AIMCo CIO Marlene Puffer Exits After Less Than Two Years
Marlene Puffer, a seasoned pension and investment executive brought in as Alberta Investment Management Corp.‘s chief investment officer, has left after less than two years on the job.
She is not being directly replaced. Rather, two internal executives are being promoted to oversee public and private assets at AIMCo, which invests on behalf of a variety of pension, endowment and government funds in Alberta.
One of them is David Scudellari, who was recruited from the Public Sector Pension Investment Board (PSP) in January 2023, within weeks of Puffer being hired at AIMCo. He takes on a broadened executive team role following her departure, as senior executive managing director of private assets and strategic partnerships, where he will oversee global private assets including private credit, infrastructure, real estate and private equity.
Scudellari previously worked at Barclays and Goldman Sachs & Co. His arrival at AIMCo accelerated the Alberta fund management organization’s move into credit and private debt and his assignment included overseeing several key investment functions including international expansion, credit and private debt, and management of key external relationships. He was also brought on to “play a critical role in investment leadership development and succession planning at AIMCo,” according to a news release announcing his hiring.
The release credited Scudellari with opening PSP’s New York office and building a global credit business with a net AUM of $21.9 billion at the end of March, 2022. He was also interim CFO for a time.
Alongside Scudellari’s expanded role this week, Justin Lord, who spent the last two years as head of public equities at AIMCo, has been promoted to the executive management team. In a newly established role of senior executive managing director, public markets, he will oversee public equities and fixed income. Lord has been with AIMCo for 12 years, in both capital allocation and international public markets.
“David and Justin both bring decades of investment experience, and I am excited to be so well-positioned to continue to fulfill our purpose to our clients, as we execute our investment strategy under their leadership,” AIMCo chief executive Evan Siddall said in a statement Monday.
He also thanked Puffer for “her deep commitment and for the value she has added” at AIMCo.
“Her passion for investing on behalf of our clients is undeniable and her contributions to the organization will continue to position AIMCo for success in the future,” Siddall said.
Before joining AIMCo, Puffer was chief executive officer at CN Investment Division, where she was accountable for all aspects of the investment management and organizational oversight of the CN Pension Trust Funds. She is also a former vice-chair of the board of the Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan (HOOPP).
Matt Toledo of Chief Investment Officer also reports AIMCo promotes 2 executives to replace outgoing CIO:
The Alberta Investment Management Corp., a pension fund which manages C$168.9 billion ($125.24 billion) in pension, endowment and insurance assets of more than 375,00 beneficiaries in the Canadian province of Alberta announced that the fund’s CIO, Marlene Puffer, will step down from her role, effective immediately.
Puffer joined Edmonton-based AIMCo in January 2023; her departure comes after nearly two years at the fund. The fund has promoted two senior AIMCo professionals into executive roles to take on Puffer’s duties.
In the same announcement, AIMCo announced that Justin Lord, formerly head of public equities, has been appointed senior executive managing director and global head of public markets. David Scudellari, the former head of international investment, has been appointed as senior executive managing director and global head of private assets and strategic partnerships. Scudellari, based in New York, will oversee private assets globally, while Lord, based in Edmonton, will oversee public equities and fixed income.
“I am very pleased to appoint Justin and David to their new leadership roles in leading investments for AIMCo. I am especially excited to welcome Justin to the executive team,” said AIMCo CEO Evan Siddall in a statement. “These appointments confirm the benefits of our focus on developing talented investment leaders from within the firm and Alberta. David and Justin both bring decades of investment experience, and I am excited to be so well-positioned to continue to fulfill our purpose to our clients, as we execute our investment strategy under their leadership.”
Late Monday afternoon, AIMCo announced executive appointments and changes:
Justin Lord appointed Senior Executive Managing Director, Global Head of Public Markets in newly established leadership role and joins Executive Team
David Scudellari appointed Senior Executive Managing Director, Global Head of Private Assets and Strategic Partnerships in a broadened Executive Team role
CIO Dr. Marlene Puffer leaving AIMCo
Edmonton – Alberta Investment Management Corporation (AIMCo) today announces the appointment of two investment leaders in new executive roles, effective immediately, as Dr. Marlene Puffer is stepping away as Chief Investment Officer.
Justin Lord is appointed Senior Executive Managing Director, Global Head of Public Markets in a newly established leadership role and joins the Executive Team. Justin will oversee public equities and fixed income, helping ensure the successful execution of our investment strategy. Justin has been serving as Head of Public Equities for two years and has over nineteen years of public markets investment experience with expertise, twelve with AIMCo, in both capital allocation and international public markets. He holds a BBA Honors Finance and Economics from the University of New Brunswick.
