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An Executive Committee made up of seasoned professionals

MONTREAL, May 20, 2016 /CNW Telbec/ - Ivanhoé Cambridge announces today the appointment of Claude Sirois as President, Ivanhoé Cambridge Retail. Until very recently, Mr. Sirois served as Executive Vice President, Shopping Centres, North America, Ivanhoé Cambridge Inc.

"Claude is a seasoned leader with a strong reputation in real estate, especially in the retail industry," said Bill Tresham, President, Ivanhoé Cambridge. "He now leads our biggest business unit, consisting of 27 Canadian shopping centres, 21 of which we operate ourselves." With his experience and his extensive knowledge of the sector, Claude is the ideal leader to leverage this business unit for our organization's future growth."

Mr. Tresham continued: "The changes we have made over the past few years have enabled our centres to significantly increase sales and productivity. We navigate in an environment that increasingly favours a complementary approach between 'the click and the brick,' or on- and offline shopping. Our centres are well-positioned to attract the best retailers and to cater to our customers' very high expectations."

Mr. Sirois will be supported by a team of very experienced leaders on the Executive Committee of the Retail business unit. Karen Laflamme joins the business unit as Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer. Roman Drohomirecki is appointed Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer, while Paul Gleeson becomes Executive Vice President and Chief Development Officer, and Nathalie Rousseau, Vice President, Asset Management.

See biographical notes attached.

About Ivanhoé Cambridge
Ivanhoé Cambridge, a global real estate industry leader, invests in high-quality properties and companies in select cities around the world. It does so prudently with a long-term view to optimize risk-adjusted returns. Founded in Quebec in 1953, Ivanhoé Cambridge has built a vertically integrated business across Canada. Internationally, the Company invests alongside key partners that are leaders in their respective markets.

Through subsidiaries and partnerships, Ivanhoé Cambridge holds interests in close to 500 properties, consisting primarily in office, retail, residential and logistics real estate. Ivanhoé Cambridge held more than Cdn$55 billion in assets as at December 31, 2015. The Company is a real estate subsidiary of the Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec (cdpq.com), one of Canada's leading institutional fund managers. For further information: ivanhoecambridge.com.

Biographical Notes – Claude Sirois

Mr. Sirois has over 25 years of experience in various sectors of the real estate business. He started his career with Ivanhoé Cambridge in 1990 as a Leasing Representative. He was subsequently promoted to Leasing Manager and then later worked in development. Mr. Sirois also served as General Manager of the Galeries Rive Nord shopping centre in Repentigny, Quebec. In 2005, he was appointed Vice President, Investments, in 2011, Senior Vice President, Emerging Markets, and then he became Senior Vice President, Commercial Investment and Emerging Markets. As such, he was responsible for implementing the Company's investment strategies in BraziI and China. More recently, he served as Executive Vice President, Shopping Centres, North America, where he was, among other things, responsible for all the Company's investments and operations in Quebec and oversaw the implementation of construction and development projects.

Before joining Ivanhoé Cambridge, Mr. Sirois held the position of Real Estate Manager, Quebec and Atlantic Regions, at BMO Financial Group. He also previously served as Head of Human Resources, Quebec Division, for the same group.

Claude Sirois has a Bachelor's Degree in Real Estate from McGill University and also holds an MBA from HEC Montréal business school.  

Biographical Notes – Roman Drohomirecki

Mr. Drohomirecki has worked in the commercial real estate business for more than 28 years, gaining extensive experience in various areas, such as operations, leasing and asset management. He began his career in 1988 with Lehndorff Properties, where he held various leasing positions, including Director of Leasing for shopping centres in Canada. In 1995, he moved to Oxford Properties, where he was successively Retail Manager, General Manager and Director of Retail Leasing, Western Canada. Mr. Drohomirecki joined Ivanhoé Cambridge in 1998 as Vice President, Leasing, Western Region. In October 2005, he was appointed Senior Vice President, Western Region, and, in 2011, Executive Vice President, Western North America. In July 2012, he was promoted to Executive Vice President, Shopping Centres, North America.

Mr. Drohomirecki, who is now Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer, Retail, is based in Calgary. He is responsible for all operational and leasing aspects of Ivanhoé Cambridge's shopping centres in North America and contributes to the success of redevelopment and expansion projects of existing centres.

Mr. Drohomirecki has a Bachelor of Commerce Degree from the University of Alberta.

