OTTAWA
Karen Karniol-Tambour, a top executive at U.S.-based hedge fund Bridgewater Associates, has been appointed the inaugural chief executive of Canada's new sovereign wealth fund.
Prime Minister Mark Carney announced the appointment on Monday.
Karniol-Tambour is a Canadian citizen who has been co-chief investment officer at Bridgewater, one of the world's largest asset managers, since 2023.
"The Canada Strong Fund will put Canadian capital to work in the projects and companies building our country's future," Carney said in a statement.
"Ms. Karniol-Tambour brings the experience and ambition to lead this mission, making investments that strengthen our economy and build lasting wealth for Canadians. As we build a stronger, more independent Canada, we are ensuring Canadians have a direct stake in its success."
The fund, first announced last spring, will have an initial capital commitment of $25 billion.
It will invest on commercial terms in "nation-building" projects and make strategic investments in high-potential companies to secure long-term returns.
The government said the fund will be run at arm's length from the government with its own independent board of directors.
"Under Ms. Karniol-Tambour’s leadership, the Canada Strong Fund will be professionally managed, operating at arm's length from the government, with its own board of directors," the Prime Minister's Office said.
"Together, the fund and its retail offering will create a new model of Canadian ownership, helping build national wealth while ensuring more Canadians share in the benefits of economic growth."
The fund will also include a retail component called Canada Strong Notes, which will allow ordinary Canadians to invest directly and share in its returns.
Details on the rollout of that offering have not been announced.
Karniol-Tambour joined Bridgewater in 2006 after graduating from Princeton University and rose through the ranks to become head of investment research in 2013.
She was promoted to co-chief investment officer for sustainability in 2021 before taking on the broader co-CIO role in 2023.
The financial magazine Barron's has named her one of the 100 most influential women in U.S. finance for the last seven years, and she has also been featured by Forbes.
According to a biography from the Prime Minister's Office, her role at Bridgewater involved overseeing the development of investment models and client portfolios, including those focused on Asia.
Bloomberg first reported the appointment, noting Karniol-Tambour was among the foreign investors Carney brought to Toronto for the inaugural Canada Investment Summit in September.
The Canada Strong Fund is expected to launch in early 2027.
The 2026 federal budget, tabled last week, confirmed the government's intention to make the fund a Crown corporation that invests on a fully commercial basis with the private sector.
e2gold.ca reported in November that the budget included $151.5 billion in new spending and bets on investment to boost the economy.
Finance Minister François-Philippe Champagne has indicated the fund would be a vehicle for strategic investments, similar to the government's recent $1.6-billion investment in artificial intelligence company Cohere.
This story was written by the e2gold.ca newsroom from reporting by CBC News, The Globe and Mail, BetaKit and Global News. Quotes are checked word for word against that reporting.