Mark Wiseman is a global investment manager and business executive. He is currently the chair of the Alberta Investment Management Corporation. He was a Senior Managing Director at BlackRock, Global Head of Active Equities, Chairman of its alternatives business, and Chairman of BlackRock's Global Investment Committee. He also served on BlackRock's Global Executive Committee. Prior to joining BlackRock in 2016, Wiseman was President and CEO of the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board. Wiseman is a frequent contributor to business media and serves on the boards of several non-profit organizations. Among his advisory roles with various organizations, Wiseman serves as a part-time Senior Advisor to Hillhouse Capital.
Wiseman serves as an advisor to various organizations, most recently joining Hillhouse Capital as a part-time Senior Advisor. From 2016 to 2019, Wiseman was a Senior Managing Director at BlackRock, Global Head of Active Equities, Chairman of its alternatives business, and Chairman of BlackRock’s Global Investment Committee. He also served on BlackRock’s Global Executive Committee. On December 5, 2019, Wiseman left his position at BlackRock following a failure to report a consensual relationship with a colleague in violation of the company’s relationship at work policy. Larry Fink, BlackRock’s founder, chairman and chief executive, issued his own memo to all employees, in which he expressed disappointment in the lapse in the upper echelons of his firm where Wiseman was a senior managing director. “This is not who BlackRock is…. We expect every employee to uphold the highest standards of behaviour,” Fink wrote in the memo, which was also signed by BlackRock president Rob Kapito. Mark Wiseman in a statement said “I am leaving BlackRock because in recent months I engaged in a consensual relationship with one of our colleagues without reporting it as required by BlackRock’s Relationships at Work Policy.” Prior to joining BlackRock in 2016, Wiseman was President & CEO of the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board. Wiseman joined CPPIB in June 2005 as the organization’s Senior Vice-President, Private Investments. He was later named Executive Vice-President, Investments, responsible for managing all of the investment activities of CPPIB. He was named President & Chief Executive Officer in 2012. Prior to joining the CPPIB, Wiseman was responsible for the private equity fund and co-investment program at the Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan. Previously, Wiseman was an officer with Harrowston Inc., a publicly traded Canadian merchant bank and a lawyer with Sullivan & Cromwell, practicing in New York and Paris. He also served as a law clerk to Madam Justice Beverley McLachlin at the Supreme Court of Canada. Wiseman was a member of the Advisory Council on Economic Growth, which advised the Canadian Finance Minister on economic policies to achieve long-term sustainable growth. He is co-founder and former Chair of the Focusing Capital on the Long Term initiative. He is also a co-founder and Chair of the Century Initiative, an organization dedicated to growing Canada’s population. In June 2020, Wiseman was named the new chair of the Alberta Investment Management Corporation.
Philanthropy
Wiseman serves on the board of several non-profit organizations, including Alpine Canada, the United Way of Greater Toronto, Sinai Health Services, the Capital Markets Institute and the Dean’s Advisory Board at the Rotman School of Management, University of Toronto. Wiseman is a certified member of the Canadian Institute of Corporate Directors. Previously, he chaired the United Way of Toronto’s 2015 Campaign and Youth Without Shelter and is a past Board Member of Right to Play International.
Media
Wiseman is a frequent business media contributor, often appearing on BNN discussing markets and investing. On March 16, 2020, Wiseman published an article in the Wall Street Journal outlining why markets will eventually recover from COVID-19. On April 10, 2020, Wiseman published an article in Pensions & Investments titled "Integrating ESG into investment portfolios improves performance".