Biographical Notes – Paul Gleeson

Paul Gleeson joined Cambridge Shopping Centres Limited in 1987 as a Development Officer in the Shopping Centre Group. In 1989, he was appointed Senior Development Officer and, later that year, became the Director, Development for the Company's new Urban Group, which specialized in mixed-use developments. In 1995, he was appointed Vice President, Development, Urban Group. In 2001, following the merger with Ivanhoe Corporation, Mr. Gleeson was appointed Vice President Development, Special Projects, where his primary responsibility was overseeing the introduction and development of Vaughan Mills. In 2004, he was appointed to the position of Senior Vice President, Development  where he oversaw all of the development and construction activities for the Company.  In 2009, he was appointed Senior Vice President and Chief Development Officer. Following the integration of CDPQ's real estate subsidiaries under one brand, Ivanhoé Cambridge, Mr. Gleeson was appointed Executive Vice President, Global Development.

Mr. Gleeson is responsible for introducing the innovative Mills concept to Canada and has played a key role in bringing a number of major development projects to fruition, including Vaughan Mills in Ontario, and CrossIron Mills in Alberta, Outlet Collection at Niagara in Ontario, the expansions of Guildford Town Centre in British Columbia, Southgate Centre in Alberta, Mapleview Shopping Centre and Conestoga Mall in Ontario. During his 29 years with the Company, Mr. Gleeson has overseen the completion of over $5.5 billion in development and redevelopment projects. In addition to Canada, he has worked on projects in the United States, Spain, Germany, Brazil, Scotland and China. Mr. Gleeson also represents the Company on the Investment Committee and Advisory Board of KingSett Real Estate Growth LP No. 3, 4, 5 and 6.

Mr. Gleeson has a Bachelor of Arts degree in Administrative Studies from the University of Western Ontario and a Master of Science degree in Planning from the University of Toronto.

Biographical Notes – Karen Laflamme

Karen Laflamme joined the Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec in 1993. She spent nine years with the company's Real Estate Group, six of those as Director, Administration and Finance. In 2002, the Caisse named her Chair of the Working Group on Global Diagnostics. She was then appointed Vice President, Internal Audit, where she was in charge of assessing the Caisse's risk-management, control and governance processes. From 2005 to 2012, she held the positions of Vice President, Real Estate Portfolio, then Senior Vice President, Real Estate. In April 2012, she joined Ivanhoé Cambridge as Vice President, Corporate Management and Institutional Affairs, where she was in charge of the Company's investor relations and integrated risk management. As Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer, Retail, Karen Laflamme is responsible for a high-level finance team and support functions within the business unit.

Ms. Laflamme began her career at Ernst & Young (formerly Clarkson Gordon) in 1984. In 1989, she moved to CN Real Estate, where she served as Senior Accountant.

Ms. Laflamme sits on the Boards of Directors of the Collège des administrateurs de sociétés, the Fondation Pointe-à-Callière and of Le Chaînon Foundation. She holds a Bachelor's Degree in Business Administration (BBA) from HEC Montréal business school. Ms. Laflamme is on Board of Directors of Otéra Capital. She has been a member of the Ordre des comptables agréés du Québec since 1986 (CA). She has also held the designation of Certified Corporate Director since 2010 and was named Fellow of the Ordre des comptables agréés du Québec (FCPA) in 2012.

Biographical Notes – Nathalie Rousseau

Nathalie Rousseau began her career in real estate in 1993, serving in appraisals at Altus (formerly LCBA Group), where she remained until 1999. She moved to investments 15 years ago when she joined Ivanhoé Cambridge, where she took part in numerous shopping centre transactions in North America and Europe. Her area of expertise grew to include the office buildings sector and asset management. Among other recent accomplishments, Ms. Rousseau managed a series of transactions that led to the acquisition of a 50% stake in the Carrefour de l'Estrie shopping centre as well as Place Ville Marie, which is now solely owned by Ivanhoé Cambridge.

Ms. Rousseau has a Bachelor of Business Administration (BBA) Degree with a concentration in Urban and Real Estate Management from Université Laval. She is also an Accredited Appraiser.

 

SOURCE Ivanhoé Cambridge

Image with caption: "Claude Sirois (CNW Group/Ivanhoé Cambridge)". Image available at: http://photos.newswire.ca/images/download/20160520_C8302_PHOTO_EN_695762.jpg