CC&L Fixed Income Team Update

This is an update only and you don’t need to take any action as a result of this news.

In 2024, CC&L announced the expected retirement of Head of Fixed Income, David George.  Sun Life issued a communication at that time (click here to view). We initially understood that George was to retire in 2026, but CC&L informed us that he has since retired on December 31, 2025. TJ Sutter was promoted to Co-Head of Fixed Income (alongside George) in Q1 2024. George relinquished his leadership and portfolio management roles at the beginning of 2025 and acted in an advisory capacity until his retirement on December 31, 2025. 

Following George’s retirement, Sutter is now sole Head of CC&L’s sixteen-person fixed income team.  He is also the lead decision maker on CC&L’s bond funds and the fixed income component of balanced funds.

Sutter joined CC&L in February 2021, following a decade at RBC Capital Markets, where he served as Director and Regional Head of the Fixed Income, Currencies, and Commodities Group. At RBC, Sutter directed investment risk strategies and led a team of nine traders and salespeople, managing relationships with major clients. During his tenure at CC&L, Sutter had been a macro strategist, initially collaborating with former team leader Brian Eby, and later taking over Eby’s macro research, prior to Eby’s retirement in 2024. Sutter collaborated with David George over the past two years as George transitioned toward retirement. Carolyn Kwan, who has 25 years of macroeconomic research experience, and ten years of tenure at CC&L, will support Sutter on macroeconomic forecasting. CC&L also hired Sandy McArthur in May 2025 as a Senior Macro Analyst to support the macro research effort.

The retirements of Eby and George result in a considerable loss of experience in a short period of time.  Eby retired after 25 years with CC&L and 38 years in the industry.  David George was with CC&L since 2006 and in addition to leading the Fixed Income team, he was the Lead Portfolio Manager (“PM”) on CC&L Group Bond and PM on the fixed income strategies underlying CC&L Group Balanced Plus and CC&L Group Income & Growth. George had strong experience in corporate and high yield bond research and was Head of Credit Research. George was mentoring the credit team in anticipation of his eventual departure.  Jocelyn Chu, who has been with CC&L since 2010, has been taking on a leadership role within the credit team.  Chu became Head of Credit Research in 2025 in anticipation of George’s retirement.

In 2025, CC&L also announced that Simon MacNair would be retiring at the end of 2025 after 18 years with CC&L. MacNair managed portfolio risk and ensures constructed portfolios reflect the Fixed Income team’s investment expectations. While he is not a decision maker on the overall strategy, his retirement is a further loss of fixed income experience in a short time. His responsibilities will be shared within the team.  

Sun Life GRS Investment Solutions team view

As we communicated in 2024, David George’s retirement was a surprise. He is younger than typical retirement age and he had only become sole Head of Fixed Income in 2022. George expressed a desire to focus on family and other personal interests. George’s leadership and strong background in credit will not be easy to replace. Overall, the retirements of Eby, George, and MacNair are a significant loss of experience. 

Sutter now has two years in a leadership role at CC&L and will lead the team without the support of George or Eby.  He assumed both macro research and team management responsibilities. We have some concerns that Sutter’s capacity may be stretched. However, CC&L has a deep sixteen-person fixed income team, which should be able to support him. Jocelyn Chu has significant tenure with the firm. She is steeped in the firm’s credit research process, and we have confidence in her ability to lead that effort as an internal successor to George.

CC&L Group Bond, CC&L Group Balanced Plus, and CC&L Group Income & Growth remain on our Watch List under the Additional Monitoring category, which is the least severe category. We will continue monitoring the fixed income team and provide updates as needed.