Former senior bureaucrat Ray Gilmour has been named chief executive of
Alberta Investment Management Corp.
Gilmour,
Alberta
’s former deputy minister of executive council, was installed as interim CEO of AIMCo on Nov. 8 last year, the day after the Alberta government jettisoned the entire board of the pension and endowment fund and four members of the management team, including then-CEO
Evan Siddall
.
Alberta Finance Minister Nate Horner blamed the shakeup on rising costs without commensurate returns for the fund, which was set up to operate at arms-length from government and manages pensions for a range of clients including teachers, municipal employees and judges. But insiders said there was growing friction over decisions made by the management team and board, including those involving the establishment of international offices and energy transition funds.
Shortly after Gilmour was appointed interim CEO a little over a year ago, the Alberta government named former prime minister
Stephen Harper
as AIMCo’s chair and established a permanent unpaid board seat to be filled by the province’s deputy minister of treasury board and finance. The board position was added “to ensure more consistent communications between AIMCo and Alberta’s government.”
Before Gilmour joined AIMCo, he was Alberta’s deputy minister of executive council for more than five years and held other senior positions in government including deputy minister roles in finance, intergovernmental relations and infrastructure.
Prior to joining the Alberta government, he worked in the banking and financial services industry for 15 years. A chartered professional accountant by training, Gilmour also has a masters of business administration from the University of Saskatchewan.
“The board has complete confidence in Ray’s clear management expertise and proven ability to excel, both as leader of this organization and as an effective steward of the funds AIMCo manages on behalf of its clients,” Harper said in a statement.
When Harper was appointed chair a little over a year ago, three of AIMCo’s 10 former directors re-joined the scaled-down board.
At the time, pension and governance professionals expected that replacing the interim CEO would be a top priority for the reconstituted board and its chair to re-establish confidence in the arms-length model. But some also noted that it could be a challenge to recruit a skilled investment management professional in the wake of the government’s shock reorganization of AIMCo.
• Email: bshecter@nationalpost.com
AIMCo names former senior bureaucrat Ray Gilmour as permanent CEO
2025-12-16 18:18:29
