Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec has appointed Richard Guay as president and CEO. The appointment was approved Friday by the Quebec government.

Guay has been acting as interim CEO and has been a member of the board of directors since May 30. He has been chief investment officer since March 2006, when the position was established. He joined the Caisse in 1995.

“Mr. Guay has held a number of management functions at the Caisse in which he demonstrated his leadership ability and which prepared him well to take the helm”, says Pierre Brunet, chairman of the board. “He knows and understands the Caisse, its employees and depositors very well. The board has placed its trust in Mr. Guay because of the solid investment and global risk management expertise he brings at a time when such expertise is important.”

As chief investment officer, Guay was responsible for 14 of the Caisse’s 18 specialized portfolios, as well as for asset allocation, index selection and defining value-added objectives.

A certified financial analyst (CFA), Guay holds a Ph.D. in Financial Economics and a Master in Economics from Queens University, and a M.Sc. in Finance from HEC Montréal. Before his recruitment by the Caisse in 1995, he spent five years as a professor at HEC Montréal, where he taught finance, portfolio management and capital market theory.

“I accepted the board’s nomination fully aware of the challenges facing fund managers in the months and years ahead. In this context, I see my appointment as a vote of confidence in the management team,” says Guay. “My immediate priority is to finalize our 2009-2011 strategic plan so that the Caisse can adapt to increasingly complex capital markets in an economic context that is less favourable than it has been in the last few years.”

Guay indicated that he would serve as both president and CEO and chief investment officer until further notice.

His mandate is for a five-year renewable term. He will also sit on the Caisse’s Board of Directors.

The Caisse de dépôt manages funds primarily for public and private pension and insurance plans. As at December 31, 2007, it held $155.4 billion of net assets.