(Bloomberg) -- The Mastercard Foundation’s new money-management arm is in expansion mode, and executives have been finding new employees from one place in particular — the Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan.
Mastercard Foundation Asset Management has hired at least six people from the pension fund, according to their LinkedIn profiles. The names include Dan Houle, the fledgling firm’s chief technology officer, and Michael Powers, who joined as director of investments in July after 16 years at Ontario Teachers’.
Payments company Mastercard Inc. set up the foundation and seeded it with a block of its shares around the time of its 2006 initial public offering. That single-stock portfolio grew to $47 billion, so earlier this year, the foundation launched MFAM to begin selling down its Mastercard stake and diversifying its holdings.
Both the foundation and the asset manager are based in Toronto.
MFAM’s board includes a number of big names in Canadian finance, including Lynn Patterson, a former Bank of Canada deputy governor, and Jim Leech, who was Ontario Teachers’ chief executive officer for more than six years until he retired at the end of 2013. The board hired John Barker as chief investment officer.
Other former Ontario Teachers’ employees who’ve made the jump to MFAM include Peter Simpson, the head of finance and operations; Jane Liu, director of investment operations; and Anthony Di Fonzo, director of finance and operations.
The asset manager’s chief operating officer is Jennifer Newman, who worked in operating roles at Ontario Teachers’ for more than a dozen years before leaving in 2021, according to her LinkedIn page.
A representative for Ontario Teachers’ declined to comment.
It’s the latest example of money managers attracting talent from North America’s largest institutional investors. In recent months, Qatar Investment Authority poached Kevin Zhu from Canadian pension OPTrust, and Abu Dhabi Investment Council hired Michael Phillips from the Teacher Retirement System of Texas.
MFAM plans to sell 13% to 15% of the Mastercard stock yearly over the next seven years, Barker said in an interview in May.
As a start, MFAM will partner with third-party managers before doing its own direct investments, Barker said at the time. It currently has 17 employees, according to a spokesperson.
The Mastercard Foundation works to aid young people in Africa and Indigenous youth in Canada.
--With assistance from Paige Smith.
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