You’ve begun your Certified Employee Benefit Specialist® (CEBS®) journey to positively impact your career and your organization. Taking a CEBS Online Study Group With Instructor Support is a great way to benefit from peer-to-peer learning, which can help you apply new knowledge and skills to your role and your daily work. Follow the set schedule to make steady progress toward exam readiness. Collaborative learning activities such as weekly discussion questions and expert-led live review sessions provide you with opportunities to share ideas and reflect on course content. Engaging with your instructor and classmates who work in organizations in a variety of industries and sectors in different provinces/territories is a dynamic way to learn by sharing success stories and insights.
CEBS Online Study Groups are an optional educational resource designed to support the self-study approach. Offered over a 12-week session, Online Study Groups provide a timeline for your study efforts and are facilitated by established and experienced CEBS professionals.
What does an online instructor do?
Your online instructor has many roles, including:
- Designing all content and activities in your class to help you retain knowledge and study for your CEBS exam
- Facilitating live review sessions
- Monitoring the discussion forum to provide clarification and guidance to learners
- Creating discussion questions for each module and Benefits in Action Mini Case to stimulate engagement and enhance learning about employee benefits
- Sharing their real-world experience about being a benefits professional
- Answering questions that students submit via the discussion forum, email and private message.
A Chat With Jeff Billard, CEBS
Jeff Billard, CEBS
Senior Manager, Pension Solutions
CAAT Pension Plan
How has earning the CEBS designation enhanced your career?
“My current role involves close work with employers and unions moving from RRSPs and defined contribution (DC) plans to a defined benefit (DB) pension solution. The CEBS designation gave me a deeper understanding of the mechanics behind retirement savings plans in general, which has been invaluable. It’s helped me move beyond surface-level plan comparisons and into strategic conversations about plan design, funding risk, regulatory compliance and member impact. That’s critical when I’m helping groups understand retirement options, and which work best for them. The credibility that comes with the CEBS designation also helps when I’m speaking to HR professionals, finance teams or union reps; they know I’ve done the work towards understanding pensions and benefits.”
What will benefits professionals learn from taking RPA 1?
“RPA 1 is foundational. You get a solid grasp of Canada’s retirement income system, including CPP, OAS, employer-sponsored pensions, and tax-assisted vehicles like RRSPs and TFSAs. More importantly, it teaches you how these pieces fit together (and what happens when they don’t!). It’s not just technical; it helps you see how plan design impacts equity, adequacy and member behaviour. Anyone involved in plan governance, communications or negotiations needs that lens.”
Are there any interesting current events, regulatory updates or industry trends related to concepts the RPA 1 course explores?
“Yes, particularly around the shift from capital accumulation plans (like RRSPs) to shared risk or target benefit models and even renewed growth in defined benefit plans like Ontario’s CAAT Pension Plan or Nova Scotia’s PSSP that offer predictable lifetime income without the legacy costs of traditional DB plans. Also, several jurisdictions are re-examining their pension standards (e.g., commuted value portability, surplus use), which ties directly into RPA 1 topics like plan terminations and funding requirements. ESG investing in Canada, too, is moving from a niche concern to a regulatory expectation.”
What are your best study tips for CEBS students?
“Here are a few:
- Build a one-page summary for yourself after each module to think about overall themes.
- If a concept isn’t clicking (like solvency funding or surplus rules), your Online Study Group instructor is there to help. Reach out and ask them to explain differently.
- Apply what you’re learning to your own organization if you can; don’t keep it abstract.
- Don’t cram. There’s a lot of information in a CEBS course! CEBS modules reward consistency over intensity.”
What sort of success stories have you heard from your students? Why would you encourage people to earn their CEBS designation?
“One former student has been fairly active on LinkedIn in updates on his career path, and it’s been great to see him move upward and attribute the CEBS designation as part of the success in doing so. He’s a great example of the designation building confidence and fluency. I’d recommend the work involved in attaining the CEBS designation to anyone who wants to be seen as a career pension and/or benefits expert—The four letters summarize your expertise in the industry.”
