Sun Life Financial announces new CEO

Sun Life Financial Inc. said Dean Connor will retire as chief executive officer next year, and Chief Financial Officer Kevin Strain will take the insurance company’s helm.

Strain will join the board of Toronto-based Sun Life in February, taking the title of president as well. When Connor retires in August, Strain will become CEO.

“In his 14 years at Sun Life and nearly 10 years as president and CEO, Dean retires after a distinguished career where he transformed Sun Life to become one of the top insurance and asset-management companies in the world,” Chairman Bill Anderson said in a statement Wednesday.

Strain joined Sun Life in 2002 when it acquired Clarica, where he had worked since 1997. In addition to experience running Sun Life’s individual insurance and investment business in Canada, he launched Sun Life Global Investments -- now known as SLGI Asset Management -- and expanded Sun Life Asia into Vietnam and Malaysia.

Strain will continue to serve as CFO until a replacement is found.

“While he’s currently CFO, he has done a lot of work in operations,” John Aiken, an analyst at Barclays Plc, said in an interview. “So he has seen a wide breadth of the operation, and I think he’s well-suited to fill Dean’s shoes.”

Source: Insurance Business Uk