The Caisse’s de depot’s vice-president private equity will be retiring next year after more than 33 years at the Quebec-based pension fund giant.

Normand Provost is a key member of the Caisse’s executive, overseeing private equity investments and the fund manager’s initiative’s involving Quebec’s economic development since 2009.

He will remain as a strategic adviser to Caisse president Michael Sabia after Provost’s replacement is chosen sometime in 2014.

The Caisse says it has launched a search process to find a replacement.

Sabia described Provost as being one of the fund manager’s “key builders.”

“He established our current private equity business model, assembled teams and successfully generated solid, sustainable results throughout his career, during all phases of the market cycle,” Sabia stated in a news release.

“Since 1980, he has used his unparalleled business judgment, exceptional qualities as a negotiator and strong ability to deliver results to serve our organization, our depositors and Quebec’s economic development. The strength of his commitment has made him one of the pillars of what the Caisse is today.”

Provost held many positions at the Caisse and oversaw the transformation of its operations and information technology as chief operations officer for three years through March 2012.

The Caisse de depot et placement du Quebec manages funds primarily for public and private pension and insurance plans. At the end of December, it held $176.2 billion in net assets.