Jim Leech, senior vice-president, Teachers’ Private Capital, will be the new president and CEO of the Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan, effective December 1, 2007.
He will succeed Claude Lamoureux, who plans to retire later this year.
The board’s decision to appoint Leech was unanimous, says chair Eileen Mercier. “The board’s human resources and compensation committee undertook a fair, transparent and comprehensive succession process review over the previous months in anticipation of Claude’s retirement.”
Lamoureux is Teachers’ inaugural CEO. He was appointed by then chair Gerald Bouey in 1990, when the government established the new independent corporation to replace the Ontario Teachers’ Superannuation Fund.
In 1990, the fund’s $19 billion of assets all were in Ontario government bonds. Under his leadership, the fund has grown to a well-diversified $106 billion as of year-end 2006.
Leech joined Teachers’ in 2001 and since then, Teachers’ Private Capital has become one of the world’s largest private investors, with assets now exceeding $16 billion.
He is the former president and CEO of Unicorp Canada Corp., one of Canada’s first public merchant banks, and Union Energy Inc., then one of North America’s largest integrated energy and pipeline companies.
His successor has not yet been named.
For the Industry Q&A with Claude Lamoureux from the April 2006 issue of Benefits Canada, click here.
To comment on this story, email craig.sebastiano@rci.rogers.com.