André Bourbonnais departs CPPIB to lead PSP Investments

Public Sector Pension Investment Board (PSP Investments) has named André Bourbonnais as its new president and CEO, effective March 30, 2015.

Bourbonnais was named to the role after more than two decades of experience in high-profile market roles, most recently as senior managing director and global head of private investments at Canada Pension Plan Investment Board (CPPIB), a position he has occupied since 2010.

He replaces PSP Investments’ interim president and CEO John Valentini, who assumed the role after the departure of Gordon Fyfe in mid-2014 to lead British Columbia Investment Management Corp (bcIMC). Bourbonnais’ appointment is the result of a six-month process by PSP Investments’ board of directors to find a replacement for Fyfe.

“We are confident (Bourbonnais) is the right person to lead PSP Investments into its next phase of evolution, which involves increasingly global activities and sustained growth,” said board chair Michael Mueller in a statement.

Mueller said the Ottawa-based pension fund manager expects to grow its assets under management from a net $99.5 billion at present to more than $200 billion by 2024. PSP Investments manages the retirement savings of federal government employees.

Bourbonnais joined CPPIB in 2006 as a vice president and head of principal investments. He oversaw much of the growth and evolution of CPPIB Private Investments, which manages a massive portfolio of private equity, private debt and infrastructure holdings. Last year, Bourbonnais’ operation was named the world’s biggest PE investor by Private Equity International‘s PEI LP50.

In a statement, Mark Wiseman, CPPIB president and CEO, credited Bourbonnais as being “instrumental in building our Private Investments department into a sophisticated global investment team with over 200 professionals managing a $65 billion portfolio.”

Wiseman also announced that Mark Jenkins will step into the job vacated by Bourbonnais. Jenkins, who as a result of the appointment becomes a member of CPPIB’s top management team, previously worked as a senior executive with Bourbonnais. Before joining the Toronto-based CPPIB in 2008, he was a managing director at Barclays Capital in New York.

Wiseman also announced that Pierre Lavallée will assume the new role of senior managing director and global head of investment partnerships. Both Lavallée’s and Jenkins’ appointments are effective immediately.

Photo of Canadian investment executive courtesy of Shutterstock