David Colla Appointed Global Head of Credit Investments at CPP Investments
Canada Pension Plan Investment Board, the country’s largest such money pool, named insider David Colla as global head of credit investments, elevating a private-debt specialist after the strategy posted returns in the teens last fiscal year.
Colla, who joined CPPIB in 2010 and most recently led its capital solutions group, will assume the role April 1 and join the senior management team, the pension manager said Tuesday. He succeeds Andrew Edgell, who led the credit platform for five years and nearly doubled its size. Edgell will move to a senior adviser position.
Chief executive John Graham said Colla’s experience across leveraged finance and structured credit will help the unit for its “next phase,” as private debt takes on a larger role within the portfolio.
CPPIB returned 14.4 per cent in the credit asset class in the fiscal year ended March 31, 2025.
Colla previously oversaw growth in leveraged finance and structured credit and has been closely involved in CPPIB’s relationship with Antares Capital, where he serves on the board. The Chicago-based firm, which was acquired by the pension fund in 2015, is an alternative credit manager that had more than US$85 billion of assets as of last June.
Previously, Colla worked at Oaktree Capital and JPMorgan Chase & Co., according to his LinkedIn page.
Private credit has drawn rising allocations from global pensions as banks pull back from riskier lending. Higher interest rates have also boosted yields on senior secured loans, making the asset class attractive for long-term investors seeking income and downside protection.
CPPIB has maintained an active deployment pace. In the quarter ended Dec. 31, it committed or invested more than US$800 million across credit transactions, including loans to automotive software company OEConnection and real estate restoration firm Servpro.
Earlier today, CPP Investments announced the appointment of David Colla as Senior Managing Director & Global Head of Credit Investments:
TORONTO, ON (February 24, 2026) – John Graham, President & CEO, Canada Pension Plan Investment Board (CPP Investments) announced today the appointment of David Colla as Senior Managing Director & Global Head of Credit Investments, effective April 1, 2026. He will join the organization’s Senior Management Team.
Colla succeeds Andrew Edgell, who has decided to step away from his role as Senior Managing Director & Global Head of Credit Investments. After 18 years in a range of senior leadership positions at CPP Investments, Edgell will continue with the organization as a Senior Advisor.
“David is an experienced and highly regarded investor with deep expertise across the credit spectrum,” said John Graham. “Over the past 16 years, he has been instrumental in building and scaling our credit platform, including the growth of our leveraged finance and structured credit capabilities. His strong investment judgment, commitment to partnership and focus on talent development position him well to lead Credit Investments into its next phase.”
Colla joined CPP Investments in 2010 and most recently led the Capital Solutions Group. During his tenure, he has overseen the expansion of the Americas Leveraged Finance and Structured Credit businesses and played a key leadership role in the acquisition and ongoing management of CPP Investments’ investment in Antares Capital. He serves on the boards of Antares Capital and Antares Holdings.
“Andrew has made countless contributions to CPP Investments throughout his career,” added Graham. “Over the past five years, as Global Head of Credit Investments, he has led the continued growth and performance of the credit business, nearly doubling the size of the portfolio. We are grateful for his leadership through the years and are pleased he will continue to contribute to the organization in his new role.”
About CPP Investments
Canada Pension Plan Investment Board (CPP Investments™) is a professional investment management organization that manages the Canada Pension Plan Fund in the best interest of the more than 22 million contributors and beneficiaries. In order to build diversified portfolios of assets, we make investments around the world in public equities, private equities, real estate, infrastructure, fixed income and alternative strategies including in partnership with funds. Headquartered in Toronto, with offices in Hong Kong, London, Mumbai, New York City, São Paulo and Sydney, CPP Investments is governed and managed independently of the Canada Pension Plan and at arm’s length from governments. At December 31, 2025, the Fund totalled C$780.7 billion. For more information, please visit www.cppinvestments.com or follow us on LinkedIn, Instagram or on X @CPPInvestments.
