Tiff Macklem Salary: Tiff Macklem made $459,380 in total compensation as Independent Director at Bank of Nova Scotia in 2020. $275,000 was received as Total Cash, $0 was received as Equity and $184,380 was received as Pension and other forms of Compensation. This information is derived from proxy statements filed for the 2020 fiscal year. Tiff Macklem, the current Dean of the Rotman School of Management, was born in 1961.
Macklem attended Selwyn House School in Montreal where he grew up. He graduated from Queen’s University with a bachelor’s degree in economics and went on to the University of Western Ontario for his master’s and Ph.D. in economics. He left to do his Ph.D. at Western University and returned in 1989. Unlike Mr. Carney’s swagger, friends say he’s clever but shy and ambitious. He’s a skier with a family of three children and a wife. He learned telemark after becoming dissatisfied with downhill skiing.
He was born and raised in Montreal’s affluent Westmount neighborhood, where he attended Selwyn House School and later Lower Canada College. His father was the owner of the Birks jewelry chain. Mr. Macklem declined to be interviewed for this piece because of the bank’s upcoming rate decision blackout period. Mr. Macklem is the central bank’s chief operations officer and second in command, as well as a senior deputy governor who sits on the board and governing council.
Career
Macklem began his career at the Bank of Canada in 1984, working in the Monetary and Financial Analysis Department for a year. In 1989, he returned to the Bank of Canada after completing his Ph.D. studies. In January 2000, Mr. Macklem moved through the ranks of the Research Department (now Canadian Economic Analysis). In August 2003, Macklem was appointed as the Governor’s Adviser. He then returned to the Bank of Canada as a Deputy Governor in December 2004. He returned to the Department of Finance in 2007 as Associate Deputy Minister and remained there until June 30, 2010.
Governor’s Deputy
On July 1, 2010, Macklem was named Senior Deputy Governor. Macklem is the Chief Operating Officer and a Board Director of the Bank of Canada. Macklem’s responsibilities as a member of the Bank of Canada’s Governing Council include overseeing strategic planning and coordinating the Bank’s operations. Macklem also leads the Standards Implementation Committee of the Financial Stability Board. Macklem was widely expected to succeed Mark Carney as Governor of the Bank of England after Carney’s appointment.
However, Stephen Poloz was picked to lead the BOC, making Macklem the third senior deputy governor to be passed up (after Malcolm Knight and Paul Jenkins). Macklem, a long-serving government employee, lacked Carney and Poloz’s private-sector experience. After being passed up twice for the top job at the BOC, several predicted Macklem’s departure. Macklem’s term was set to finish in 2017, but he announced his departure on May 1, 2014, to become Dean of the University of Toronto’s Rotman School of Management. “Losing that human capital is a major loss for the bank,” said Paul Ferley, assistant chief economist at the Royal Bank of Canada.
Macklem was appointed to the Bank of Nova Scotia’s Board of Directors on June 22, 2015. According to Governor Stephen Poloz of the Bank of Canada, it was just the beginning. On March 3, Governor Stephen Poloz of the Bank of Canada declared, “The first step on the path to higher interest rates.” In March 2020, the governing council cut interest rates to 0.25 percent and kept them there until recently. He proposed that the central bank stop reinvesting acquired assets and shrink its balance sheet after the first policy rate hike. He didn’t do it. What’s next for Carney? Tiff Macklem’s demure demeanor appears to be ideal.
Mark Carney’s Bank of Canada understudy is Tiff Macklem
But that’s it for the Governor and his senior deputy, Mr. Macklem, who is now the front-runner to succeed Mr. Carney as Governor of the Bank of England in July. Mr. Carney, a flamboyant and media-savvy investment banker, is 47 years old, while Mr. Macklem, 51, is a scholarly macroeconomist and productivity expert who has never worked outside of government. Mr. Macklem, according to observers, is the best alternative because he is familiar with the bank’s inner workings, global financial markets, and key participants.
Mr. Macklem, according to Sébastien Lavoie, assistant chief economist at Laurentian Bank of Canada in Montreal, is the most likely replacement. Mr. Lavoie added, “He understands the people and the machine.” “He’s certainly aware of what’s going on. The transition will be smooth if he is elected governor.” Mr. Macklem is similar to previous Bank of Canada governors in that he served a brief apprenticeship in the Finance Department before spending the rest of his career in the private sector. Mr. Macklem, on the other hand, joined the bank after graduating from the University of Western Ontario with a master’s degree in economics.
He has been intimately involved in nearly all of the bank’s major programs over the previous two decades, including its concerns about the country’s lagging productivity, its search for better global banking rules and improved financial stability, and, of course, its ultra-low interest rates. Mr. Macklem has advised retraining and retraining older individuals to boost productivity in previous meetings.
Mr. Macklem joined the Finance Department as an associate deputy minister in 2007 after acting as the government’s point of contact with the Group of Seven and the newly established Group of Twenty. Tiffany was his middle name, and he was a doctor who delivered generations of Macklem babies. His name is Richard. At an all-boys high school in Montreal, it wasn’t always easy for a studious, short child to carry the moniker. Mr. Macklem was a good sport, according to Michael Shetler, a classmate and lifetime friend. Mr. Macklem was not only an excellent student but also athletic and social, according to Mr. Shetler.
“A brilliant, quiet man,” said one of his Friends
Mr. Macklem’s only weakness is his lack of financial industry experience in the private sector. Most of Mr. Carney’s predecessors didn’t, either. “That kind of private sector expertise would be beneficial to future governors,” said Douglas Porter, deputy chief economist at BMO Nesbitt Burns. Mr. Macklem doesn’t have Mr. Carney’s massive personality or media clout. Mr. Porter, who studied under Mr. Macklem at Western, disagreed. The low profile could be advantageous. It would be perfect for the economy if monetary policy was not a heated topic.
Relationships between Finance Minister Jim Flaherty and Prime Minister Stephen Harper may have been strained as Mr. Carney’s celebrity grew. As a result, Mr. Macklem’s calm dexterity and humility may now have political value. Being the best candidate does not guarantee a job. In the following seven months, a lot can happen. The experts were wrong the last two times the bank needed a new governor, according to Bank of Nova Scotia economist Derek Holt, who predicted Mr. Carney and David Dodge.
Until July 2014, Mr. Macklem was Dean of the Rotman School of Management at the University of Toronto. At Rotman, he talked a lot about the global financial system, risk management, and public policy. He was a member of the Asian Business Leaders Advisory Board and the Georgian Partners Advisory Board, as well as the chair of Scotiabank’s board risk committee.
