As a multi-employer defined benefit pension plan, SHEPP is jointly trusteed and provides retirement security for the province of Saskatchewan’s healthcare workers.
SHEPP’s governing document, the Trust Agreement, assigns authority to two appointed bodies: The Board of Trustees and the Partner Committees.
An eight-member Board of Trustees, consisting of four trustees appointed by 3sHealth and four by SEIU-West, CUPE, SUN and HSAS are fiduciaries, responsible for administering the Plan and investing the assets held in trust.
SHEPP’s Board has fiduciary responsibilities requiring that they must act in good faith and in the best interests of Plan members and beneficiaries. The Board makes decisions regarding the Plan based on a foundation of governance and well-advised, responsible investment practices. Their goal is to maintain both stable contributions and the long-term sustainability of the Plan, ensuring the Plan is funded both today and into the future.
Jeff Stepan
Chair
CPA, CFA, ICD.D
Employer Trustee, SGI
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Mr. Stepan has been a Trustee at SHEPP since 2013, with several of those years serving as Chair or Vice Chair. He brings considerable financial expertise to this role, including being certified as a Chartered Professional Accountant, Chartered Financial Analyst and is also a certified board director.
Mr. Stepan recently retired from SGI. Prior to that, he spent 17 years working as an investment consultant in the pension, endowment, and insurance sectors. Dedicated to the financial industry, he is also a member of the Institute of CPAs of Saskatchewan and the CFA Institute.
Andrew Huculak
Vice Chair
ATMS – (IFEBP), BA
Employee Trustee, CUPE
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Mr. Huculak is an experienced, long-serving Trustee at SHEPP, having helped negotiate the joint trusteeship of SHEPP and appointed in 2002 as a founding Trustee. He has been Chair or Vice Chair of the Board for much of his tenure and has served on the Human Resources Committee of the Board.
He holds the Advanced Trust Management Standards certification from the International Foundation of Employee Benefit Plans and is a graduate of the University of Saskatchewan where he received his Bachelor of Arts degree.
Now semi-retired, Mr. Huculak was a National Representative with the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE) and now sits on many boards of arbitration.
Ray Deck
Employer Trustee, Saskatchewan Public Service Commission
Ray Deck
B.Admin
Employer Trustee, Saskatchewan Public Service Commission
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Mr. Deck was appointed as a Trustee in 2021 and also serves as a member of the Human Resources Committee. He has recently retired from the Saskatchewan Public Service Commission where he served in various senior and executive human resources roles, dating back to 2008 and with several provincial Ministries prior to that time. His experience provides SHEPP with strategic planning, total rewards and effective decision-making expertise.
He is an Honourary Life Member, International Personnel Management Association (IPMA) of Canada, having served as the IPMA President both in Saskatchewan and nationally.
Russell Doell
MTMS – (IFEBP)
Employee Trustee, SEIU-West
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Mr. Doell was appointed to the Board of Trustees in 2010. Since that time he has provided the Board with expertise and strategies from his labour relations background. He is a long-serving member of the Board’s Human Resources Committee, which is responsible for employee salary and benefits, CEO performance and succession planning.
Ms. Horejda has served as a SHEPP Trustee since her appointment to the Board in 2007.
She has been employed with the Health Sciences Association of Saskatchewan (HSAS) as the Communications/ Membership Benefits Manager since 2019. Prior to that time, she was a member of HSAS serving in a number of leadership roles with the Union, for 25 years.
Darren Kurmey
FTMS – (IFEBP)
Employee Trustee, SUN
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Mr. Kurmey joined the SHEPP Board of Trustees in February 2023. He has been an Employment Relations Officer with SUN since 2016. He has a successful record of resolving grievances and workplace issues by focusing on win-win solutions. He is also a member of the Saskatchewan Federation of Labour Pension and Benefits Committee. He also has previous experience as a trustee of a dental plan.
Mr. Kurmey has a labour/management relations certificate from the University of Saskatchewan and has recently begun the International Foundation of Employee Benefit Plans Advanced Trust Management Standards course to support his role on our Board of Trustees. His areas of focus include collective agreement negotiations, arbitration, mediation, data analysis and team collaboration, providing a good fit at the board table.
Dr. Jim Tomkins
B.A. (Hon.) Mathematics, M.S. Statistics, Ph.D. Statistics
Employer Trustee, University of Regina
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Dr. Tomkins was appointed to the SHEPP Board of Trustees in 2002 and has served as Chair and Vice Chair.
He retired from the University of Regina, where his roles included professor, department head, president, chancellor and more than 45 years of involvement in the oversight and administration of the University’s pension plans. His background in mathematics and statistics, policy analysis and pension oversight are valuable assets to the Board of Trustees.
Ted Warawa
MA, BA Economics
Employer Trustee, 3sHealth
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Mr. Warawa was appointed as a Trustee in 2011. SHEPP benefits from his experience which includes financial management and budgeting, business development and strategic planning.
Mr. Warawa recently retired from 3sHealth, where he led several key business planning and change projects within the Saskatchewan healthcare sector. He previously held various executive positions within the public sector including the Executive Director of Finance and Administration, Ministry of Health, and Assistant Deputy Minister, Ministry of Education.
Board Meetings
The Board meets regularly, approximately six times per year, and following each meeting, SHEPP publishes Board Notes. These summaries highlight the activities and decisions from Board meetings, providing transparency and accountability to SHEPP members and employers.
Code of Conduct
Recognising effective governance structure and its fiduciary responsibilities, the Board of Trustees has established a Code of Conduct and Conflict of Interest Procedures for Trustees, which they review annually. Each Trustee must sign a declaration upon appointment to the Board of Trustees and annually confirm compliance with the Code of Conduct and Conflict of Interest Procedures for Trustees for the duration of their term.
