Caisse shifts roles in response to economic challenges

The Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec is making a number of personnel changes as part of its response to the economic challenges.

“At the beginning of the year, it was clear that the challenges of the next decade would be very different from the last decade’s challenges,” said Charles Emond, president and chief executive officer of the Caisse, in a press release. “Since then, in only a few weeks, the world as we know it has transformed. It’s even more important to have increased agility in our decision-making processes and closer coordination in all aspects of strategy and managing our assets.

“With these appointments and changes to our structure, we can fully leverage the talent of our people. Regrouping our teams within strong business units will increase our efficiency and ability to seize more opportunities.”

Read: Quebec government appoints Charles Émond new head of Caisse

Macky Tall is head of its new real assets and private equity business unit. In the new position, he’ll oversee the organization’s international private equity, infrastructure and financing solutions teams. Tall is also taking on the chairmanship of the board of directors of Ivanhoé Cambridge, the Caisse’s real estate subsidiary, where Nathalie Palladitcheff will remain president and CEO.

Helen Beck is executive vice-president and head of equity markets. In the role, she’ll lead the group and will also join the fund’s executive committee. And Kim Thomassin is executive vice-president and head of Quebec investments and stewardship investing, leaving aside her previous role as executive vice-president of legal affair and secretariat.

Finally, the Caisse is expanding the mandate of its chief economist Martin Coiteux, setting him the task of developing the main pillars of the firm’s strategy while working closely with the executive committee and other teams.

Read: Canadian public pension heads call on employers to focus on coronavirus

In other moves, Franklin Templeton Canada is appointing Dean Liotta as senior vice-president of consultant relations.

In the new role, Liotta will be responsible for expanding the firm’s relationships among Canada’s institutional pension and asset consultants.

“Drawing on his background in investment consulting and his history of working alongside consultants nationally, Dean brings an exceptionally strong technical and client service approach to understanding the needs and priorities of consultants and their clients,” said Bill Tsotsos, head of institutional, Franklin Templeton Canada, in a release. “We are excited to have Dean lead our expanded efforts among our partners in this very important segment of the market in Canada.”

Since 2011, Liotta has been with Franklin Templeton in the role of vice-president of institutional investment services.

Read: Franklin Templeton names new head of institutional for Canada