Canada's PSP taps new CEO from rival pension fund manager CPPIB

TORONTO (Reuters) - Public Sector Pension Investment Board (PSP), one of Canada's largest pension fund managers, announced on Tuesday it has chosen André Bourbonnais as its president and chief executive officer. Bourbonnais joins PSP, which manages the pension funds of federal public-service workers, from rival pension fund manager the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board (CPPIB), where he was head of private investments. He replaces John Valentini, who was filling in as CEO after Gordon Fyfe left PSP last year to head the British Columbia Investment Management Corp (BCIMC). PSP said Bourbonnais brings an extensive global network and proven portfolio management skills to his new job. Separately, CPPIB announced that Mark Jenkins, who has been overseeing its direct private equity investments and its natural resources investment programs, will take on the role being vacated by Bourbonnais. Jenkins, formerly a banker at Goldman Sachs and later Barclays , joined CPPIB in 2008. CPPIB also named Pierre Lavallée to the new role of global head of investment partnerships. He will focus on broadening relationships with the fund's external managers in private and public funds, expanding direct private equity investments in Asia and building the fund's thematic investing capabilities. (Reporting by Euan Rocha; Editing by Peter Galloway)