Trustees Driving Real World Impact: An Interview with Cheri Hearty (Canada)
The first interview from the CWC’s 2022 Trustee Leadership Profile Series features Cheri Hearty, a Canadian union-elected trustee and co-chair of the Pension Plan for the Employees of the Ontario Public Service Employees’ Union since 2019. Despite being from a smaller plan, Cheri’s knows how to pack a big punch when it comes to ESG issues.
Cheri’s advice to trustees looking to improve ESG practices at their fund is to ask lots of questions to their asset managers and to join like-minded peers through networks like the CWC and the Canadian Capital Stewardship Network (CCSN). Speaking to how trustees can work together (through initiatives like the CWC’s Asset Manager Accountability Initiative) to mobilize workers’ capital, Cheri says, “If you feel like that small minnow in a big ocean, all of a sudden, you’re ten thousand minnows in the same ocean. Collective action is really important; it can expand the effectiveness of individual trustee action.”
Cheri was interviewed in March 2022.
