Gillian Denham has been appointed to the Board of Directors of the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board, which is in charge of investing Canada Pension Plan assets. Barry Perry has been reappointed to the board.
The 3 year terms started on September 25, 2025, and were announced on October 3 in Ottawa by François-Philippe Champagne, the Minister of Finance and National Revenue.
The department also said that the federal government chooses the directors with input from the provinces that are part of the CPP, which is in line with the CPP’s joint governance model.
Denham has a lot of experience in banking and on the boards of public companies. Before this, she was the president of merchant banking at CIBC and ran the retail bank there.
She has also been on the boards of major Canadian issuers like LifeWorks and National Bank of Canada, and she was the lead director at Canaccord Genuity.
The government’s backgrounder says that Denham is currently on the boards of Coveo Solutions, a company that makes enterprise search software, Kinaxis, a software company, and Canadian Pacific Railway Limited.
She has an HBA from Western University’s business school and an MBA from Harvard.
Perry’s reappointment extends a term that began in August 2021. He is a member of the boards of Capital Power and Royal Bank of Canada right now.
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Perry worked for Fortis for 20 years, starting as chief financial officer and working his way up to president and chief executive.
He has more than 30 years of experience as an executive and board member in utilities and manufacturing.
He is a member of the Association of Chartered Professional Accountants of Newfoundland and Labrador and has a commerce degree from Memorial University of Newfoundland.
As of June 30, 2025, CPP Investments had net assets of C$731.7 billion, making it one of the biggest institutional investors in the world.
The fund is big enough to cover a lot of ground in both public and private markets, including infrastructure, energy, and technology.
The manager uses the board’s ongoing presence and new expertise to guide strategy, risk, and oversight through market cycles.
The fund’s annualized net return over the last 10 years was 8.4% through the first quarter of fiscal 2026. This shows that CPP benefits are meant to last for a long time.
The board is in charge of overseeing management, setting standards and policies for investments, hiring the outside auditor, and approving the company’s financial statements.
It also looks at how well it is doing and makes sure that rules are followed when there are disagreements.
In practice, this means that directors help determine how much risk a globally diversified portfolio can take on while holding management to performance goals that are linked to creating long term value for contributors and beneficiaries.
Denham’s experience as a leader in retail banking and on boards related to technology fits well with the fund’s broad exposure to enterprise software and financial services.
Perry’s experience in utilities and power fits well with CPP Investments large presence in energy and infrastructure, where long term cash flows can cover pension liabilities.
