Temporary CEO appointed to AIMCo
By Al Beeber - Lethbridge Herald on November 9, 2024.
LETHBRIDGE HERALDabeeber@lethbridgeherald.com
The Alberta government appointed deputy minister of Executive Council Ray Gilmour as temporary chief executive officer of the Alberta Investment Management Corporation on Friday.
On Thursday, the government disbanded the entire AIMCo board and appointed President of the Treasury Board and Minister of Finance Minister as the sole director and chair until a new board chair is appointed within 30 days.
The province says Gilmour’s appointment “will serve to further stabilize operations and ensure smooth operations during the transition period.”
The province said Thursday that AIMCo has for years consistently failed to meet its mandated benchmark returns and changes are being made to restore confidence in the agency. It has als experienced significant increases in operating costs, management fees and staffing without a corresponding return on investment, said the province.
There has been an increase of 96 per cent in AIMCo’s third party management fees from 2019 to 2023, a time period in which the number of employees also rose by 29 per cent and salary and benefit costs increased by 71 per cent.
In 2023, AIMCo’s operating costs were $222.3 million, up 71.38 per cent from 2019 when those costs were $129.7 million.
Last year, there were 600 employees, up from 465 in 2019 while per cent of funds managed internally dropped to 67 per cent last year from 82 per cent in 2019.
Gilmour has worked under multiple administrators in Executive Council and has previously served as deputy minister of Finance, Intergovernmental Relations, Infrastructure, Sustainable Resource Development and Municipal Affairs.
10-9
Smith appointing Nate Horner as Minister of Finance was another of her ignorant partisan appointments. A rancher and emergency medical responder with a bachelor of science in agriculture and no related financial experience running AIMCo is a receipt for disaster. He should have been the first one fired but then Smith would have to admit she screwed up which she will never do.