Cenovus Energy has selected former TransCanada executive Alex Pourbaix as its next CEO.

Cenovus had been hunting for a new chief executive since June after Brian Ferguson announced his plan to retire at the end of this month.

"On behalf of the board, I am pleased to welcome Alex to the Cenovus team. He has an impressive track record of value creation and a reputation as an outstanding leader who inspires and empowers teams to succeed while demanding accountability and results,” Cenovus Chair Patrick Daniel said in a press release.

Pourbaix spent 27 years at TransCanada, most recently as chief operating officer, before he left the company in May.

“His DNA is part of the oil and gas industry…and when you say oil and gas industry, it’s not just oil and gas exploration and development; there’s multiple facets to it of which he’s been a big part of for his life,” said Rafi Tahmazian, senior portfolio manager at Canoe Financial, in an interview with BNN.

“Cenovus is an oil sands company. It’s a deep basin company. It’s a conventional asset company. It’s a marketing company. All of these things are important components of the business that we, as shareholders, hope that a CEO is knowledgeable of. And what they get out of Alex is a person with big-company experience.”

Pourbaix will step into the top job on Nov. 6. Ferguson’s last day as CEO will be Nov. 2.