Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec announces the appointment of Richard Guay as President and CEO
Pierre Brunet, Chairman of the Board of the Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec, today announced the appointment of Richard Guay as President and Chief Executive officer. This appointment was approved today by the Government of Québec.
Mr. Guay has been acting as interim CEO and has been a member of the Board of Directors since May 30, 2008. Mr. Guay has been Chief Investment Officer since March 2006, when the position was established. He joined the Caisse in 1995.
“Mr. Guay has held a number of management functions at the Caisse in which he demonstrated his leadership ability and which prepared him well to take the helm”, said Mr. Brunet. “He knows and understands the Caisse, its employees and depositors very well. The Board has placed its trust in Mr. Guay because of the solid investment and global risk management expertise he brings at a time when such expertise is important.”
Since joining the Caisse, Mr. Guay has been Vice-President, Depositors’ Accounts Management (1998-2002), Executive Vice-President, Risk Management and Depositors’ Accounts Management (2002-2006), and Chief Investment Officer (2006-2008). Over the years, he has spearheaded a number of major initiatives, implementing service agreements with depositors, creating specialized portfolios, enhancing the advisory services offered to depositors, and developing an integrated risk management program. As Chief Investment Officer, Mr. Guay was responsible for fourteen of the Caisse’s eighteen specialized portfolios, as well as for asset allocation, index selection and defining value-added objectives.
Mr. Guay holds a Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) designation. He has a Ph.D. in Financial Economics and a Master in Economics from Queens University, and a M.Sc. in Finance from HEC Montréal. Before his recruitment by the Caisse in 1995, he spent five years as a professor at HEC Montréal, where he taught finance, portfolio management and capital market theory.
“I accepted the Board’s nomination fully aware of the challenges facing fund managers in the months and years ahead. In this context, I see my appointment as a vote of confidence in the management team,” said Mr. Guay. “My immediate priority is to finalize our 2009-2011 strategic plan so that the Caisse can adapt to increasingly complex capital markets in an economic context that is less favourable than it has been in the last few years.”
Mr. Guay indicated that he would serve as both President and CEO and Chief Investment Officer until further notice. Mr. Guay’s mandate is for a five-year renewable term. As provided by law, he will also sit on the Caisse’s Board of Directors.
About the Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec
The Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec is a financial institution that manages funds primarily for public and private pension and insurance plans. As at December 31, 2007, it held $155.4 billion of net assets. One of the leading institutional fund managers in Canada, the Caisse invests in the main financial markets as well as in private equity and real estate. For more information: www.cdpq.com.
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Biographical Notes
Richard Guay was appointed President and Chief Executive Officer of the Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec on September 5, 2008, after holding the position on an interim basis since May 30, 2008.
As Chief Investment Officer since March 2006, he oversaw the management of fourteen of the Caisse’s eighteen specialized portfolios. He also managed asset allocation and index selection, as well as defined value-added objectives for all of the investment groups.
From November 2002 to March 2006, Mr. Guay held the position of Executive Vice-President, Risk Management and Depositors’ Accounts Management, where he acted, notably, as senior advisor on depositors’ investment policies. During this time, the returns derived from the Caisse’s investment policies ranked in the first quartile for the 5-year period within the universe of Canada’s major pensions funds, according to RBC-Dexia. In addition to drafting and signing service agreements with depositors, Mr. Guay also developed and implemented the organization’s first integrated risk management policy.
From 1998 to 2002, Mr. Guay acted as Vice-President, Depositors’ Accounts Management, increasing and demonstrating the Caisse’s investment policy expertise.
From 1995 to 1998, he spent three years in the Return Calculation Department, where he developed and implemented for each specialized portfolio and for the Caisse’s overall return, a calculation and analysis tool compliant with the Global Investment Performance Standards (GIPS).
Before his recruitment by the Caisse, Mr. Guay spent five years teaching finance, portfolio management and capital market theory to undergraduate and graduate students at HEC Montréal. He obtained a Ph.D. in Financial Economics in 1993 and a Master of Economics in 1987, both from Queens University, and a M.Sc. in Finance from HEC Montréal in 1988. He holds the Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) designation since 1993.