In Justin Lord's new role as CIO, he will oversee the full AIMCo portfolio, which manages $180-billion for 17 pension, endowment, insurance and government clients in Alberta.Supplied
Alberta Investment Management Corp. has promoted Justin Lord to chief investment officer, choosing an internal candidate with a background in public equities to lead a revamped investing mandate.
Mr. Lord starts his new role immediately and will be based in Alberta, after serving as AIMCo’s global head of public markets since September. The government-owned pension fund manager said Mr. Lord’s appointment followed “an extensive international search.”
Mr. Lord joined AIMCo in 2012 as an equities portfolio manager and rose through the equities team, serving two years as head of public equities.
Last year, he also took on leadership of fixed-income investing and as CIO he will oversee the full AIMCo portfolio, which manages $180-billion for 17 pension, endowment, insurance and government clients in Alberta.
Recent client surveys show higher satisfaction levels that he said reflect the work the new leadership has been doing, as well as its investment results – AIMCo earned a 12.3-per-cent return last year. “I think we’re headed in the right direction,” Mr. Lord said in an interview.
Mr. Lord’s promotion fills a key role in AIMCo’s leadership team, which has undergone major change over the past year and is led by interim chief executive officer Ray Gilmour.
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“Justin has proven he has the experience, expertise and investment acumen to head this critical function,” Mr. Gilmour said in a statement. “He is a trusted partner to our clients and an excellent leader to our investment teams, and I am pleased AIMCo has the deep bench strength to tap for this role.”
AIMCo’s last CIO was Marlene Puffer, who left in September after less than two years in charge of the pension fund manager’s investment teams. The CIO’s duties were split in two at the time, with Mr. Lord taking on responsibility for equities and fixed income, and David Scudellari in charge of private assets until he left AIMCo in February.
Peter Teti, who oversaw private assets on an interim basis since then while leading AIMCo’s private equity group, has been appointed global head of private assets, reporting to Mr. Lord.
“I’ll be starting off with a deep dive across parts of the portfolio that perhaps I’ve been less involved in, across private assets,” Mr. Lord said.
After Alberta’s government subsequently overhauled AIMCo’s senior leadership and board last year in November, installing Mr. Gilmour as interim CEO, provincial Finance Minister Nate Horner told The Globe and Mail that choosing a new CIO would be “the first order of business” to set a new course for the pension fund manager.
AIMCo has also hired John Walsh as chief legal officer and promoted Janice Guzzo to chief human resources officer earlier this year. And it added former CIO Sandra Lau to its board of directors in June.
Mr. Lord said AIMCo’s investment operations have evolved in recent years, “and the last year in particular, working very closely together across asset classes.”
“I would see a continuation of that and, as a group, those changes or pivots will seem quite natural,” he added. His plans include “nothing drastic, to be quite honest.”
With political and trade tensions top of mind for AIMCo’s clients, Mr. Lord said he expects AIMCo to “be risk and return-focused” and “location agnostic” in choosing where to invest.
And as the federal government promises investments in infrastructure, energy projects and defence, while Alberta’s leaders push for greater economic sovereignty, AIMCo and other large Canadian pension funds could have new chances to invest domestically.
“From a Canadian perspective, should that opportunity set be competitive on a global scale, we’d be delighted to take a look at those opportunities,” Mr. Lord said.