Head, Product Development

Chris has been with CEM since 2003 and is currently Manager – Custom Research. He leads the research team in conducting best practice research, custom work for clients and partnering with outside researchers. He also actively participates in the evolution of CEM’s core models and analysis, and in customizing those models to meet client needs. Chris has experience presenting benchmarking results and research to clients and has testified as an expert on pension fund costs. Prior to working at CEM, Chris worked as a developer at an investment management firm.

Head of Operations

Adam joined CEM in 2022 and is responsible for driving operational improvements in the business. His focus at CEM is on making the work of our teams and interactions with our clients more efficient and effective. He cares greatly about ensuring retirees can enjoy their retirement without having to overpay for that privilege. Adam brings more than 20 years of work, across a variety of industries, including banking, insurance and technology as both a consultant and executive. He began his career as an economist with S&P, became a management consultant with McKinsey and recently had leadership roles at Farber and Mensana. He holds a Master of Arts from the University of Toronto in Economics and a Bachelor of Arts (Honours) in Economics and Psychology from Queen’s University.

Senior Analyst

Joao is an investment analyst on CEM’s investment benchmarking team. Prior to joining CEM in 2019, Joao was an investment analyst at LCP and Mercer, where he provided investment analysis for UK pension funds. Joao is a CFA charterholder and holds a Masters degree in Finance and Investments from the Erasmus University of Rotterdam.

Senior Research Associate

Having joined CEM in 2010, Alex is responsible for modeling and programming support to the business teams. Prior to joining CEM, he was engaged in post doctoral research at the Center for Biological Physics at University of California at San Diego.  His work included unsupervised machine learning, Monte Carlo simulation, minimum entropy models, belief propagation, multiple sequence alignments, maximum likelihood solutions of evolution rates, paramagnetic data clustering, non-linear regression, finite sample size data correction and exact, computational and heuristic mathematical modeling.

Analyst

Shayan is an Analyst on CEM’s Investment Benchmarking team. Prior to joining CEM in 2018, he worked in various roles in the financial services industry, including roles in trading analytics and actuarial consulting. Shayan holds a Bachelor of Mathematics degree from the University of Waterloo.

Senior Research Associate

Maaike is an analyst on the Investment Benchmarking team. Prior to joining CEM in 2017, she applied her analytical skills to her postdoctoral research in the biomedical field, first in Boston (USA) and later in Ottawa (Canada). Maaike earned her PhD in stem cell biology at the University of Utrecht (the Netherlands).
 
 

Analyst

Rhijuta is an Analyst at CEM Benchmarking. Prior to joining CEM Benchmarking, Rhijuta was working in Mercer’s manager research team. Rhijuta has previous experience in DC Consulting, Client Reporting from Towers Watson and has also spent few years in Nepal working with social enterprises. Rhijuta has a master’s degree in Mathematics from Lancaster University.

Lead, Production

David is a Director at CEM Benchmarking. Prior to joining CEM in 2006, David worked at CIBC Mellon for eight years in a variety of departments ranging from pension accounting to sales and marketing.  David is a CFA charter holder and has a degree in Mathematics and Philosophy from the University of Toronto.

Manager, Operations

Tanya joined CEM over 20 years ago and is responsible for making CEM a great environment for our employees, clients and our partners. Over the years she has met many of our clients at our conferences (which she has organized) after corresponding with them for years about publications or invoicing. Tanya takes great pride in the office plants and is the keeper of the candy jar at the Toronto office front desk.

Analyst

Daniel is an Analyst at CEM Benchmarking. Prior to joining CEM Benchmarking, Daniel was working for New Zealand's stock exchange, NZX. Daniel worked as an analyst across NZX's Capital Markets and Finance teams. Daniel has a Bachelor of Commerce degree in Finance (Hons) and Economics from Victoria University of Wellington (New Zealand).

Edsart X. Heuberger

PABS, GPTB & GRSii

Edsart has responsibility for business development and client service in the Netherlands. Edsart joined CEM in 2008 as an analyst on the Pension Administration team and senior analyst on the Investment team. He has an intimate and quantitative understanding of CEM’s investment and pension administration services and database, and will continue to conduct and support administration and investment research. Edsart has a Masters of Science in supply chain management from Erasmus University Rotterdam, the Netherlands.

Analyst

Carl is a Business Solutions Analyst at CEM Benchmarking, responsible for analyzing client data and implementing product reports. Before joining CEM, Carl accumulated over 12 years of experience in the pension industry specializing in actuarial pension calculations and pension software developments. Carl holds a bachelor’s degree in Mathematics and is currently a candidate in the Fellow of the Society of Actuaries.

Product Lead, Defined Benefits

Palwasha is a Product Manager at CEM Benchmarking, responsible for analyzing client data and producing actionable reports. Prior to joining CEM, Palwasha worked in various analytical roles in the financial services, IT and digital media industries. Palwasha is a CFA charterholder, a certified FRM (Financial Risk Manager) and holds a Bachelor degree in Economics and Finance.

Analyst

Yvette joined CEM in 2012 and is involved in all aspects of CEM’s Pension Administration service for our North American, Australian and Dutch clients. Prior to joining CEM, Yvette held financial and operational management positions with charity organizations in Indonesia and Malawi. Yvette holds a Master’s degree in Earth Sciences, Engineering Geology from the Technical University of Delft, The Netherlands.

Senior Analyst

Norayr joined CEM in 2012 and provides development support for CEM’s benchmarking models as well as analytical support for CEM best practice research projects.  Experience in Canada and the United States as a business systems analyst and IS Manager complements years of experience gained at the World Bank IT Enterprise Incubator in Armenia as an IT, financial and business analyst.  Norayr has conducted requirements analysis, business analysis, financial modeling, reporting, automation, software development and testing, project management, data and statistical analysis.  He has an MBA from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and a MS Computer & Electronics Engineer from the State Engineering University, Yerevan, Armenia.  

Product Lead, Defined Contributions

Janjaap joined CEM in the position of investment benchmarking analyst early 2017. After completing his Bachelor of Science in Nijmegen, the Netherlands, Janjaap obtained extensive experience in data analytics during his master program in Business Economics in Vienna, Austria. As an analyst at CEM he is involved in the full cycle of data cleaning, analysis, reporting, research, and product improvement.