ONE JIB Chair and Vice Chair Bridge Worlds of Municipal Finance and Investing
The ONE Joint Investment Board breaks new ground in bringing together municipal and investment experts towards the common goal of growing municipal savings to build better communities.
Chair Bill Hughes and Vice Chair Geri James reflect these twin priorities. Both come to the table with solid careers in their respective areas of expertise.
“Our board really is where Main Street meets Bay Street,” says ONE JIB Chair Bill Hughes. “We have treasurers, who understand the intricacies of municipal finance, sitting down with investment experts who have a deep understanding of financial markets.”
Currently, the Board is responsible for developing and implementing investment plans for six founding municipalities who are participating in the Prudent Investor standard. The Board expects other municipalities, seeking better risk-adjusted returns on their investments, will soon join these founding municipalities in the prudent investing regime.
Hughes has more than 35 years’ experience in public finance. He was the Commissioner of Finance and Treasurer for York Region for seven years, where his team managed about $3 billion in investments and consistently delivered above-benchmark results.
Hughes also held senior positions in the Ontario government, including the Assistant Deputy Minister of Infrastructure Policy and Planning at the Ontario Ministry of Infrastructure. His provincial roles touched on a range of municipal-related matters, like the 2008 upload agreement, water infrastructure and transit.
In retirement, Hughes is a Senior Fellow at the University of Toronto’s Institute on Municipal Finance and Governance at the Munk School of Global Affairs and Public Policy. He has a long-standing interest in matters related to municipal fiscal sustainability.
“The Prudent Investor Standard opens the door to higher long-term risk-adjusted returns. I’m focused on ensuring the Board achieves that goal for our investors responsibly and ethically,” Hughes said.
Hughes helps translate municipal budgets and capital plans into terms that the investment experts can then use to provide high-quality investments offerings under the prudent investor regime that might otherwise be unavailable to municipalities.
Vice Chair Geri James is the Bay Street side of the equation. She has more than 25 years of experience in managing investments for many of Canada’s largest pension plans, non-profits, sovereign wealth funds, governments and other institutional investors. During her career, she helped start up investment businesses such as AON Hewitt’s Canadian investment practice, the launch of iShares exchange-traded funds (ETFs) in Canada and BlackRock Asset Management Canada’s defined contribution business.
James was interested in taking on Board positions that were community-oriented, collaborative and member driven. She’s also currently serving on the Board of the Police Credit Union.
“When creating an investment offering from scratch, you have to start by focusing on the needs of the client,” James said. “Municipal Treasurers already have so much on their plate. We knew we needed to make it easier for them to implement complex investment decisions.”
That is why, she said, ONE focused on identifying different municipal goals and outcomes and then created offerings which combined multiple asset classes, including Canadian and global equities and fixed income, to meet those needs.
In addition to James and Hughes, the Board also includes experts in fixed income, equities and regulatory matters – along with two municipal treasurers.
Both Hughes and James served on ONE’s Investment Advisory Committee which was created in 2016 to provide ONE staff with expert advice on matters such as investment management, oversight, and policies.
“We have seen ONE evolve and grow to meet the unique needs of prudent investing by municipalities,” James noted. “It has become an excellent option to help municipal investors reap greater rewards and better manage risk.”