It is my 4th (or 5th, details below) run for the UBC Staff Pension Plan board member. I hope you could feel my passion for this volunteer role. I will very much appreciate if you could like, share or comment on this post and pass my passion for this volunteer role and commitments to plan members to your network. Thank you!

I am running for the UBC Staff Pension Plan board member position and I hope I can count on your support! My candidate statement is enclosed.

I have a keen interest in pension. Some of you perhaps knew it in person, as I discussed it with you when I was at UBC; some of you perhaps knew it through LinkedIn, as I often commentated on pension related threads. For those who don’t know, I am a huge advocate for “salary for life” concept, and pension is for sure one of the best financial products. The reason is simple: most of us already have to address lots of uncertainty in our current life stages and we need some predictability for peace of mind in terms of retirement life and retirement financial planning.

It is my 4th (or 5th, details below) run for the UBC Staff Pension Plan board member. Not many people ran five times in a row for a volunteer position, so I hope you could feel my passion for this role!

In previous UBC Staff Pension Plan board elections, I printed pamphlets, walked around the campus, spoke with plan members to promote myself. But I must not have done enough and that’s how come I wasn’t elected in previous attempts. This year, I am back on the ballot again, so does my passion on pension and commitment to serve the plan members. Due to the Covid-19 pandemic, I will mainly use LinkedIn, Twitter, and Facebook to promote. I will very much appreciate if you could like, share or comment on this post and pass my passion for this volunteer role and commitments to plan members to your network. Thank you!

Thank you for your time and help!

Regards,

Minghui

Candidate statement for 2020 UBC Staff Pension Plan election

Here are links to my 2014, 2016 and 2018 candidate statements. Technically, it’s my 5th endeavour because I also ran in 2012, but an election office’s administrative error made my name never show up on the 2012 ballot 🙁

This is my 4th endeavour to join the Staff Pension Plan board and I hope I can count on your support. I left UBC two years ago and am a deferred member of the Plan. As a self-employed IT consultant who helps SMEs streamline their IT and enjoys the greater feeling of accomplishment, I also suffer from greater uncertainty, that’s how come I appreciate SPP’s predictability more than ever. SPP is our salary for life: we count on it for our retirement planning and cannot afford any surprise. I don’t want to show off my resume as I believe there are more professionally capable members. But I am the one who has the dedication and aspiration (and a good skillset) to be your trusted steward, and I am counting on your support.

If elected, my commitments to you are very straightforward: accountable and reachable. I will continue my professional development in board governing and finance (I have been working on it for years). I will bring your questions or concerns (such as ESG investment) to the Board, and through the Board to the management and investment team. By the time you read this statement, we will have wrapped up the provincial election. SPP’s voter turnout rate is low, and I encourage you to vote because you need accountable and reachable board members to represent your best interests. Not all pension plans thrive (some failed miserably, like Nortel), just like not all governments administrate well. If you believe an accountable and reachable MLA is important, please consider applying the same criteria to your SPP representative. I am confident you will find I am the right candidate you need.

Good representatives, good governance, a good pension plan, and a good retirement. Thank you very much for your support!

Why I am running?

Simply put, two reasons:

1) I have a keen interests in pension and related topics. For example, from my LinkedIn activities, you will find I often commentate on pension related articles.

2) I have the attitudes and aptitude to succeed in this board member (volunteer) position.

How to vote?

You can vote at https://ssc.adm.ubc.ca/webvote/servlets/ElectionsFC

Who can vote?

All UBC Staff Pension Plan members can vote. If you are a current UBC staff, or you are a deferred member of the Staff Pension Plan, or you are receiving pension from the plan, then you are eligible to vote.

Vote online at: facultystaff.students.ubc.ca/2018-staff-pension-plan-election

I am an alumnus of UBC and was an employee until recently. The Staff Pension Plan connects me, a deferred member of the Plan, with my Alma Mater. However, the Plan is more than nostalgic bonding: it’s a future commitment, a commitment that we count on.

You need capable trustees to ensure the Plan will fulfill its promise, and I strive to become a competent steward for you. Since I first ran for the Plan’s Board Director, it has been four years, during which my knowledge grows and my passion aglow.

