Ontario Teachers’ Brown to oversee private markets in new dual CIO model

Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan promoted two executives to CIO in a new system intended to better navigate market challenges.

Stephen McLennan was appointed CIO, asset allocation, putting him in charge of asset mix, overall fund performance, portfolio risk management and governance and investment practices.

Gillian Brown was named CIO, public and private investments. This gives her direction of activity in global public and private markets, including equities, infrastructure and natural resources, tech-focused venture and growth, capital markets and real estate platforms.

Previously, Ontario Teachers’ had a single CIO, Ziad Hindo, who announced his departure last September. In the period that followed, the pension considered restructuring the role, a spokesperson told Buyouts.

The result of this process – a dual CIO model – aims to help Ontario Teachers’ plot its course in “an increasingly complex market,” the spokesperson said, and especially in today’s challenging and dynamic environment.

The decision may be a harbinger of change among large institutions with major exposure to alternative assets. More than half of Ontario Teachers’ assets, totaling C$250 billion ($185 billion) as of June 2023, are in private markets. This takes in equities, made up of private capital and high-conviction equities, which alone accounts for 29 percent.

Brown is a 29-year veteran of Ontario Teachers’. Prior to becoming CIO, she was head of capital markets, managing cross-asset liquid exposure and risk-taking in credit and absolute-return asset classes, as well as centralized trading.

Brown’s experience with private capital includes sitting on the board of Canada Guaranty, a mortgage insurer backed since 2012.

Overseeing private capital

Going forward, the heads of all private markets teams will report to Brown. Among them will be Romeo Leemrijse, executive managing director of equities, and a team of more than 130 investment professionals.

Leemrijse, a former GP with Edgestone Capital Partners, joined Ontario Teachers’ in 2006. Previously a global group sector head in private capital, leading direct investing in North America, he was promoted to his current job a year ago, replacing Karen Frank, a one-time CEO of Barclays Private Bank.

Ontario Teachers’ equities group houses one of the institutional community’s largest direct private equity investors. While also committing capital to funds, most of the platform’s C$72 billion of assets are internally-managed direct interests in businesses.

Ontario Teachers’ makes equity investments of $100 million to $1 billion in companies across North America, Europe, China, India and Australia. Most targets are in consumer, diversified industrials and business services, financial services, healthcare, sustainability and energy transition, and tech, media and telecom sectors.

Private capital’s recent direct deals include acquisitions of Seven Investment Management (7IM), a wealth and investment manager, from Caledonia Investments, and Sevana Bioenergy, a developer and upgrader of large-scale biogas projects.

Along with Brown’s and McLennan’s appointments, Ontario Teachers’ promoted Jonathan Hausman to chief strategy officer. A new role, it will involve advancing the pension’s strategic objectives, such as sustainable investing and managing key global relationships.