Warren A. Thomson, chairman of MFC Global Investment Management announced the appointment of Jean-Francois Courville as CEO on Thursday.

Courville, 40, now has overall responsibility for MFC GIM’s third-party institutional and sub-advisory asset management businesses in North America, Europe and Asia, as well as for expanding investment management services to Manulife Financial Corp’s own wealth-management businesses globally.

As of March 31, he oversaw asset-allocation and investment-management activities for approximately $96 billion in client assets across multiple asset classes, from public equities and fixed-income to alternatives, including timber and agricultural investments.

Previously, Courville was president and chief operating officer of MFC GIM. He succeeds Thomson, who was recently appointed chief Investment officer of Manulife, and also chairman of MFC GIM.

In 2007, Courville joined Manulife from State Street Canada, at which he had served as president and CEO since 2005. Prior to that, he held several posts within State Street Global Markets, the trading and research arm of State Street Bank and Trust, in Montreal, Toronto and Boston.

Courville has also worked in the trading operations of the National Bank of Canada in Montreal and London.