On the knowledge side, I received an MBA from SFU (2016); continued to pursue financial designations such as CFA, CFP, CEBS; was elected twice to the UBC AAPS board to advocate professional development (2014-16); and was appointed to a City of Richmond’s Task Group to develop a citywide arts strategy (2017-18). All of these, along with my work as a Programmer Analyst in UBC, boosted my knowledge in finance, board governance, communication and problem solving, all crucial to a board director.

On the passion side, I am keen on improving pension plans. Our Plan is good, but there is progress to be made, longevity risk management, investment risk migration, to name a few. I read many books and articles in those areas. I paid hefty membership fees out of my pocket to join industry associations such as Canadian Pension and Benefits Institute, International Foundation of Employee Benefit Plans, and Institute of Corporate Directors to enjoy the pleasure of learning and to enable me to serve your best interest better.

I hope you will consider me a qualified candidate thanks to my knowledge and passion. I invite you to contact me to learn more about me. Thank you very much for your support!

It has been my honor to serve fellow AAPS members in the past two years as an elected Member at Large and a member of the Professional Development (PD) Committee. I joined UBC in 2009, and I am currently a Programmer Analyst in UBC IT.

In the past two years, I worked with AAPS staffs and the PD committee to listen to your feedback and brought more PD events according to your needs. I am pleased with the growing members’ engagement through PD events. Some other initiatives I am working on or plan to work on include bringing PechaKucha style knowledge sharing presentations, exploring the possibility of bringing in flexible benefits, etc.

Nevertheless, my focus is enhancing job security and increasing rehiring rate. Since coming to UBC, I have witnessed numerous “termination without cause.”  Many laid-off AAPS members were qualified for other UBC openings, but the rehiring rate is very low. If re-elected, I will continue working with you on those two challenges through advocacy and negotiation.

In my own time, I like gardening and writing poems. I invite you to visit my LinkedIn to learn more about me. Thank you for your support! Please vote me!

Thank you for re-electing me as your Member at Large in AAPS Board! I look forward to working with you to safeguard AAPS members job security and increase re-hiring rate!

Yes, there are many AAPS members in UBC. To date, there are roughly 3800 AAPS members and AAPS the is the largest employee group in UBC.

But some people are not happy with that. Former president Dr. Arvind Gupta expressed concerns on growing AAPS members. After his mysterious resignation,  a report from Globe and Mail accused management and professional staffs to be blamed for Dr Gupta’s departure (he did not explicitly say AAPS, but based on his words, such as “In 2009-10, this group totalled 2,903; in five years it had ballooned to 3,640 – an eye-popping increase of 25 per cent. “, we know Gary Mason, the reporter, is putting AAPS on fire).

I am glad to see the editor realized Gary Mason, intentionally or unintentionally, made a huge mistake when comparing staff to faculty ration in UBC and UoT (please see Editor’s note at the end of the report).

However, this report indicates an urgent issue that AAPS members must take it seriously: how to advocate the importance of our work in UBC?  Yes, the number of AAPS members grows fast and AAPS is the largest employee group in UBC. But it came with good reason. How do we make other people understand those good reasons?

Cost recovery model is a common practice in many universities. But cost recovery model in centralized cost-centers in universities is not common, especially when such cost-centers only deal with internal university units (in today’s Market Society, we can internal units “clients”).

In UBC, centralized cost-centers, for example, UBC IT, usually only serves internal clients (I hate to call internal academic or administrative units “clients” but this the practice). Cost recovery model here makes little difference to university, because at university’s finance level, UBC IT’s cost recovery revenue is basically all  from other units’ operating budgets. It is like moving money from one pocket to another.

However, by employing this model, much unnecessary work are added to staffs both at UBC IT and UBC IT’s clients.  A great amount of time that otherwise can be used to better serve internal clients was spent on less meaning full work. Some types of routine work include invoicing, collecting payment, etc.

The practice of cost recovery model for internal centralized cost-centers is based on a few arguments,

1. Cost recovery model saves money
2. Cost recovery model improves efficiency (and in turn, saves money, too)
3. Cost recovery model makes server providers (eg: UBC IT) more accountable to their work

Do you agree with those arguments? Personally, I agree with neither.

I firmly believe cost recovery model for centralized cost-centers in UBC is questionable and university senior leadership team should revisit this practice. The bottom line is, UBC should have a thorough review of this model to compare it with budget model.