Mark Machin, who earlier this year resigned as the head of Canada Pension Plan Investment Board after defying the government’s international travel guidance, will join the board of Singapore investment firm Serendipity Capital.

He will start as a non-executive director on Aug. 1, according to a press release. Serendipity Capital, founded by former Credit Suisse Group AG banker Rob Jesudason, is valued at about US$300 million and focused on artificial intelligence, quantum computing and the climate.

Machin resigned as president and chief executive officer of the Canadian pension fund in February. The British citizen earned a rebuke from the nation’s finance minister after he took a flight to the United Arab Emirates to receive a Covid-19 vaccination, ignoring government guidance on international travel. He was succeeded by fund veteran John Graham.

While head of the fund, Machin kicked off a venture capital program, investing US$386 million in the strategy to capture higher returns and innovations by co-investing alongside top-tier managers. He also accelerated investments in data and advanced analytics, including developing scale machine‐learning forecasting to improve long-term performance, according to CPPIB’s Website.

CPPIB returned about 11 per cent a year and grew to almost US$500 billion in assets during Machin’s five-year tenure as CEO. He joined the fund in 2012 as a senior managing director based in Hong Kong in charge of international. Before that he spent 20 years at Goldman Sachs Group Inc., including 9 years as a partner. He holds degrees in sciences and medicine from Oxford University and Cambridge University.

Jesudason, 49, started Serendipity Capital last year, generating a net return of 29.3 per cent so far. He was previously head of emerging markets in the financial institutions group at Credit Suisse and has also served as chief financial officer at Commonwealth Bank of Australia and president of Block One, a global blockchain company.

The founder owns 50 per cent of the firm, 25 per cent is held by other partners, the board and senior advisers, while external shareholders own the remainder.