Manulife Asset Management Canadian equity team to undergo leadership change

Patrick Blais will work with Monika Skiba, the Canadian fundamental equity team’s leader, until her retirement later this year, then take over the role after that

By: Tessie Sanci
February 14, 2017 October 17, 2019
11:50

Toronto-based Manulife Asset Management Ltd.’s (MAM) Canadian fundamental equity team is in transition following the announcement that its lead manager will retire.

Monika Skiba, head of the Canadian fundamental equity team, has announced her intention to retire in December 2017, according to an announcement released on Tuesday.

MAM has promoted Patrick Blais, previously a managing director and senior portfolio manager, to co-head of the team, where he will work closely with Skiba. He will assume full leadership following Skiba’s retirement.

Blais brings more than 18 years of investment experience, with six of those years at MAM, to his new role. “His years of industry experience, combined with his close working relationship with Monika on the Canadian fundamental equity team, have ideally positioned him to assume leadership of the team,” the announcement states.

The firm also announced that that Cavan Yie, previously an analyst on the team, has been named portfolio manager and joins Skiba and Blais as co-portfolio managers of the team’s total return strategies.

In addition, Susan Da Sie, senior portfolio manager and senior managing director on the team, has left MAM. Da Sie joined the asset manager when its parent company, Manulife Financial Corp., acquired Standard Life PLC’s Canadian operations in 2015. Da Sie had joined Standard Life Investments in 2007.

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