MARK WISEMAN

Representing 17 million Canadians and governing a C$119.4 billion ($118.6 billion; €74.6 billion) fund, Canada Pension Plan Investment Board fund managers are exerting growing influence across the globe, not least in the world of real estate and infrastructure. In recent months, Canada's largest single-purpose pension fund has attempted to acquire a 39.2 percent stake in New Zealand's main airport, Auckland International, while also investing $200 million in wind energy operators. Its first infrastructure investment dates back to 2005 when the fund invested €200 million to the Macquarie European Infrastructure Fund as a hedge against inflation. It was, as chief executive officer David Denison said at the time, the start of things to come. Now with an allocation of 9.5 percent of funds to private equity, 5.4 percent to real estate and 2.2 percent to infrastructure, CPPIB is a natural choice as one of the most influential LPs in the private equity real estate realm. And it is CPPIB's private equity and infrastructure senior vice president Mark Wiseman who is singled out as a man to watch in the industry. Before joining CPPIB in 2005, Wiseman was a veteran of Teachers Private Capital, the private equity arm of the Ontario Teachers Pension Plan, responsible for investments in private equity funds as well as co-investment opportunities. A former Fulbright Scholar at Yale University, Wiseman has also worked at Harrowston, a publicly traded private equity firm, and was a mergers and acquisitions lawyer for Sullivan & Cromwell in New York, London and Paris. His appointment at CPPIB though was seen by many as evidence of Denison's desire to develop CPPIB's in-house fund management abilities. The proactive approach adopted three years ago is now bearing fruit with Wiseman ensuring CPPIB's weight is felt right across alternative investment asset classes.