GC Influencers
Most Influential GCs - Canada
Kim Thomassin of Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec (CDPQ)
Kim Thomassin was appointed Executive Vice President, Legal Affairs and Secretariat of Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec in 2017. Her remit includes managing the company’s legal and regulatory activities, as well as its globalisation strategy.
According to our sources she has “used her role in order to transcend what one normally thinks of it.” Thomassin is recognised for her commitment to diversity and inclusion, specifically with regards to the advancement of women lawyers. Sources say: “This is a model which she lives up to.” She sits on the executive committee of Legal Leaders for Diversity, a group of Canadian General Counsel committed to the creation of a more inclusive legal profession.
In 2012, she was named one of the Top 100 Most Powerful Women in Canada by the Women’s Executive Network (WCN). Prior to joining CDPQ Thomassin was the managing partner for McCarthy Tetrault’s Québec region, a prominent role which she fulfilled while continuing her legal practice.
Most Influential GCs - Global-wide
Kim Thomassin of Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec (CDPQ)
Advising Canada’s second largest pension fund is no mean feat, however Kim Thomassin and the legal department manages their task with aplomb, deftly handling regulatory and wider legal issues associated with an asset manager with over CAD300 billion in assets under management. She arrived at CDPQ after 17 years with McCarthy Tétrault, where she served as managing partner for the Québec region, and almost immediately saw the pension fund embroiled in a major dispute with Boeing, which alleged that CDPQ’s USD1.5 billion investment into Bombardier’s rail business amounted to state aid. Thomassin’s excellent credentials in the area are also recognised beyond the legal sector, having been selected to serve on an expert panel on sustainable finance to advise the Canadian government on investments which benefit the environment. Interviewees remark: “Sometimes you get very good lawyers who aren’t good with people and sometimes you have great people lawyers but you need someone who knows the law better, but she combines the best of both. The excellent work they do is because she’s developed that culture.”