EDMONTON — Longtime Alberta bureaucrat Ray Gilmour has been appointed interim leader of the Alberta Investment Management Corporation, the Crown agency set up to manage public pensions and investments at arm’s-length from government.
Gilmour’s appointment on Friday came a day after Finance Minister Nate Horner fired AIMCo’s 10-member board and four senior executives. Horner had appointed himself temporary director as well as board chair.
A new chair is to be appointed within 30 days and a new board after that.
Horner cited AIMCo’s operating costs, third-party management fees and failure to meet investment return benchmarks as the reason for cleaning house.
As of this summer, AIMCo managed a portfolio of about $169 billion, more than half of which is public sector pension plans for teachers, police officers and municipal employees.
The province says Gilmour has previously served as the deputy minister of multiple ministries, including Finance, and he also has 15 years of experience in the banking industry.
Horner said Friday in a news release that he’s confident Gilmour would “restore stability” and bring spending under control.
AIMCo did not immediately respond to an interview request for Gilmour. On its website, it welcomed Gilmour’s appointment and said it’s committed to investing on behalf of its clients and the Albertans it serves.
The province has said that from 2019 to 2023, AIMCo’s third-party management fees increased by 96 per cent, the number of employees increased by 29 per cent, and wage and benefit costs increased by 71 per cent.
These costs all increased, it said, while AIMCo managed a smaller percentage of funds internally.
“We’ve been watching this closely, and it was my determination it wasn’t going to change without a major reset,” Horner told reporters Thursday.
AIMCo’s 2023 annual report says the corporation failed to meet its overall return benchmark in three of the last five years.
In 2023, the fund manager’s goal was to see an overall return of 8.7 per cent. But asset growth reached 6.9 per cent, as investments in infrastructure, renewable resources and real estate significantly underperformed.
AIMCo is also responsible for managing the Alberta Heritage Savings Trust Fund, a rainy-day pot in which Premier Danielle Smith has pledged to stash over $250 billion.
The province says the fund currently has close to $23.5 billion in assets.
On Thursday, the United Conservative Party government issued an order-in-council that “approves the incorporation of a provincial corporation for the purpose of managing and investing all or a portion of Crown assets.”