Alberta Gov’t Appoints Former Prime Minister Harper as AIMCo Chair

The provincial government of Alberta has tapped a former Canadian prime minister to head up the “newly reconstituted” board of directors of its investment agency, Alberta Investment Management Corporation (AIMCo), in addition to several other new appointments in a bid to “restore confidence” in AIMCo’s leadership. 

Stephen J. Harper, who served as the 22nd prime minister of Canada from 2006 to 2015, joins AIMCo as chairman of the board on a pro-bono basis, filling a permanent position that had been temporarily held by Alberta’s President of Treasury Board and Minister of Finance Nate Horner. 

Alongside Harper’s appointment, a number of previous AIMCo members were reappointed to the board, including Navjeet (Bob) Singh Dhillon, Jason Montemurro, and James Keohane. Additionally, the office of the Deputy Minister of Treasury Board and Finance will be entitled to an automatic permanent seat in AIMCo’s board to “ensure more consistent communications” between the Alberta government and AIMCo, which manages funds valued at over $160B. 

The new appointments follow the Alberta government’s firing of AIMCo’s CEO and board, with Ray Gilmour named as interim CEO shortly thereafter, as reported by Dakota on November 11. The Alberta government said it “took the necessary steps to reset AIMCo’s focus,” due to poor investment performance by the state pension manager that saw no increase in internally managed funds or improvement in returns despite increased operational spending, with third-party management fees growing by 96%, and costs in salary and benefits growing by 70% on top of a 29% increase in employee count.  

Prior to the board termination, Dakota also reported on the promotion of two executives in September to temporarily replace Marlene Puffer, who stepped down as AIMCo’s CIO after less than two years in the role. 

Source: https://www.alberta.ca/release.cfm?xID=91383E8C62503-EACA-9E70-50C4BBE2DB7B39F8