupter — and we kept winning awards after that. Our growth quickly became exponential, in the hundreds of percentages each year, and we were no longer this scrappy underdog. At one point we were selling in 38 countries, and we were spreading ourselves too thin. Between 2016 and 2020 we were really struggling to manage all the business we had won. In 2020 we faced a lot of different challenges, from the growing pains of a rapidly scaling business to new competitors, and then the pandemic hit. Ironically, we were selling online in the beginning, but when we signed deals with retailers, they required that we shut down our online sales, because they didn't want to compete. So, when COVID happened, many of our competitors were strong on eCommerce, and we weren't. After that we started to lose our retail base and decided to take a step back and work on strengthening our brand. In 2022 we rebranded from Diva Cup to Diva International — makers of Diva Cup — and changed our logo for the first time. That has really helped us solidify our position as our consumers' care partners through all different cycles of life. I'm in my late '40s and into another period where things change in a women's body, and there aren't a lot of resources; a lot of the products that are out there are full of toxic chemicals and perfumes that I don't want to put in my body. We've introduced new innovations in the menstrual care category with the Diva Disc and Diva Underwear, but vulva care is our first expansion into the wellness category. One in four women experience vulva dryness and itching, so we developed a line of products that are safe to use, including a daily moisturizing wash, a cleanser, a refresher — which is an on-the-go cleaning spray — and a lubricator. We've created this legacy around leading conversation on menstrual care, breaking stigmas, and pushing for equity, so this really makes sense as the next evolution for Diva.
Yahoo
an hour ago
- Yahoo
Anti-American sentiment from tariffs is NOT having a major impact on Utah tourism: Utah Office of Tourism
SALT LAKE CITY () — Despite national decreases in international tourism, many Utah businesses saw a successful Memorial Day weekend. Managing Director for the Utah Office of Tourism Natalie Randall told ABC4, 'In the state of Utah, we know that international visitation is a critical piece to our visitor economy.' Randall reported that about 7% of the total visitor direct spending comes from international visitation, and about 40% of that comes from Canadian visitors. 'As you're talking through tariffs, as you're thinking about the Canadian sentiment that's coming in, we're seeing at the national level, there's been this reduction in visitation to the U.S., and at Utah, we know that we're not immune to seeing those changes as well, and so for us it's a priority to remain proactive in the space and continue to engage with the Canadian visitor and let them know that this is a place that they can be inspired to visit.' Natalie Randall, Managing Director for the Utah Office of Tourism However, Randall also told that there was not a large negative impact on tourism over Memorial Day weekend. Upcoming Ogden car show to raise funds for program that helps at-risk youth 'Many of our businesses were able to experience successful weekends, full bookings, and many of them were able to find ways to backfill from what you might anticipate with the international visitation perhaps lagging slightly,' she said. Randall said that there are many reasons to remain optimistic, including West Jet recently investing in a direct flight from Salt Lake City to Edmonton, Canada. In a recent survey of Canadian travelers conducted by Love Communications, 63% of respondents would still consider visiting the U.S. in the next 36 months, with 42% saying 'yes' and 21% saying 'maybe.' In that survey, the most influential factors in interest in visiting the U.S. was natural scenery and iconic landmarks or historical sites, which might offer one explanation as to why international visitation to Utah has not suffered greatly, as Utah is rich in natural scenery and iconic landmarks. Man killed after falling off train traveling through Nevada to Utah Anti-American sentiment from tariffs is NOT having a major impact on Utah tourism: Utah Office of Tourism SILVER ALERT: 69-year-old woman with dementia missing in Riverton Smith's Pineapple Cheesecake Ice Cream Dekliderm tackles 'tech neck' with targeted, affordable neck firming cream Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
