Raif Murray

Murray started with HOOPP in 2017. Prior to his appointment, he worked at IT companies such as ObjectSharp and Navantis.

Compared to other companies in the sector, he believes HOOPP’s motivation is truly in the right place, “I fell in love with the organization's mission. While others can be very financially motivated, at HOOPP it's all about the members, all the time.” 

HOOPP was recently recognised as one of the Greater Toronto Area’s top employers, and Murray makes it clear that he favours a business culture rooted in empathy for people. “Compassion is one of our core values and culture has always been the strength of HOOPP,” he says. “We have a culture where it's safe to fail - obviously with safeguards, but with technology moving as fast as it is, you need to take some chances. I work with a great team of people across the organization and we wouldn't have accomplished our goals without them. I’m very proud.” 

The latter point reinforces what makes HOOPP special: success doesn’t belong to one person or department, but rather the entire organization as a whole. “HOOPP is driven by its members,” Murray declares. “We strive to be a world-class pension plan and want to make sure that everything we need to remain in that position is in place. In this way, we'll constantly reassess ourselves and strive for more.”

Playing a leading role in the organization’s digital transformation journey that began in 2016, Murray states that adopting the cloud has been a revolutionary and prescient step, even if not ultimately without challenges. “We had to switch from having an on-premises culture to remote practically overnight. But once everybody was set up it’s been business as usual for the most part.” In fact, the efficacy of the cloud migration was such that, when the plug was pulled at midday, nobody noticed the data centre was gone.

A holistic strategist, he observes that operational and security excellence often translates to better outcomes for everyone. “At the end of the day, our members’ top priority is for HOOPP to pay their pensions, and they trust us to do that. A close second is trusting our ability to protect their data.” The organization’s transformation has helped move all our content onto online platforms to make it easier for our employees to access our technology securely without the requirement for VPN.” All of this development also has a much broader goal in mind: enhanced ease for end-users, leading to greater productivity among employees and therefore a better experience for members.

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