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CGI CEO Michael Roach will retire next month.Paul Chiasson/The Canadian Press

CGI Group Inc. promoted George Schindler to chief executive officer to replace Michael Roach, who will retire next month after a decade at the helm of Canada's biggest information-technology company by market value.

Schindler, 53, will take over Oct. 1 with Roach remaining a director, Montreal-based CGI said Thursday in a statement. Schindler was appointed chief operating officer of CGI in May 2015, having previously run the company's U.S. business from 2011. He joined CGI as a result of the 2004 acquisition of American Management Systems Inc.

"With 30 years of experience in consulting services, George has successfully managed large operations in IT and management consulting," CGI Chairman and co-founder Serge Godin said in a statement. "George was identified by the board more than five years ago as a strong candidate for the CEO role. Since then, he has progressively assumed more responsibility, from our U.S. business to North American operations and, for the last year and a half, all global operations have reported to him."

Roach, now 64, oversaw the largest acquisition in CGI's history – the 2012 purchase of Logica Plc for $2.6-billion (U.S.) in cash, which allowed the company to speed up its expansion into Europe. Since then, CGI has been integrating Logica and working on smaller tuck-in acquisitions.

CGI revenue more than doubled to more than $10-billion (Canadian) during Roach's stint as CEO. Its widely traded Class A shares soared about seven-fold during the period to a market value of $19.1-billion. That exceeds the 68 per cent return of the benchmark S&P/TSX Composite Index including dividends, data compiled by Bloomberg show.

CGI fell 1.8 per cent to $62.60 in 10:19 a.m. in Toronto and had gained 13 per cent since the start of the year.

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