C-Suite Gets Shakeup at Canada Infrastructure Bank
The Canada Infrastructure Bank, launched to supercharge a $134-billion, decade-long revamp of the country’s infrastructure, is getting its own overhaul.
After two years and few infrastructure financing deals to leverage its $25 billion in public seed funds and planned private investment, the Trudeau government announced a leadership shake-up. Pierre Lavallée, the bank’s first CEO, named in 2018, has stepped down. Canada infrastructure minister Catherine McKenna, who oversees the bank, said the government named as its board chairman Michael Sabia, a Canada finance heavyweight who is former CEO of Canadian pension fund giant Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec. He replaces Janice Fukakusa, a former finance executive who announced plans to leave several months ago.
Industry observers speculate on the bank’s future with just $2.6 billion in announced financing deals to date, but McKenna said a CEO search is underway and that the bank “will play an important role in helping our country recover economically from the pandemic.”
Most of the funding went to two established projects, a light-rail expansion in Toronto and the Reseau subway project in Montreal. Bank executives told the Ministry of Finance it has about 25 projects set for funding this year, according to the Canadian Press, citing a memo it obtained through a public information request.
Plaza Construction has named Emre Ozcan executive vice president to manage its mid-Atlantic region, based in Washington, D.C. He is former vice president and general manager at Gilbane Building Co. in that city, and had also been a senior vice president and Houston GM at contractor JE Dunn.
Dan Kieny has joined Pittsburgh design firm Michael Baker International as chief technology officer. He was global director of IT and innovation at MWH Global, which was acquired by design firm Stantec in 2016. Also a former senior vice president and global CIO at Black & Veatch, he led the spin-off of its Pivvot intelligent asset management software unit.
Alexis Abramson, an energy engineering professor and leader in sustainable energy technology at Case Western Reserve University, will become dean of Dartmouth College’s Thayer School of Engineering in Hanover, N.H., effective June 17. She now is co-director of Case Western Reserve’s Great Lakes Energy Institute. Abramson’s role at Thayer comes as it plans for program and faculty expansion in completion of a $200-million building to be shared with two other Dartmouth programs,
it says.
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