• Wednesday, May 1, 2024

  3:45 pm - 4:45 pm: Driving Growth in a Changing World: A Canadian Executive Panel’s Perspective

Rowena Chan

Rowena Chan is passionate about bringing wellness and peace of mind to Canadians. She leads Retail Advice & Solutions at Sun Life encompassing the retail distribution omni-channel organization that delivers protection (life insurance), wealth, and health solutions to clients at all life stages, in addition to the insurance solutions (life and health) manufacturing business. She is equally passionate about the development of talent and determined to improve the dynamics of workplace diversity, equity, and inclusion for women and underrepresented minorities. She has made significant contributions in this space as a former Board Member of Career Edge, and VP of Ascend Canada. In 2020, Chan was awarded Canada’s Most Powerful Women Award among Executive Leaders by the Women Exchange Network (WXN) for her role in advancing the societal and professional landscape for future generations.

Prior to joining Sun Life, Chan held a series of senior executive roles at TD Bank Group across retail distribution, wealth management, product development, data and analytics, and control functions. She is a graduate in Sociology and Economics from the University of Toronto where she has been recognized as a Top 50 alumnus.

• Wednesday, May 1, 2024

  10:00 am - 11:00 am: Elevating Life Insurance Product Development and Innovation

Mathieu Charest, FSA, FCIA, CFA

Mathieu Charest leads product management, pricing, tax retirement and estate planning as well as new business and inforce illustration for Manulife’s Canadian Individual Insurance business. He started his career at Industrial Alliance in Quebec City working in Corporate Actuarial, where he focused on individual insurance product and group pension pricing. He then spent five years at Towers Watson in the New York-based International Consulting Group, working on all aspects of retirement plan management including design, financing, valuation, and accounting.

In 2010, he joined Manulife’s U.S. life business, focusing on asset liability management. From 2012 to 2015, he was AVP and Canadian Asset Liability Method (CALM) Actuary in Group Finance Actuarial, managing the CALM process across Manulife. Thereafter, he moved to the Canadian Division Risk area overseeing market, enterprise and product risks. Over the years, his role has evolved to cover additional risks such as operational, modeling in both Canada and Group teams, and his accountabilities have increased significantly, reflecting his leadership capabilities.

Charest is a Fellow of the Society of Actuaries and the Canadian Institute of Actuaries and is also a Chartered Financial Analyst. In 2013, he was nominated for Manulife’s Star of Excellence Award and was an honoree in 2018. Additionally, he served as the Risk Management representative to Manulife’s Global Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Council for four years.

• Wednesday, May 1, 2024

  11:00 am - 11:50 am: Innovation – Future State or Steady State?

Catharine Dutt, CPA, CA, CPA (Delaware), CGMA

Catharine Dutt provides risk management and internal audit advisory services to clients across a wide range of industries, with a specialty in global financial services. Prior to joining MNP, she was a senior audit executive at a global financial institution, focused on enterprise risk management, internal audit transformation, and internal controls. She was also the chief audit executive for a U.S. national bank. Most recently, she was a risk consulting practice leader for Canadian business and technology risk, internal audit, and internal controls services. She has worked with clients across a variety of sectors, including banking, insurance, government, municipalities, healthcare, telecommunications, and transportation. She approaches client issues by leveraging industry experience with emerging topics, including global function planning and operations, and advanced data analytics.

Dutt is a frequent speaker on topics such as governance and control, strategic internal audit functions, and organizational culture and conduct risk. She has supported her community as a board member with the Children’s Aid Society of Toronto and a member of the Finance, Investments and Property Committee of the board of Wilfrid Laurier University.

• Wednesday, May 1, 2024

  12:50 pm - 1:40 pm: Transforming CX and EX Business Conversations with AI

Colin Dyer

Colin Dyer is a leading technology strategist, renowned for his expertise in integrating artificial intelligence within the financial services sector to enhance customer satisfaction and drive organizational growth. Currently collaborating with prominent Canadian financial firms, he spearheads initiatives to leverage cutting-edge technologies and AI to empower individuals, ensure compliance with regulatory standards, and focus on customer-centric solutions.

He started his career at Arkadin/NTT in 2007, playing a pivotal role in transforming the company into a major integrated communications provider in North America. In 2018, Dyer joined RingCentral as a member of the Canadian team, contributing significantly to the introduction and establishment of the world’s leading communication platform in Eastern Canada. Working with major clients like NFP, Empire Life, and HOOPP, he has effectively built strong partnerships that have contributed to a 98.7% customer retention rate.

