People Watch

Benefits

Karen Drinkwater has been promoted to senior benefits consultant at Pointbreak Consulting Group in Burnaby, B.C. She joined Pointbreak in 2005.

Shepell•fgi has appointed Cynthia Kinsella as vice-president of employee support solutions (ESS), western region. The ESS business provides Shepell•fgi’s employee and family assistance programs. In this position, Kinsella will be responsible for overall sales and account management of the ESS organization in western Canada and the Northwest Territories. She will be based in Vancouver.

Sean Kilburn has been named senior vice-president, life insurance, with Empire Life.

Dana Hurst has joined People Corporation as a wellness specialist.

André Vincent has been named president and CEO of Assumption Life. He was previously vice-president of group insurance for Quebec, with Medavie Blue Cross.

Robyn Gray has joined AQ Group Solutions as a senior benefits consultant. She brings more than 15 years of industry experience to the role.

Pensions

Cameron McNeill has joined The Segal Company as senior vice-president and retirement practice leader. McNeill has nearly 30 years of experience in the employee benefits consulting business in Canada and the U.K. He joined Segal after more than 20 years with Buck Consultants.

Dianne Verschuere has been appointed regional vice-president, group retirement savings, Western Canada, with Desjardins Insurance. In this newly developed role, she will be responsible for leading the team and growing its group retirement business in the western region. Previously, she provided consulting services for a major Canadian HR consulting firm.

Scott Sweatman has joined the Vancouver office of Fraser Milner Casgrain LLP as a partner and lead of the local pensions and benefits practice. Sweatman was co-chair of the Alberta-British Columbia Joint Expert Panel on Pension Standards in 2007/08, providing recommendations to both Alberta and British Columbia provincial governments for fundamental reforms to pension legislation.

Investments

Manulife Asset Management has expanded its global equity capabilities by naming Paul Boyne and Doug McGraw have been named to lead a new team managing a global equity strategy for institutional clients and certain wealth management businesses of Manulife Financial and John Hancock. Both Boyne and McGraw will be senior portfolio managers.

The Ontario Securities Commission (OSC) has announced that chair Howard Wetston, Q.C. has been appointed a vice-chair of the board of the International Organization of Securities Commissions (IOSCO). He will carry out his role as IOSCO vice-chair in addition to his responsibilities as OSC chair.

Tim Thompson, chief operating officer of TD Asset Management (TDAM), will assume responsibility for TDAM’s institutional team. Thompson joined TD in 1990 and has spent the majority of his career in leadership positions within TDAM.

Larry Madge has been appointed senior vice-president and chief actuary with Sun Life Financial. He will be responsible for the corporate oversight of actuarial practices enterprise-wide and provides leadership, direction and vision for the actuarial community globally. Keith Gubbay succeeds Madge as senior vice-president and chief financial officer for Sun Life Financial U.S. He assumes responsibility for all financial reporting, capital, profitability management, planning and related functions for Sun Life’s U.S. business group.

Send all other announcements to Brooke Smith, Managing Editor, Benefits Canada.