Alright, big news at CPP Investments so let me begin by congratulating David Colla, the new Global Head of Credit Investments, effective April 1st.
Was I surprised David was appointed to head up Credit Investments? No, he's a top credit investor with years of experience, I would have been shocked if he didn't get that position.
I think what surprised me was why did Andrew Edgell who led the credit platform for five years nearly doubling its size decide to step down and be a senior advisor to the CEO?
Andrew is a really sharp and nice guy, I have spoken to him a couple of times and like him a lot.
In fact, I think highly of him and David Colla (they're both first-class on every level).
So it surprised me that he's decided to step down.
There has been a lot of negative press lately in the private credit industry and some think this may be performance related but Credit Investments at CPP Investments are doing very well, they're the top institutional investor in the world in this space.
I reached out to John Graham for a comment and he graciously replied:
"Certainly a lot of noise about private credit right now, but this leadership transition is totally unrelated. Andrew came to me a year ago and shared that he wanted to move out of the day to day of running a large department, give David Colla a well-deserved opportunity and focus on some other high priority initiatives. Andrew is still with CPP Investments, will continue to serve on investment committees and will lead some CEO special initiatives."
Now, I'm not going to lie, when I read that reply, the first thing that went through my head is they're grooming Andrew Edgell to become the next CEO.
Why? When a senior managing director steps down from a critical portfolio to work on "CEO special initiatives", it typically means he or she is getting the lay of the land and is being groomed for the top job.
I might be off, way off, but I've spoken to Andrew and he can easily be the next CEO of CPP Investments (don't forget, John Graham was his predecessor before assuming the top job exactly five years ago).
Having said this, I bounced this idea off a senior executive at CPP Investments who shared this with me:
"I agree that both (Andrew and David) are stars in their own right. Still, the depth of talent at CPP Investments runs deep and wide, and with a Board of Directors taking succession planning very seriously at various key levels and roles, I believe with such a deep pipeline of talent it might be a little too speculative..."
No doubt about it, the depth of talent at CPP Investments runs deep and wide so maybe it's premature to assume anything at this point until an official announcement is made.
Anyway, those are my thoughts on this nomination. I want to reiterate, David Colla is the best person to lead Credit Investments at this time and that's why he was chosen to replace Andrew Edgell who is an equally outstanding leader and investor in his own right.
I wish then both well.
Below, private credit, a form of lending by non-bank financial institutions to businesses outside of public markets, was once a niche corner of Wall Street. Now, private credit is going mainstream as it seeks funding from retail investors. CNBC’s Hugh Son breaks down the rise of private credit, why retail investors are looking into private credit and the risks and upsides of investing in the space (a month ago).
Also, Dan Nathan and Guy Adami are joined by Jen Saarbach and Kristen Kelly of The Wall Street Skinny to discuss two major developing market stories ahead of meeting in Miami for the iConnections Global Alts conference.
The first topic is stress in private credit, centered on Blue Owl’s retail-focused semi-liquid vehicle (Blue Owl Capital Corp II) facing heavy redemptions and gating, highlighting the liquidity mismatch between retail redemption needs and long-dated loan assets. They contrast the gated evergreen structure with Blue Owl’s publicly traded BDC that was trading roughly 20% below NAV, discuss Blue Owl’s reported loan sales near NAV, and explore why the issue is pressuring related stocks like Blue Owl and Blackstone despite an S&P 500 that appears indifferent.
The group connects the private credit conversation to how AI/data center buildouts are financed, including references to Meta-related structures and concerns about CoreWeave’s ability to raise capital for data center obligations, and notes that credit markets often reprice quickly only after complacency breaks.
The second topic is prediction markets, focusing on Kalshi and its partnership with Tradeweb to publish analytics and potentially enable institutional trading of binary outcomes on events like Fed decisions and macro data, raising questions about democratized access, liquidity constraints, regulatory gaps, spoofing, and the role of insider information, along with implications for politics and whether more information is always better.
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