Alberta’s government named a long-serving bureaucrat as interim chief executive officer of the province’s pension fund manager following Thursday’s shock firing of the entire board.Ray Gilmour, who joined the public service in 2007 and currently serves as deputy minister of the executive council,

The provincial government of Alberta, Canada, has terminated the entire board of the C$168.9 billion ($124.5 billion) Alberta Investment Management Corp., Edmonton, citing underperformance issues and rising costs.

Alberta Investment Management Corp.’s chief executive officer and entire board were sacked by the provincial government, which said the money manager has increased compensation and staff but hasn’t produced acceptable returns.

Court Ellingson, Alberta NDP shadow minister for finance, issued a statement in response, calling the move “UCP incompetence.” “In an unprecedented move, the UCP fired the entire board and the CEO, and made their own politician—not an investment expert—the sole person in charge of over $170 billion of these Albertans’ pensions,” said Ellingson.

The province says the move comes 'after years of AIMCo consistently failing to meet its mandated benchmark returns.' For now, Finance Minister Nate Horner has been appointed the sole director and chair for AIMCo.

Alberta’s finance minister has sacked the board of directors of AIMCo, which manages pension and other funds for the province and handles more than $160 billion in assets