Appointment of Hyewon Kong and Azim Lalani to the UBC IMANT board

VANCOUVER, BC, Dec. 15, 2020 /CNW/ - Lisa Pankratz, Chair of the Board of Directors of UBC Investment Management Trust Inc. (UBC IMANT) is pleased to announce the appointment of Hyewon Kong and Azim Lalani to the board.

Hyewon Kongis Vice President of Responsible Investing at the Investment Management Corporation of Ontario (IMCO), where she leads IMCO's sustainable/responsible investing strategies.

With over 20 years of experience in both corporate and investment management in Asia, Europe and North America, Hyewon has been an ambassador of sustainable investing as an experienced portfolio manager and a subject matter expert on ESG. Since moving from the UK to Canada 6 years ago, Hyewon has been instrumental in creating broad collaborations in the Canadian financial industry to drive a sustainability agenda and has been named to Canada's 2020 Clean50 leaders.

Hyewon serves on the Environmental Finance Advisory Committee at the University of Toronto and lectures on Investing for Impact, Environmental Finance and Sustainable Investment courses.

Hyewon is a CFA charterholder and a member of the Toronto CFA society and has co-founded and co-chaired Canadian Responsible Investment Working Group to provide platforms for collaboration and engagement to address key ESG issues.

Azim Lalaniis Chief Financial Officer of American Hotel Income Properties REIT LP, a TSX-listed limited partnership that owns hotels in the United States. In his role, he is responsible for financial reporting, corporate finance, treasury, tax and risk management. While at AHIP, Azim has successfully raised over US$1 billion in debt and equity to help the company grow its geographically diverse portfolio of 78 branded hotels located across 22 states.

Azim has over 20 years of financial experience and has held senior management roles in several public and private real estate companies. He currently serves as Chair of the Finance Committee of the UBC Board of Governors, and was formerly Chair of the Audit Committee.  Azim is also Chair of the Audit Committee and board member of the Family Services of the North Shore.

A Chartered Professional Accountant (CPA, CA) and a Chartered Business Valuator (CBV), Azim graduated from the University of British Columbia with a Bachelor of Commerce degree in 1992.

UBC IMANT is a wholly owned subsidiary of the University of British Columbia, established to oversee $4.8 billion of investment assets for the University's Endowment Fund, Staff Pension Plan and other designated funds.

SOURCE UBC Investment Management Trust Inc.