David Scudellari is appointed Senior Executive Managing Director, Global Head of Private Assets and Strategic Partnerships in a broadened Executive Team role. David will oversee AIMCo’s private assets including private credit, infrastructure, real estate and private equity globally. David will continue serving as an Executive Team Member and the leader of Strategic Partnerships. Prior to joining AIMCo, David held investment leadership roles at Public Sector Pension Investments, Barclays, Goldman Sachs & Co and North-West Upgrading Inc. David holds a Master of Business Administration from Pace University – Lubin School of Business and a Bachelor of Science in Economics from the University at Albany, SUNY.
“I am very pleased to appoint Justin and David to their new leadership roles in leading investments for AIMCo. I am especially excited to welcome Justin to the Executive Team,” said Evan Siddall, Chief Executive Officer. “These appointments confirm the benefits of our focus on developing talented investment leaders from within the firm and Alberta. David and Justin both bring decades of investment experience, and I am excited to be so well-positioned to continue to fulfill our purpose to our clients, as we execute our investment strategy under their leadership.”
“I want to thank Dr. Puffer for her deep commitment and for the value she has added. Her passion for investing on behalf of our clients is undeniable and her contributions to the organization will continue to position AIMCo for success in the future,” said Siddall. “We wish her the very best in her future.”
About Alberta Investment Management Corporation (AIMCo)
AIMCo is one of Canada’s largest and most diversified institutional investment managers with more than C$168.9 billion of assets under management as at June 30, 2024. AIMCo invests globally on behalf of pension, endowment, insurance, and government funds in the Province of Alberta. With offices in Edmonton, Calgary, Toronto, London, Luxembourg, New York, and Singapore, our more than 200 investment professionals bring deep expertise in a range of sectors, geographies, and industries.
My cell phone was buzzing last night after I published my comment on OMERS asking me if I heard that Marlene Puffer left AIMCo.
I obviously had no clue whatsoever, spoke to Marlene prior to Labour Day and wrote a nice comment covering the mid-year results here.
She seemed very content and at ease with her role there so yes, this latest announcement caught me off-guard.
I'm not the only one. One senior pension executive emailed me: "I am very surprised as she was clearly positioned as the main person after Evan in the media and a large variety of platforms. I spoke to her 2 months ago when she visited Montreal and she seemed very much at ease in her role."
But like I often say, never a dull moment at Canada's large pension funds, that's for sure.
So why is Marlene Puffer exiting AIMCo? We can speculate all we want but clearly when you read "effective immediately", the decision is final and immediate.
It's not about her experience and qualifications, she has tremendous experience as CEO of CN Investment Division and great qualifications but obviously this wasn't a right fit and is leaving AIMCo.
Recall, AIMCo appointed her to the role of CIO back in December 2022 and she started working there at the end of January 2023, so it hasn't been two years yet.
Marlene replaced co-CIOs James Barber and Sandra Lau who had taken over from Dale MacMaster who retired after the infamous "vol blowup".
Now, between you, me and the lamppost, Dale was an incredible CIO, by far the best CIO AIMCo ever had and one of the best in the industry.
That's my biased opinion obviously but I talk to all of them and despite the hoopla over the AIMCo vol blowup, I maintain that he was a top-notch CIO that covered public and private markets extremely well.
Sandra Lau also impressed me as she was an extremely bright mind covering fixed income assets and a genuinely nice person.
Marlene is now being replaced by veteran David Scudellari who will be in charge of private markets including private debt and Justin Lord who is being appointed Senior Executive Managing Director, Global Head of Public Markets in a newly established leadership role and joins the Executive Team.
David is as solid as you can get, pretty much built up the Private Debt asset class at PSP Investments and he has taken on a very key role at AIMCo in charge of strategic partnerships and private debt, managing their New York office.
He's taking on an expanded role now being in charge of real estate which continues to exhibit problems, infrastructure and private equity.
It's a no-brainer to promote him to be in charge of Private Markets but he's no young buck and will be retiring in a few years.
As far as Justin Lord, I don't know him but he has performed well and it's worth noting AIMCo has more public market exposure than its larger peers so it makes sense to promote him and put him on the executive.
As far as Evan Siddall, CEO of AIMCo, I'm pretty sure he has his reasons for this latest executive shakeup and would prefer if this is the last one (doesn't look good on him or the organization if he keeps shaking the senior investment officers every few years).
Lastly, what will happen to Marlene Puffer? Will she end up at PSP Investments, back in Montreal, to replace outgoing CIO Eduard van Gelderen?
I have no idea but I'm sure she is in talks with a few organizations now and wish her well.
Below, a year ago, Marlene Puffer sat down with Ted Seides to discuss AIMCo’s asset-liability matching investment strategy, global team, internal and external management, compensation, external manager selection, opportunities and risks, and the unique qualities of Canadian pensions.
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