Paul R. Grimes, CFP, CLU, ChFC

Paul Grimes is Senior Vice-President, Distribution and leads the Independent Advisors Network for iA Financial Group, one of Canada’s major life insurance companies. In 2001, he published the first book in Canada on life insurance, The Facts of Life: How to Build Wealth and Protect Your Assets with Life Insurance. A second edition was published in 2003. His dynamic and personable speaking style makes him a sought-after speaker on sales techniques, life and health insurance, and financial planning.

• Wednesday, May 1, 2024

  10:00 am - 11:00 am: Elevating Life Insurance Product Development and Innovation

Byren Innes, ACS, HIA, CLU, CHFC, CFSB, FLMI, FLHC

Byren Innes has led consulting practices and held executive positions in insurance companies, mutual fund dealers and investment dealers for nearly 28 years. He pioneered some of the early innovations in universal life and disability insurance and has provided consulting services to insurance companies, insurance distributors, wealth management firms, banks, international consulting firms, and industry suppliers in Canada, the U.S. and the Caribbean. He has spoken at industry conferences, was a regular contributor to financial publications, and has been widely quoted by the financial press. Innes was the founding chair of the IDA Insurance committee, a past chair of the LIMRA Marketing Committee, and a member of the Executive Committee of the Canadian Life Insurance Standards Association.

• Wednesday, May 1, 2024

  3:45 pm - 4:45 pm: Driving Growth in a Changing World: A Canadian Executive Panel’s Perspective

Renée Laflamme, FCPA, FCA, CFA, ICD.D

Renée Laflamme oversees the operations and growth strategy for the Individual Insurance, Savings and Retirement sector across Canada, as well as all distribution, underwriting, product development, marketing, and administration activities. She is also responsible for leading the operations of PPI Management and is a member of the company's executive committee. She joined iA Financial Group in 1998, after 10 years with a large accounting firm. In 2004, she became Vice-President of Mortgage Loans and in 2010, Vice-President of Group Savings and Retirement. In 2015, she was promoted to the Strategic Planning Committee and to the role of Executive Vice-President, Group Benefits and Retirement Solutions. She ascended to her current role in February 2018.

Laflamme is a chartered accountant and chartered financial analyst. In 2017, she was awarded the title of Fellow CPA. In 2022, she won the Finance et Investissement Top Leader Award for Quebec in the “Leaders/Executives in the Financial Industry” category. In 2023, she was named one of the Top 100 Most Powerful Women in Canada by the Women's Executive Network (WXN) in the “Executive Leaders” category. She also supports a number of philanthropic organizations, including Centraide Québec-Chaudière-Appalaches, where she has been a member of the major donations committee for several years.

• Wednesday, May 1, 2024

  12:50 pm - 1:40 pm: Transforming CX and EX Business Conversations with AI

Matthew Lehman

Matthew Lehman is a Vertical Industry Principal, exclusively focused on financial services. Prior to joining RingCentral in 2021, Matt spent more than 20 years in senior digital leadership roles at leading banks and insurance firms including Progressive, KeyBank, FleetBoston Financial, AmTrust, and Westfield Insurance. He began his career as an investment banker in the Entertainment and Media group at JP Morgan Chase and was also part of the leadership team at Launch Media, which had a successful IPO prior to selling to Yahoo! Lehman holds an MBA from Cornell University and a BA in Economics and East Asian Studies from Colby College.

• Wednesday, May 1, 2024

  8:45 am - 9:45 am: Change or Irrelevance? You Pick

David Levenson, DBA, FSA, CFA

David Levenson is responsible for leading one of the world’s largest associations of life insurance and financial services companies, representing 700 member organizations across 70 countries. Most recently, Levenson was a principal at Edward Jones and served on its management committee from 2015–2018. He was responsible for all products distributed through its network of 17,000 advisors in the U.S. and Canada. Prior to 2012, Levenson was president of wealth management at The Hartford Financial Services Group, responsible for the firm’s individual annuity, individual life, mutual fund, and retirement plan businesses. He also served as president and CEO of Hartford Life, KK in Tokyo, where he was responsible for leading the largest annuity provider in Japan.

Levenson holds his Bachelor of Science from the Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania, his Master of Business Administration from Columbia Business School and a doctorate in business administration from The School of International Corporate Strategy at Hitotsubashi University in Tokyo, Japan. 

