Katharine Preston

Katharine Preston is responsible for leading OMERS Sustainable Investing team. In this role, she leads  the development and advancement of OMERS approach to Sustainable Investing and most recently,  OMERS Climate Action Plan. The world class team supports OMERS with implementing our sustainable  investing strategy of integration, collaboration, and engagement across the enterprise. To achieve our  objective, Katharine and the team work closely with OMERS investment, risk, finance, and  communications teams on matters such as ESG integration, climate risk, stakeholder communications  and reporting.  

Working in the pension industry for more than 15 years, Katharine previously served as Director,  Responsible Investing at OPTrust, an Ontario-based public sector pension plan. At OPTrust, Katharine  was instrumental in defining a strategy for integrating ESG factors into investment practices and leading  the development of a Climate Change Action Plan. Prior to joining OPTrust, Katharine held positions with  Innovest Strategic Value Advisors (now part of MSCI) and Stantec Inc.  

Katharine currently serves on the Board of Directors for the United Church of Canada’s Pension Plan; the  Investment Committee for the University of Guelph and recently completed a final term on the board of  the Pension Investment Association of Canada (PIAC). Katharine also sits on the Canadian Coalition for  Good Governance’s Environment & Social Committee and chairs the Investor Leadership Advisory Panel  of Climate Engagement Canada.  

Katharine holds a Bachelor of Engineering, Civil and Environmental Engineering from McGill University,  as well as an MBA from the Schulich School of Business, York University. She also holds a Certificate in  Fundamentals of Alternative Investments from the Chartered Alternative Investment Management  Analyst Association (CAIA).