Trustees sharpen their skills

Trusted team: Newly elected UCTRF trustees are (back, from left) Prof Jan Glazewski, Karin Lehmann, Kira Chernotsky, Assoc Prof Steve Richardson, Emer Prof John Simpson and Chris Tobler; and (front, from left) Margie Tainton, Kathleen Evans, Mbuyi Mnyani, Dr Craig West and Emer Prof John Terblanche. Absent were Hugh Amoore, Assoc Prof Jennifer Roeleveld and Qarnita Loxton.

The newly elected Trustees of the UCT Retirement Fund (UCTRF) recently underwent training on aspects essential to their new roles.

Titled Trustee Duty in a Nut Shell, the course was presented by Jennifer Grefen of NMG Benefits, a financial services consulting firm. The training covered topics such as the role of the retirement fund trustee, the importance of understanding the history of the Fund, knowing the stakeholders of the fund and their needs, and background to the legislative environment in which retirement funds operate.

"The importance of understanding the UCTRF's relationship with their service providers was dealt with in some depth, with particular emphasis on how one measures the level of service provided by the administrator of the fund [(Sanlam in the case of the UCTRF)]," explained Professor Craig Comrie, chair of the UCTRF's Communications Committee.

Member representative trustees for the new term, January 2011 to December 2013, were elected by UCTRF members in the first ever electronic voting process during September 2010, or nominated by employee bodies. They are Kathleen Evans (Academics' Union's nominated trustee) of the Department of Construction Economics and Management, Professor Jan Glazewski of the Department of Marine and Environmental Law, Karin Lehmann of the Department of Commercial Law, Associate Professor Steve Richardson of the Department of Geological Sciences, Associate Professor Jennifer Roeleveld of the Department of Accounting, Chris Tobler (Employees' Union nominated trustee) of the Department of Zoology, and Dr Craig West of the Department of Accounting.

The employer representative trustees were appointed by Council. They are registrar Hugh Amoore, Kira Chernotsky of Information and Communication Technology Services, Mbuyi Mnyani of UCT Libraries, Emeritus Professor John Terblanche, Emeritus Professor John Simpson, Qarnita Loxton of the Legal Services and Secretariat Department, and Margie Tainton of the Human Resources Department.

The final meeting of the outgoing Board of Trustees is on 10 December 2010. On the same day the trustees will have their first meeting, where the membership of the sub-committees, namely the Admin, Audit and Rules Committee; the Investment Committee, the Communications Committee, and the Death Benefits Sub-Committee will be decided. The respective chairpersons, including the chair for the new Board of Trustees, will also be elected by the different committees.