• Wednesday, May 1, 2024

  10:00 am - 11:00 am: Elevating Life Insurance Product Development and Innovation

Eddy Levy, CFP, CHS/RHU

Eddy Levy leads the Canadian Individual Insurance sales team and is responsible for building and leading a distribution strategy that keeps Manulife advisors and industry partners at the core of the organization’s focus. His prior roles with the company included Vice-President and Head of Advice, Canada Retirement; Vice-President and Head of Canada Retirement Distribution; Vice-President, Inside Sales, Advice and Retention; and Regional Vice-President – Distribution for Central East.

• Wednesday, May 1, 2024

  2:45 pm - 3:45 pm: Claims Adjudication – More Art than Science?

Leea Nelmes

Leea Nelmes joined Manulife in 2004 and is responsible for ensuring that in the daily operations of the Canadian Life and Investment teams, claims are processed in accordance with internal and external audit requirements, as well as compliance and legislative guidelines. 

Prior to joining Manulife, Nelmes worked for TD Canada Trust in various roles, including Estates and Mortgage lending. She has spent over 35 years in the financial services industry and regards leadership and mentoring as one of the most rewarding aspects of her career.

• Wednesday, May 1, 2024

  11:00 am - 11:50 am: Innovation – Future State or Steady State?

Sean Panter

Sean Panter delivers business critical solutions and is a recognized expert on the Microsoft Power Platform stack. He enables clients by leveraging Low Code tools like Power Apps, Microsoft Power Automate and Power Virtual Agents to evolve and modernize workflows and applications. Prior to merging with MNP, Panter co-led the Fidelity Factory team.

• Wednesday, May 1, 2024

  11:00 am - 11:50 am: Innovation – Future State or Steady State?

Divya Patel

Divya Patel is MNP’s senior Power Platform lead developer and solution architect. She has four years of progressively responsible experience both in industry and consulting, focused primarily on Microsoft Power Platform. She works with stakeholder and broader business teams to gather and respond to technical needs, build UI friendly canvas apps and complex logic model driven apps, as well as develop software bots using RPA and power automate tools.

• Wednesday, May 1, 2024

  10:00 am - 11:00 am: Elevating Life Insurance Product Development and Innovation

Selena Puttick

Selena Puttick started in the insurance industry in 1989. She gained underwriting experience over her 34+ years in Pensions, Group Life and Health, Wealth Management, Individual Insurance and Reinsurance. She has worked with various distribution channels on multiple products in Individual Insurance, Affinity Markets and Group Medical Underwriting. Puttick is an active volunteer in the industry and has delivered presentations for organizations such as AHOU, ALU, CIU, and CRC. In 2022, she was inducted into the AHOU Hall Of Fame, having been nominated by her peers and recognized for being a visible leader in the underwriting field throughout her career and for having made a meaningful contribution to the profession.

• Wednesday, May 1, 2024

  3:45 pm - 4:45 pm: Driving Growth in a Changing World: A Canadian Executive Panel’s Perspective

Rohit Thomas, FSA, FCIA

Rohit Thomas is Senior Vice-President, BMO Financial Group. He is also the President and Chief Executive Officer, BMO Life Assurance Company, and BMO Life Insurance Company. He has held various roles of increasing responsibility in the insurance industry ranging from product, pricing, finance, and corporate roles covering Life & Health, Wealth, and Annuity products.

He started his career at Manulife in 2007. He joined BMO Insurance as Director, Risk Management in 2012 and was appointed VP & Chief Product Actuary in 2014. Thomas moved to TD Insurance in 2020 as VP, Credit Card Insurance, Travel & Actuarial Pricing. He rejoined BMO in 2023 as President and Chief Executive Officer of BMO Insurance. He also serves as a Director of BMO Life Holdings (Canada), ULC and BMO Life Insurance Company. Thomas is a Fellow of the Society of Actuaries and a Fellow of the Canadian Institute of Actuaries.

• Wednesday, May 1, 2024

  2:45 pm - 3:45 pm: Claims Adjudication – More Art than Science?

Wendy Stockford

After obtaining a Bachelor of Science degree in Statistics at Western University, Wendy Stockford commenced her insurance employment at London Life (now Canada Life). Throughout her tenure, she worked in different parts of the organization, and eventually landed in Death Claims which has been her most interesting job. To Stockford, claims is the single most important function in insurance and leading her claims team has been the highlight of her 38-year career.