Ontario Teachers’ promotes Brown to Chief Investment Officer, Public & Private assets

The Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan Board (OTPP), a long-standing pension investor in the insurance-linked securities (ILS) market, has promoted Gillian Brown, an executive who has had responsibility for the ILS allocation activities of the plan for a number of years.

Gillian Brown first took responsibility for the ILS investment operations at OTPP in 2017, but then moved up the ranks when she was promoted to the role of Senior Managing Director, Capital Markets in 2018.

In that Capital Markets role, the insurance-linked securities (ILS) investments still sat within Brown’s oversight.

Now, Brown has been promoted to a newly created co-CIO role of Chief Investment Officer, Public & Private Investments, which still sits above the Capital Markets investment activities, including ILS.

In her new role, Brown will be responsible for the execution and management of investments across public and private markets, through Ontario Teachers’ departments focused on investing in Equities, Infrastructure & Natural Resources, Teachers’ Venture Growth, Capital Markets, and Real Estate.

The new role for Brown forms part of a restructuring of responsibilities, with Stephen McLennan named Chief Investment Officer, Asset Allocation, to oversee Ontario Teachers’ overall asset mix and drive total fund performance, management of portfolio risks, along with governance and investment practices.

In addition, Jonathan Hausman has been appointed Chief Strategy Officer, with a remit to advance the strategic objectives of the Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan Board (OTPP).

“I am pleased to appoint Stephen, Gillian to their new leadership roles in Investments, and Jonathan to a new role to support me in managing our key stakeholders and refreshing and advancing our enterprise strategy on a regular basis. They will all join the senior Executive Team,” explained Jo Taylor, President & CEO, Ontario Teachers’. “These appointments confirm the benefits of our focus in developing team members and shaping strong leaders from within the Plan. Stephen, Gillian, and Jonathan, each bring decades of experience across the organization, and expertise in both capital allocation choices and international public and private markets anchored around a deep commitment to our pension promise. I am confident that we will be well-positioned to continue to create value for members as we execute our strategy under their leadership.”

Ontario Teachers’ was an early mover into the ILS asset class back in 2005 and has allocated to ILS across the 144A catastrophe bond market as well as other collateralized reinsurance and managed fund structures.