Fund enhances senior leadership as it anticipates record size and scale by 2025
The Canada Pension Plan Investment Board (CPPIB) has announced two immediate changes and appointments to its senior executive leadership, including one newly created role.
CPPIB has named Edwin Cass as its first dedicated Chief Investment Officer. Collaborating closely with CEO Mark Machin, the chief financial and risk officer, and investment department leaders, Cass will work toward generating greater gains in performance. He will continue to report to Machin in his new role.
“Our investment governance structure has served CPP Investments well for many years,” Machin said in a statement. “However, the Fund is on a trajectory to grow to $1 trillion by 2033. The time is right in CPP Investments' evolution to create a dedicated, fit-for-purpose, Chief Investment Officer role.”
As CPPIB’s first CIO – a role created to address the CPPIB’s anticipated size and scale by 2025 and beyond – Ed will be responsible for overall fund management, including capital allocation between investment programs, long-term investment department signals, medium- and near-term portfolio guidance, and balance sheet management. Investment department leaders will continue to have responsibility for the execution of portfolio strategy within their respective investment departments.
Since joining CPP Investments in 2008, Cass has held various positions within Public Markets. After serving as the organization’s chief investment strategist from 2014-2017, he was most recently the organization’s global head of Real Assets. His professional record of investment experience spans more than 25 years, including senior positions at Fortress Management Group, Deutsche Bank Canada and TD Securities.
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Meanwhile, Deborah Orida has been announced as CPPIB’s Senior Managing Director and global head of Real Assets. In her new role, she will take responsibility for the Global Real Assets program, which covers Energy & Resources, Infrastructure, Power & Renewables, Real Estate and Portfolio Value Creation.
Most recently within CPPIB, Orida was the senior managing director & global head of Active Equities. From the time she joined CPP Investments in 2009, she has been placed in various leadership roles: she took her turn as managing director, Head of Private Equity Asia, after establishing the Relationship Investments Asia portfolio from Hong Kong. She also has over 25 years of investment experience, including nine spent at Goldman Sachs in New York and Toronto.
