Sun Life Financial Inc.’s chief financial officer Kevin Strain will be taking over as the insurer’s chief executive next year as Dean Connor announces his retirement after a decade at the wheel.
Mr. Strain will become a member of Sun Life’s board and has been appointed president, effective Feb. 15. He will assume the role of CEO upon Mr. Connor’s retirement on Aug. 6.
At the same time, Mr. Connor, 64, will also retire from the Sun Life board of directors, after nearly 10 years as president and CEO and 14 years in executive roles.
In an interview on Tuesday, Mr. Connor said his time at the helm was filled with several standout moments for the company, including an increased focus on wealth management, doubling down on Asia, closing certain U.S. business lines and pushing ahead on digital capabilities.
“There’s a ton of unfinished business that Kevin is taking over, but we’ve made great progress, and we’ve opened up some real daylight between Sun Life and our competitors in a number of areas,” Mr. Connor said.
From Mr. Connor’s first day, on Dec. 1, 2011, to Tuesday, Sun Life’s TSX-listed shares rose 353 per cent – nearly twice Manulife Financial Corp.’s 185 per cent and more than double Great-West Lifeco Inc.’s 131 per cent, according to figures from S&P Global Market Intelligence.
Over the past decade, Canadian insurance companies have been bolstering their wealth management footprint as well as their exposure to the Asian market. When Mr. Connor stepped into his role in 2011, Asia made up only 6 per cent of the company’s revenue. Today, more than 20 per cent of revenue is now coming from its eight Asian markets.
Canaccord analyst Scott Chan says the appointment of Mr. Strain is a “suitable replacement as he has a strong track record in business transformation and as a finance executive.”
It also comes as no surprise that the incoming CEO is well versed in the growth opportunities found in Asia, a key market for Canadian insurers and asset managers. Prior to his role as CFO, Mr. Strain spent five years as president of Sun Life Asia, where he expanded the company into Vietnam and Malaysia.
“Dean asked me to go to Asia, and before I went he told me, ‘We are much too small in Asia, and it needs to be a bigger part of the company. We need to build high performing teams, with a high performance culture, and we need to make sure we have the right people,’ ” Mr. Strain said in an interview.
“So for me, it was a chance to take an area of the company that had huge potential but was underperforming and put all my energy behind that.”
Mr. Strain joined Sun Life in 2002 after the company acquired Clarica, a Waterloo, Ont.-based insurer where he had worked since 1997.
In addition to his time in Asia, he has held several senior executive roles at Sun Life including vice-president of investor relations for Sun Life’s corporate office, and senior vice-president of Sun Life’s individual insurance and investments division in Canada. He became CFO in 2017, a role he will continue to hold until the board names a successor, which is expected to be in the first half of 2021.
Sustainable investing, growing digital capabilities and driving diversity are top issues to target when he takes over next year.
“My focus will be to make digital an even bigger priority and create really great experiences for our clients from a digital perspective,” said Mr. Strain. “We’ve made great progress [in digital transformation] but I want to build on that leadership position.”
Mr. Connor doesn’t yet know what retirement will look like for him, but says there is a long list of things for him to consider.
“I have to say I like change, and I find the notion of pivoting to the next chapter hugely engaging,” he said. “So I’m going to take some time and sort through [those possibilities]. But I’m pretty excited by what that next chapter will look like.”
Mr. Connor made $9.65-million in 2019, down slightly from the prior year, with the bulk of his compensation in stock awards. According to the company’s proxy circular, Sun Life’s policies say Mr. Connor may hold and use his stock options after retirement, but he will forfeit a portion of his other share awards upon retirement. At the end of 2019, Sun Life valued Mr. Connor’s options and share awards at about $54-million, based on a $59.21 share price. Sun Life stock closed at $57.25 on Wednesday.
As of the end of 2019, Mr. Connor was entitled to a $529,000 annual pension, which the company estimated to be worth $7.4-million.
Mr. Strain made $3.41-million in 2019, with more than half his compensation coming from share awards.
With a report from David Milstead
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