CPP Investment Board Shuffles The Deck

In early January, president and CEO of the $123.8 billion Canada Pension Plan Investment Board, David Denison, announced a raft of promotions to be effective on April 1, 2010, the start of the limited partner’s new fiscal year.

Mark Wiseman, head of private investments since 2005, will become executive vice-president, investments, reporting to Denison. Each of the pension fund’s three investment departments—public market investments, private investments and real estate investments—will report to Wiseman in this newly-created position.

Don Raymond, currently head of the public market investments department, will become senior vice-president and chief investment strategist. In addition to heading the portfolio design and investment research department, Raymond will be responsible for overall fund-level investment strategy and will report to Denison. Raymond joined the LP in 2001.

André Bourbonnais, now vice-president and head of principal investing, will be promoted to senior vice-president, private investments. He will assume responsibility for the private investments department and will also join the senior management team. Bourbonnais has been part of the private investments department since he joined the plan sponsor in 2006.

Jim Fasano, vice-president and head of principal investing, will head the principal investing team within the private investments department. He joined the LP in 2004 and was one of the original members of the principal investing team when it was formed in 2006.

John Ilkiw, currently senior vice-president, portfolio design and investment research, will be retiring effective March 31, 2010.

The Canada Pension Plan has a private equity portfolio of more than 135 funds with more than 70 managers. As of Sept. 30, 2009, the LP’s actual allocation to private equity stood at 11.2 percent.