Robert Lyon, CFA, has been appointed portfolio manager of the Signature Explorer Fund, says C.I. Funds. The $265-million fund, which focuses on small- and mid-cap Canadian equities, was previously managed by Steven Misener, CFA, who has chosen not to renew his contract with C.I.

Misener had managed the fund since 1994, when it was called the BPI Canadian Small Companies Fund. He became part of C.I.’s Signature Funds group in August 1999 when BPI Financial Corporation was acquired by C.I.’s parent, C.I. Fund Management Inc.

Lyon is Vice-President, Portfolio Management and a member of the Toronto-based Signature Funds group. He also manages the CI Global Energy Fund and the Signature Canadian Resource Fund.

He has more than 10 years of investment industry experience, including positions as a research analyst at ScotiaMcLeod Inc., Lévesque Beaubien Geoffrion Inc. and fund management firm I.A. Michael Investment Counsel Ltd. He joined BPI Mutual Funds in 1997 and assumed responsibility for the BPI Canadian Resource Fund, turning it into a first-quartile performer. After BPI merged with CI in 1999, Mr. Lyon became manager of all of C.I.’s global and Canadian resource funds.

For the periods ending April 30, 2001, the Signature Canadian Resource Fund, with an inception date of April 1997, is a first-quartile performer over one, two and three years, while C.I. Global Energy Fund, with an inception date of June 1998, is first quartile over one and two years.