CAAT Pension Plan chair Don Smith has been removed, with a new chair to be appointed at a board meeting later this month, a spokesperson confirmed on Thursday.
“The OSPEU members of the Plan’s sponsors’ committee have removed Don Smith as a trustee of the CAAT board of directors,” CAAT spokesperson Stephen Hewitt said in an emailed response to questions.
Smith had earlier been suspended, at the request of Ontario Public Service Employees Union (OPSEU), which appointed him. The union is a key sponsor of CAAT.
Smith has been at the centre of a snowballing governance scandal at CAAT that started with the board’s handling of two matters related to CEO Derek Dobson that were first reported by The Globe and Mail this week. The first was a romantic relationship Dobson had with an employee, which was disclosed to the board in November 2024, and ultimately sanctioned. The second had to do with a $1.6-million payment to Dobson that the board approved last year in lieu of vacation time.
Those decisions raised concerns for several executives — Mike Dawson, chief financial officer; Asif Haque, chief investment officer; and Evan Howard, chief pension officer — who resigned en masse last month after taking their misgivings to the board, according to the Globe.
In a statement published Wednesday, OPSEU said it had suspended Smith, pending an internal investigation, on Jan. 23, and called on another plan, College Employer Council (CEC), to investigate its appointee, vice-chair Kareen Stangherlin.
While it appoints five trustees to the CAAT board of trustees and three to the sponsor’s committee, OPSEU “has no direct influence on the administrative decision-making of the CAAT Pension Plan board of trustees,” it said.
However, the union said it’s “seeking accountability and is taking action that is within our scope.”
The internal investigation into Smith, it said, “is in response to allegations that the chair and vice-chair, Kareen Stangherlin — the CEC appointed trustee, may have acted outside the policies and procedures of the plan. We are calling on the College Employer Council to open an investigation into the actions of their appointed trustee as well.”
When asked if there are any ongoing or planned investigations into the board’s actions, Hewitt said a review of the pension plan’s governance policies was initiated by the board last year, and should be finished soon.
“In December, 2025, the board of trustees appointed an independent expert to conduct a review that covers CAAT’s governance policies, procedures and practices. The review is in advanced stages and is on track to be complete in the coming weeks,” he said in an email. “Like any high-performing organization, the board is continuously seeking to improve and strengthen even further. If changes are recommended to continue to provide effective governance and align with best practices, the board will consider them.”
Hewitt said there are no planned or ongoing investigations into Dobson’s actions.
He also pointed to the financial strength of the defined-benefit pension plan, which had $23.3 billion in assets under management at the end of 2024.
“The CAAT Plan continues to rank among the most well-funded and highest-performing pension plans in Canada,” he said. “We currently hold $1.24 for every $1 promised in benefits — one of the strongest indicators of funding health.”