Building a Modern Pension Plan Without Starting from Behind

In the latest podcast episode of Future of Retirement, we spoke with Barbara Zvan, President and CEO of University Pension Plan (UPP), and Brian Gill, UPP’s Chief Technology Officer, about what it really takes to build a modern pension organization from the ground up.

UPP’s story stands out because it is not a legacy organization trying to modernize around old systems. It is a relatively new defined benefit pension plan in Ontario that launched with three founding universities and was created to serve the university sector through a jointly sponsored model. As Barbara explains, UPP inherited the legacy assets and plan terms of those founding universities, but not the technology or the people needed to administer them.

That created both an opportunity and a challenge.

A clean slate, but not a simple one

One of the most interesting themes from the conversation was that UPP had the rare chance to start with a blank page for its technology architecture. But that did not mean the work was easy. In fact, the opposite was true. UPP had to build intentionally from the start while preparing to support highly complex Ontario university pension plans and a growing number of participating institutions.

Brian put it plainly: UPP was determined not to waste the opportunity to start clean. Instead of accepting technical debt as inevitable, the organization treated it as a long-term health risk. That mindset shaped how UPP approached technology selection, implementation, and growth.

Complexity is not the exception; it is the model.

Barbara described UPP as a “complexity consolidator,” and that phrase says a lot about the organization’s mission. UPP is not simplifying away the legacy rules and structures that come with each participating university. It is preserving those provisions while bringing them into one scalable operating model.

That means managing multiple plan designs, highly detailed plan text, varied employer arrangements, and a data model sophisticated enough to support all of it. It also means onboarding new universities on regulatory timelines that do not move, even when the circumstances around each implementation are different.

This is where the technology conversation becomes real. As Brian said during the discussion, “Good technology absorbs the kind of complexity that Barb was talking about.” That idea shows up clearly in the case study too, where the focus is on configuration over customization, repeatability as new universities join, and a platform flexible enough to support varied legacy structures.

Member experience still must feel simple

What makes the UPP story especially compelling is that all of this complexity exists behind the scenes. For members, the experience still has to feel clear, accessible, and human.

Barbara shared that when UPP asked members what mattered most, the answer was consistent: use plain language, provide tools members can use on their own time, and make sure knowledgeable people are available when members are ready to make important decisions. That is a useful reminder for the broader retirement industry. Modernization is not only about operational efficiency. It is also about making a highly complex pension environment easier for members to understand and navigate.

UPP’s focus on portability also reinforces that point. Bringing plans together at scale can create a smoother experience for members moving between participating universities, without the disruption that often comes with fragmented administration.

AI matters when it improves outcomes

No conversation about the future of retirement would be complete without talking about AI, but what stood out in this discussion was how grounded UPP’s perspective was.

Brian framed the opportunity clearly: the real value of AI is not the novelty of the technology itself, but its ability to help teams navigate complexity more confidently, find information faster, and provide more consistent answers to members. Barbara added a practical example from onboarding, where AI could help teams compare a new university’s plan text to one already onboarded and identify what is the same and what is different much faster than before.

Just as important, UPP is clear about where AI should not lead. Barbara noted that the goal is not to replace the human interaction members want when making important retirement decisions. The point is to help internal teams work better so members get clearer answers and better service.

Why this story matters

UPP’s journey offers a useful lens on where retirement and pension administration is heading. It shows that growth and complexity do not have to force organizations into rigid legacy models. It shows that a cloud-based, configurable foundation can support scale without locking an organization into technical debt from day one. And it shows that the best modernization stories are still rooted in something simple: helping people feel more confident about their financial future.

At the close of the conversation, Barbara described the future of retirement and pension in one word: “essential.” Brian chose a different word: “personal.” Put together, those two ideas capture the heart of the episode. Retirement is essential because it underpins long-term financial security, and it is personal because every member ultimately wants an answer to the same question: Am I going to be OK?

That is what makes UPP’s story worth paying attention to. 

Majesco invests in our V3locity for Retirement and Administration solution to help pension organizations gain control of their future and innovate with confidence.   To learn more about how today’s industry trends point clearly toward a path away from legacy and toward cloud and AI-native solutions, be sure to read Majesco’s recent Thought Leadership report, Modernize or Fall Behind: 2025 Retirement & Pension Top Industry Trends and our recent webinar, The Future of PRT: What Comes Next for Plan Sponsors and Carriers.

Co-Authors:
Denise Garth, Chief Strategy Officer, Majesco and Jessica Hurley, Senior Specialist in Strategic Marketing at Majesco