CPP CEO Mark Wiseman Announces Sudden Departure After 3 Years

Mark Wiseman, CEO of the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board, has announced that he will be leaving the company for a position at Blackrock. At the moment, there are no details as to when this move will be taking place, but it comes in stark contrast to his predecessor, who gave the company notice three years before he intended to leave.

The Financial Post has more on the topic:

The executive who oversees investments on behalf of Canada’s largest pension fund is leaving in a surprise move that is in marked contrast to the “orderly long-term succession plan” of his predecessor.

Sources told the National Post that Mark Wiseman is departing soon from the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board, where he has been chief executive for almost four years.

The CPPIB announced Thursday that Wiseman is leaving to take a “senior leadership” role at Blackrock next month.

He will be succeeded atop the pension giant on June 13 by Mark Machin, CPPIB’s senior managing director and head of international.

Wiseman, 45, took over from David Denison in June of 2012, a handover that had been planned for months.

[…]

[A] source suggested Wiseman is leaving for another position, but declined to say where he is headed, or who will replace him at the fund, which had $282.6 billion under management at the end of December.

Another source later suggested Wiseman could remain at the pension for a period of time after announcing his planned departure. Wiseman could not be reached for comment, and company officials did not respond to a request for comment.

While the two sources characterized his departure as amicable, and said there was no suggestion of concern in Wiseman’s leadership, another familiar with CPPIB’s inner workings said there was friction on issues including his leadership style and travel.

Wiseman’s extensive travel outside Canada might be explained by the rapid expansion of the fund’s overseas operations on his watch — offices were opened in Sao Paulo, Mumbai and New York. But the source said some questioned whether it was only the CPP’s interests that were being promoted.

Mark Wiseman joined CPPIB in 2005.