What do electricity, a forgotten 1920s financier, and Bobby Orr have to do with building a portfolio that wins in 2026? More than you think.
Pierre Daillie sits down with David Wong, Group Chief Investment Officer at CIBC Global Asset Management, who oversees investment teams across Canada and the US and runs more than $100 billion in managed solutions. With nearly three decades of experience, including a front-row seat to the 2008 crisis in New York, David brings a rare "anything can happen" perspective to a market that looks constructive yet crowded.
The conversation ranges from the AI super cycle and why it may rhyme with the 1870 to 1970 productivity boom, to the uncomfortable lesson of Samuel Insull, who backed the right technology and still faced ruin. David lays out where conviction and caution sit in equities and fixed income, why Canada deserves a second look, and how quant, low volatility, alternatives and high-conviction active management each play a role on an all-star roster built for any kind of game.
Along the way, he pulls back the curtain on how a $400 billion manager actually makes decisions, from a monthly investment committee to a daily 8 AM "Kaizen" meeting that brings a couple hundred people together across North America. The episode closes with the one thing David believes advisors are underestimating right now.
Chapters
00:00 Introduction: offense, defense and discipline
02:00 David's path from Bay Street summer student to Group CIO
07:00 The AI super cycle and Robert Gordon's productivity thesis
14:00 Financing the boom: the Samuel Insull warning
17:30 Equities: earnings breadth, valuations and strategic allocation
20:30 Canada's second look: resources, power and the AI build-out
22:30 Tech concentration and the second-order effects nobody sees yet
27:00 Building the core: quant strategies and active conviction
30:00 Fixed income: rising yields and the 1977 to 1981 lesson
34:30 Where the fixed income opportunity sits today
38:30 The all-star team: offense, defense and two-way players
45:00 Heroes without capes: the real alpha advisors deliver
46:00 Running $100 billion: investment committee and the Daily Kaizen
54:30 Alternatives and real assets: the LeBron James role
58:30 Total portfolio thinking and the power of the IPS
61:00 What really matters after three decades
67:00 What advisors are underestimating right now
69:00 Closing thoughts
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