Global Investment Trends 2026

Roundtable Luncheon with Melanie Adams, Nick Chamie and Sacha Ghai

C.D. Howe Institute events and webinars are open to members and their guests.

Please follow this link or contact events@cdhowe.org to register.

Melanie Adams, Managing Director & Head, Responsible Investment, RBC Global Asset Management

J.D., Law, University of Toronto; B.Sc., University of Waterloo. Melanie is Managing Director & Head of the Responsible Investment team for RBC Global Asset Management (RBC GAM) and a member of the Leadership Committee. The Responsible Investment team supports RBC GAM’s investment teams in integrating environmental, social and governance factors into the investment process, engages in active stewardship and provides meaningful reporting on responsible investment. Melanie serves as Chair of the Board of Directors of the Responsible Investment Association, in addition to other responsible investment commitments. Melanie joined RBC GAM in 2014 and has also held roles in Fund Governance and Strategy, which included evaluating and executing on corporate acquisitions/mergers. Prior to working at RBC GAM, Melanie was Senior Counsel, Litigation for another large financial institution, and Enforcement Counsel at the Ontario Securities Commission.

Nick Chamie, Senior Managing Director, Head of Total Portfolio & Capital Markets, IMCO

As IMCO’s Senior Managing Director, Head of Total Portfolio & Capital Markets and Chief Strategist, Nick Chamie leads several top-of-the-house functions including Investment Research & Economics, Portfolio Construction & Strategic Asset Allocation, Total Portfolio Management, Fixed Income & Currency Portfolio Management and Centralized Trading.

Nick has more than 25 years of experience in portfolio management, trading, and research.

Before joining IMCO in 2020, he held senior leadership roles with leading financial institutions, including Chief Strategist and Global Head for FX Strategy and Emerging Markets Fixed Income Trading and Research at RBC Capital Markets, and Chief Investment Officer, International Wealth Management and Pensions at Scotiabank. Most recently, Nick was the Senior Portfolio Manager at the British Columbia Investment Management Corporation (BCI), where he led the foreign exchange team’s strategic hedging, tactical overlay, and overall investment strategy activities.

Nick holds a Master’s in Economics from the University of Western Ontario, a BA in Economics from Wilfrid Laurier University. He is a CFA charterholder.

Sacha Ghai, Senior Partner, McKinsey & Company

Sacha Ghai is a Director (Senior Partner) in the Toronto office of McKinsey & Company.  He leads McKinsey’s Global Institutional Investor service line, which includes pension plans, sovereign wealth funds, endowments and family offices from around the world. He serves clients in North America, Europe and the Middle-East.

He has extensive experience serving institutional investors across a wide range of issues and asset classes.  Specifically, he has experience helping them develop their long term multi-asset class strategies (including investment philosophy, business model, and direct vs. indirect investing) and supporting risk management processes.

He also helps these institutions organize to deliver on their chosen strategies by improving their external brand positioning and upgrading their supporting investment processes (including due diligence on direct investments, and external manager selection criteria), as well as by improving the efficiency and effectiveness of all middle and back office functions, including risk management and cost management.

Sacha spent 1 year as a Fellow of the McKinsey Global Institute where he led a major research effort on the impact of global demographic change on international capital markets. His work has been presented at the World Economic Forum in Davos, and appeared in various publications, including Business Week, the Financial Times, CBS News and McKinsey Quarterly.

He is also a co-author of “The Best of Times and the Worst of Times for Institutional Investors”, a global perspective on long term investment strategies to help institutional investors navigate the next decade.

Sacha received a B.A.Sc. in Biochemistry from McMaster University and an MBA from the Harvard Business School.