Monique Gravel has been elected as vice chair of the Board of Governors of the Association for Investment Management and Research.

Gravel is currently first vice president, portfolio manager and branch manager at CIBC in Montreal.

In a statement released Wednesday, AIMR also announced that Theodore Aronson, founder of Aronson + Johnson + Ortiz in Philadelphia, will serve as AIMR’s chair. Both Gravel and Aronson will serve one-year terms beginning September 1.

Gravel started her career with Wood Gundy in 1978. She received the last Charles L. Gundy Award for Branch Manager of the Year in 1986. She was a member of CIBC’s Retail Advisory Board from 1992 to 1996 and served a one-year term as that board’s chair.

Gravel received AIMR’s Society Leader Award in 2000 for her significant volunteer contributions to AIMR and the Montreal Society of Financial Analysts. Since her election to the AIMR board in 2002, Gravel has served as a member of the AIMR Executive Committee and member and chair of the AIMR External Relations and Volunteer Involvement Board Oversight Committee.

“In these dynamic and turbulent times for capital markets, AIMR plays an important global role in setting ethical and performance standards, supporting cutting-edge financial research and educating investment professionals,” said Gravel. “As a professional investor, I have seen and directly benefited from AIMR’s many initiatives to build integrity and investor protection into the financial markets. I am therefore delighted to take on additional responsibilities and to contribute in any way I can to fulfilling its mandate.”

Six new governors from five countries have also been elected to the Board to serve three-year terms beginning September 1:

  • Anthony Cagiati, managing director at Bank Leu, Ltd in Zurich;
  • Shirley Shea DeJarnette, treasurer of the University of Missouri System in Columbia, Mo.;
  • James Lyon, managing principal, senior vice president and director of equity investments for Oakwood Capital Management in Los Angeles;
  • Alex K.G. Ng, chief investment officer for Asia Pacific at ABN AMRO Asset Management (Asia) Limited in Hong Kong;
  • Nicola Ralston, business advisor on projects relating mainly to investment process and business strategy at CSTIM Limited, a management consultancy firm in London; and
  • Teong Keat Yap, executive director of OCBC Securities in Singapore.

Ten other governors from four countries will continue to serve the remainder of their three-year terms on the Board.