Marc-Andre Lewis was named executive vice-president and head of investment management at CI Global Asset Management, effective Sept. 1.
The position is new, and Mr. Lewis will be based in the firm's head office in Toronto, a spokesman said.
He will lead a group of more than 100 investment staff overseeing the continued development of the firm's global investment platform. The company said in November it would combine its in-house investment boutiques to operate as one team under one brand. The multiboutique structure meant several investment management teams were previously operating independently, each with their own chief investment officer. Overall governance was provided by an investment management committee made up of those CIOs and certain senior executives, the spokesman said.
As well as leading the combined group, Mr. Lewis will chair the investment management committee.
"The appointment of our first-ever head of investment management is a critical step in the transformation of CI GAM from a multiboutique investment model to an integrated global investment manager," said Kurt MacAlpine, CEO of CI Financial, CI GAM's parent company, in a news release. "Marc-Andre's expertise and leadership experience gained at one of the world's largest and most sophisticated investment organizations will help drive this next stage of CI GAM's growth and development."
Parent firm CI Financial had C$287.5 billion ($233.8 billion) in assets under management and advisement as of April 30.
Mr. Lewis was head of portfolio construction at Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, Abu Dhabi. A spokesman for the sovereign wealth fund said Andre Methot is now acting head of portfolio construction. Details on a search for a permanent replacement were not available.
The sovereign wealth fund has $686 billion in assets according to Global SWF, which tracks state-owned investment firms. His responsibilities included strategic asset allocation, quantitative research and alternative indexing activities, as well as being a member of the executive committee and tactical asset allocation committee for ADIA's strategy and planning department, the CI GAM release said.
CI GAM also announced the retirements of Eric Bushell and Robert Lyon from their investment management roles.
Mr. Bushell was CIO of Signature Global Asset Management, a multiasset investment boutique running about C$55 billion in assets under management. He will remain at CI GAM until July 5 to assist with the transition to other portfolio managers.
Mr. Lyon was head of equities at Signature. He will retire in the fall.
The release said portfolio management duties will be filled by senior, experienced managers who are already involved in those strategies. The changes have been planned for some time and are unrelated to Mr. Lewis' appointment.
