Frank Laezza, UBC Vice-President Finance & Operations and Deetken Impact co-founder Alexa Blain add to strength of UBCIM’s professional board of directors

VANCOUVER (November 13, 2023) — UBC Investment Management is pleased to announce the appointments of Alexa Blain, Deetken Impact co-founder and Managing Partner, and Frank Laezza, UBC Vice-President Finance & Operations to the firm’s Board of Directors.

“We are thrilled to have Frank and Alexa join what is already a strong and highly professional Board of Directors,” says UBC Investment Management Board Chair Gordon MacDougall. “We also want to thank outgoing board member Alison Gould for her contributions to UBCIM’s success.”

Alexa Blain leads portfolio management, finance and operations at Deetken Impact — a Canadian impact asset manager with US$150 million in assets across five funds focused on investments in women’s empowerment, clean energy, and impact enterprises in Latin America and the Caribbean. Prior to joining Deetken, Alexa was an executive with African Alliance, a pan-African financial services group and an associate with the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board and the Macquarie Group in Toronto. Recognized as one of Vancouver’s Top Forty Under 40 by Business in Vancouver magazine, Alexa is a CFA Charterholder, a Chartered Business Valuator and holds an MA in Financial Economics from the University of Toronto.

Frank Laezza is the Vice President, Finance & Operations for UBC where he leads a team of over 1,400 individuals in the core financial, facilities, and safety functions of the university across both the Vancouver and Okanagan campuses. Frank joined UBC in March 2023 from Murdoch University, Australia, where he was Chief Financial Officer with responsibility for leading the university’s business and finance functions, as well as management of its financial and capital resources. He also worked at Technical and Further Education State Vocational College (New South Wales Australia); University of Technology, Sydney; and University of New South Wales, among other institutions. In addition to his strategic financial and operational leadership, Frank has experience with IT transformation — including Workday — as well as major capital works project oversight.

For more information, contact: info@ubcim.ca