Bill Tilford is an innovative veteran portfolio manager with over three decades of investment experience in building and leading investment teams. He has built teams for RBC Global Asset Management Inc. (RBC GAM), Canada Pension Plan Investment Board (CPPIB), and Connor, Clark & Lunn (CC&L). He has also held research positions at two major Canadian brokerage firms. He is currently the Head of Asset Management Operations at Nicola Wealth and an Adjunct Professor at the University of British Columbia Sauder School of Business, Finance Division.

During his career, Mr. Tilford has been at the forefront of developments in quantitative investment management, leveraging deep technical and fundamental skills to build and run successful investment strategies. He has extensive experience managing alternative investment strategies such as market neutral and overlay structures, including helping to develop and manage one of the largest overlay portfolios, using fundamental and quantitative strategies, for stock markets and corporate debt markets. He’s also experienced in various asset mix strategies for risk budgeting, completion portfolios and liability-driven investing, and has managed everything from pension plans (both as an external and internal manager) to retail mutual funds and Exchange Traded Funds (ETF).

Environmental Social Governance (ESG) issues have always been an important part of Mr. Tilford’s investment management processes. He has helped manage various ESG-focused funds throughout his career including funds at CC&L, and managed the Responsible Investment team at CPPIB. 

During the accounting conversion from Canadian GAAP to IFRS (International Financial Reporting Standards), Mr. Tilford volunteered to help the conversion by sitting on the User Advisory Committee of the Canadian Accounting Standards Board.

Mr. Tilford holds a Bachelor of Mathematics (Honours Co-op) and Master of Mathematics (Statistics and Finance) from the University of Waterloo.