By Scott Ronalds

George Morgan joined Mackenzie Financial in January 2009 as a Senior Vice-President and Portfolio Manager for the Mackenzie Cundill American Class Fund. Mackenzie issued a public announcement at the time. Here are a few excerpts:

• “George is an extremely tenured and talented investor; his leadership is a tremendous addition to the team,” says Peter Cundill, founder of the Cundill organization.
  
• “We are always looking for opportunities to add to the strength of our investment management teams…George is an experienced global value investor who brings many years of investment success to the Cundill team and who has had a relationship with the team, having been a member of the Cundill Investment Advisory Committee for the last two years,” says Charles R. Sims, President and CEO of Mackenzie Financial Corporation.

Mr. Morgan left Mackenzie at the end of 2009 to pursue other interests. Here are a few excerpts from the announcement at the time:

• "                                                               "
  

(No public announcement was made).

The media has recently brought the issue to light, and there are reports that investors in the fund are upset due to the “undisclosed departure”. Mackenzie’s stance, as noted by Advisor.ca, is that the decision to not make his departure public was based on the conclusion “that there was sufficient continuity of portfolio management on the fund and the change did not warrant a general public release.”

Silence – 1; Transparency – 0.