CEM started with a problem worth solving
CEM was founded on a belief that pension organizations and the millions of people who depend on them deserve better. For over 30 years, we have worked alongside the world’s leading institutional investors to bring clarity, honesty, and rigour to the decisions that matter most. That mission has never changed.
The idea
In 1976, Keith Ambachtsheer reads Peter Drucker’s only book on pensions and is struck by a single idea: pension organizations would need to prove their “value for money,” and no one was measuring it. That gap becomes his mission. Over the following decade, he begins testing the concept in institutional settings, quietly laying the intellectual groundwork for what would become CEM.
The catalyst
In 1987, Ontario Treasurer Robert Nixon declares that public sector pensions are being poorly managed. Keith is appointed Principal Advisor to the Rowan Task Force, whose landmark report “In Whose Interest?” leads directly to the creation of the Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan in 1990. The Canadian pension model is born.
The launch
In 1991, Keith and John McLaughlin, his co-founder, sketch out a benchmarking framework in excel and begin ingesting investment data from defined benefit pension plans. The concept is proven and they launch the “Cost-Effectiveness Measurement” business.
Growth
Cost Effectiveness Measurement’s subscriber base grows steadily as its database compounds year over year. The measurement extends into DC pension plans and pension administration, with members convening in the inaugural Global Leaders and Pension Administration communities. International locations are opened. Driven by these changes “Cost Effectiveness Measurement” rebrands as CEM Benchmarking.
Today
CEM Benchmarking builds out our research capabilities, subscriber communities and digital capabilities. Over three decades of data continue to tell the value-for-money story of the global pension industry. The core mission: providing data & insights to institutional investors globally, endures. Acknowledging the breadth of subscribers and services, the company rebrands as CEM.
Who we work with
We are a data & insight firm serving institutional investors globally by:
- Benchmarking performance drawing upon over 30 years of contributed data
- Convening leaders to share best-practices through data-led, confidential conversations
- Researching next-frontier topics on priority topics, informed by CEM subscribers
Who we are
We are a curious and expert team of individuals from a diverse range of academic, professional and cultural backgrounds. We are brought together by our collective desire to improve the lives of our clients’ stakeholders, most notably pensioners.
CEM is fully independent, owned fully by current and former team members.
Data integrity is who we are
Everything we build, every insight we deliver, starts with an uncompromising commitment to the quality of our data. The eight principles below define what that means in practice.
Completeness
We treat missing data as absent rather than zero, and only build benchmarks from data points that are complete and require no enrichment.
Comparability
All data and insights are presented in a consistent context across every key dimension, with any unavoidable differences clearly flagged.
Accuracy
Every data point is validated through our proprietary tools and expert judgment, and excluded if it doesn’t meet our quality threshold.
Confidentiality
Individual, non-public data cannot be read or derived from any CEM materials, and identifiable information is only shared with explicit client consent.
Providence
We welcome client input, but CEM retains final decision rights over how data is structured and applied in our analyses.
Timeliness
We deliver insights in step with when clients and their peers provide data, and commit to reliable delivery timelines.
Transparency
Wherever data has been enhanced or enriched, we disclose it fully, including the methods used and the sources drawn upon.
Security
We apply industry-standard protections to all data, and respond to any incident with speed, discipline, and open communication.
Join Peer Intelligence
Our quarterly newsletter containing curated insights for institutional investors globally.