OMERS Ventures Appoints Laura Lenz as Head Amid Executive Turnover
AI-generated image · Bay Street Wire
The pension fund's venture arm names a new leader as it pivots toward increased Canadian investment following three leadership changes in three years.
As BetaKit first reported, the Ontario Municipal Employees Retirement System (OMERS) announced Thursday that Laura Lenz will now lead OMERS Ventures, the pension fund’s venture investment arm.
Lenz's appointment follows a string of executive turnover. She succeeds Saar Pikar, who departed in July to become president of Kensington Capital. Pikar had previously replaced Michael Yang, who succeeded Damien Steel two years prior; Steel left to serve as CEO of carbon-capture firm Deep Sky.
Lenz, who joined the fund in 2019, previously managed Canadian investment activities and has backed tech companies including Solink, Hopper, and Float. In a LinkedIn post, Lenz argued that the primary hurdle for Canadian founders is not a lack of ambition, but whether the surrounding ecosystem provides the patient capital, global networks, and institutional scale necessary for success.
According to BetaKit, this leadership change aligns with a "strategic shift" at OMERS Ventures to prioritize Canadian investing, coinciding with efforts by Prime Minister Mark Carney to stimulate domestic investment.