Morneau Shepell is a human resources services and technology company headquartered in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Established in 1966, Morneau Shepell serves approximately 24,000 clients in North America. Besides North American offices, Morneau Shepell also has offices outside North American, including Brazil, Australia and the United Kingdom. Morneau Shepell is a publicly traded company on the Toronto Stock Exchange, with market capitalization of $2 billion.
History
In 1966, Frank Morneau founded W. F. Morneau & Associates, an actuarial and benefit consulting firm. The firm expanded to open its first U.S. office in 1987 and it launched its administrative outsourcing practice in 1996. W.F. Morneau & Associates merged with Sobeco in 1997 to establish Morneau Sobeco, led by Bill Morneau as president and chief executive officer. Morneau Shepell, as it is known today, was formed in May 2008 through Morneau Sobeco's acquisition of Shepell-fgi – Canada's largest provider of employee health management and workplace training and education services – from Clairvest Group Inc. for $321.9 million. In the years since, Morneau Shepell has made a number of acquisitions, including SBC Systems Company Inc. in January 2012, Mercer Canada's pension and benefits outsourcing business in November 2012, Ceridian's U.S. health and welfare benefits administration business in August 2015, Montreal-based Solareh in December 2016, Montreal-based Longpré in January 2017, LifeWorks in July 2018 and Mercer’s stand-alone, large market, health and defined benefit pension plan administration business in the United States.
Milestones and acquisitions
In 1966 W.F. Morneau & Associates was established.
In 1997 W.F. Morneau & Associates and Sobeco merged to form Morneau Sobeco.
In 1998 Morneau acquired Canadian pension consulting practice of Deloitte & Touche.
In 2005 the firm became an income trust: Morneau Sobeco Income Fund.
In 2006 MSIF acquired Heath Benefits Consulting.
In 2007 MSIF acquired the defined benefit pension business of Cowan Benefits Consulting.
In 2008 MSIF acquired the actuarial firm of Leong & Associates.
In 2008 Morneau Sobeco acquired Shepell.fgi.
In 2011 Morneau Shepell completed the reorganization of Morneau Sobeco Income Fund from an income trust structure into a public corporation named Morneau Shepell.
On September 30, 2011 Morneau Shepell acquired Jacques Lamarre & Associates and Parcours d’enfant.
On January 31, 2012 Morneau Shepell acquired SBC Systems.
On November 1, 2012 Morneau Shepell acquired the Canadian pension and benefits administration practice of Mercer Canada.
On July 5, 2013 Morneau Shepell acquired Dion Durrell’s workers’ compensation business.
On September 3, 2013 Morneau Shepell acquired Collage Pediatric Therapy.
On March 3, 2014 Morneau Shepell acquired Groupe AST from ADP Canada.
On March 31, 2014 Morneau Shepell acquired Pacific Risk Management Corp.
On July 7, 2014 Morneau Shepell acquired Blue Balloon Health Services.
On August 4, 2015 Morneau Shepell acquired the U.S. health and welfare benefits administration business of Ceridian.
On December 1, 2015 Morneau Shepell acquired Bensinger, Dupont & Associates.
On December 20, 2016 Morneau Shepell acquired Solareh.
On November 1, 2017 Morneau Shepell acquired Pro Health Group.
On December 1, 2017 Morneau Shepell acquired Chestnut Global Partners.
On July 27, 2018 Morneau Shepell acquired LifeWorks.
On August 7, 2019 Morneau Shepell acquired Mercer’s stand-alone, large market, health and defined benefit pension plan administration business in the United States.
Corporate social responsibility
In April 2019, Morneau Shepell published its inaugural corporate social responsibility report. The company implemented a board diversity policy to maintain a minimum of 30 per cent women and 30 per cent men on its board of directors, it joined the 30% Club and it created a diversity and inclusion council in early 2019. In 2014, Morneau Shepell opened the Morneau Shepell Secondary School for Girls in the Kakuma Refugee Camp, located in northwestern Kenya. In 2016, Morneau Shepell pledged more than $1 million over five years to the school to cover operating costs such as teacher salaries, dorm supplies and security.
Ethics controversy
, the current finance minister of Canada, resigned from his position as executive chair of Morneau Shepell in October 2015. Since his resignation, Mr. Morneau has been subject to intense scrutiny regarding his holdings in the company, including his use of a blind trust. There have been allegations that Morneau Shepell stands to benefit if the proposed small business taxation legislation is passed. Critics state that Morneau Shepell would benefit if the proposed changes prompt more people to use individual pension plans, a claim which Morneau rejects. In December 2017, Morneau Shepell said that individual pension plans account for less than one 25th of one per cent of its revenues. Mr. Morneau has also been criticized for holding shares in Morneau Shepell outside a blind trust, and thus being in a conflict of interest situation with respect to the pension plan changes. In response, Mr. Morneau said that he acted on the recommendation by the Conflict of Interest and Ethics Commissioner Mary Dawson, who stated that shares could remain behind a conflict-of-interest screen overseen by the minister's chief of staff, and that a blind trust was not necessary. The Conflict of Interest Act states "that any such assets, irrespective of their value, must be divested by either the establishment of a blind trust or by way of sale at arm's length." Mr. Morneau responded to the controversy by stating that he sold his remaining shares in Morneau Shepell and donated all of the money he's profited as a result of an increase in the value of share to charity. It was reported that Mr. Morneau and his father sold Morneau Shepell shares before the tax change announcement in December 2015. Media reports state that Mr. Morneau sold 680,000 shares for proceeds of $10.1 million before December 7, 2015. Subsequently, Mr. Morneau is said to have sold an additional 320,000 shares on December 17, 2015, for a profit of $4.5 million, which he donated to charity. It was later reported that Mr. Morneau's father sold 100,000 shares in Morneau Shepell on November 23, 2015 and 100,000 shares in Morneau Shepell on December 3, 2015.
Leadership
In March 2017, Morneau Shepell announced Alan Torrie's retirement from the company and Stephen Liptrap as his successor to the position of president and chief executive officer, effective May 5, 2017.
