OMERS Infra Americas head departs – exclusive

Gisele Everett, a senior managing director and head of Americas for OMERS Infrastructure, has departed the Canadian pension group, Infrastructure Investor has learned.

New York-based Everett leaves the organisation after four years, having joined from Anchorage Capital Group as a managing director before assuming responsibility for its infrastructure investments in the region, in April 2021. It is not known if Everett has a new role lined up.

Her departure comes alongside that of Jennifer Guerard, a Toronto-based senior managing director and head of legal for OMERS Infrastructure. Guerard had been with the unit for more than 10 years and sat on the board of portfolio companies Terranet and Eversource. There is no known replacement for Guerard at this stage.

In an emailed statement, Michael Hill, head of OMERS Infrastructure, said: “We thank Gisele for her role in building a strong portfolio in Canada and the US, developing a high-performing team of professionals, and being a supportive colleague and friend to each one of us. In her decade at OMERS, Jennifer built a world-class legal team in Toronto, New York, London, and Sydney to support our business and global investment teams. We want to thank them for their significant contributions and wish them all the best for their next career chapter.”

Hill will now lead the North America region, supported by a newly formed Americas Operating Committee. The latter comprises all senior managing directors and managing directors in the region across the unit’s asset management, origination and legal functions. It will oversee the day-to-day activities of the infrastructure investment professionals based in New York and Toronto.

The moves come amid a restructuring of the infrastructure team by Hill, who joined from fellow Canadian pension plan CPP Investments in August, following the departure of Annesley Wallace as the infrastructure chief in April.

Reena Carter, currently OMERS’ head of investment finance and valuations for infrastructure and private equity will join OMERS Infrastructure in March as senior managing director, portfolio management and operations. She will report to Hill and will also join the infrastructure management committee.

Carter thus joins the unit’s senior leadership team, which also comprises senior managing director and head of Asia-Pacific Christopher Curtain; senior managing director and head of Europe Alastair Hall; senior managing director and global head of strategic partnerships Irini Kalamakis; and senior managing director and business manager John Knowlton.

Other recent departures from OMERS Infrastructure include London-based managing director Prateek Maheshwari, who joined from Global Infrastructure Partners in 2019 and sat on the boards of London City Airport and Groendus, as well as the exit of Toronto-based director Jean-Paul Marmoreo.

The OMERS Infrastructure unit has C$34 billion ($25.2 billion; €23.3 billion) of assets under management, although Hall and former head Wallace told Infrastructure Investor in July 2022 that they had ambitions to take this to C$65 billion by 2027, through a 25 percent allocation to the asset class.

The infrastructure unit has a team of about 100 people across Toronto, New York, London, Singapore and Sydney. It generated a return of 2.8 percent for the first six month of 2023, while generating a 12.5 percent return for the whole of 2022.