Jim Leech, the former president and CEO of the Ontario Teachers' Pension Plan, will take over as Queen's chancellor on July 1.

By Communications Staff

Queen’s University Chancellor-designate Jim Leech and Globe and Mail writer Jacquie McNish have won the 2013-14 National Business Book Award for The Third Rail: Confronting Our Pension Failures.

Mr. Leech, who will become the university's 14th chancellor starting July 1, is a former president and CEO of the Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan.

The book, published by Signal, McClelland & Stewart, examines Canada’s pension system as it struggles with an increasing number of the population entering retirement while being supported by a shrinking workforce.

In the book, Mr. Leech and Ms. McNish argue that political leaders, as well as those in business and labour, are afraid to touch the issue of pension reform, much like the third rail of a subway line.

Mr. Leech earned an MBA from Queen’s School of Business in 1973. He currently serves as chair of the Queen’s School of Business advisory board and as a member of its global council. He is also a member of the cabinet for the university’s Initiative Campaign.