(Bloomberg) — Former central banker Mark Carney stepped down as chairman of Brookfield Asset Management after joining the campaign to lead the Liberal Party of Canada.
“Mark has been a tremendous partner to the firm since he joined nearly five years ago,” 59-year-old Chief Executive Officer Bruce Flatt, who has been named board chair, said in a statement, which also praised Carney’s work leading Brookfield in “the energy transition.”
Carney, also 59, said at a press conference in Edmonton, Alberta, that he has resigned all of his corporate roles, including as chair of Bloomberg Inc., to focus on politics. His resignation means he’s no longer the head of transition investing at Brookfield.
While Carney built the firm’s transition investing business, Connor Teskey — CEO of the renewable unit — has been in day-to-day control for the past four years, according to a person familiar with the matter. The firm won’t name a new head of transition investing, said the person, asking not to be identified due to the confidentiality of the matter.
Carney previously served as governor of the Bank of England and the Bank of Canada.
In September, Pierre Poilievre, the leader of Canada’s Conservative Party, attacked Carney for agreeing to help Justin Trudeau on economic policy and went on to criticize Brookfield.
Before his globetrotting career in finance, Carney grew up in Edmonton, where his family had moved from the remote Northwest Territories. Carney’s father unsuccessfully ran for the Liberals in Edmonton in 1980.
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