People Watch

Featured Appointment Notices:

John Gray
Regional Vice President, Prairies

Henry Chudak, Vice President, Manulife Financial Group Distribution, is pleased to announce the appointment of John Gray as Regional Vice President.

Based in Calgary, John leads Manulife’s Group Benefits operations across Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba.  With offices in Calgary, Edmonton, Regina and Winnipeg, John heads a team of industry professionals who support employers of all sizes throughout the Prairies with benefits advice and services.  Manulife provides complete group benefits solutions to over 16,000 employers across Canada. In 2012, the Company celebrates 125 years of providing clients with strong, reliable, trustworthy and forward-thinking solutions for their most significant financial decisions.  Visit us at www.manulife.ca/groupbenefits.

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Renée Laflamme, Vice-President Group Savings and Retirement, Industrial Alliance Insurance and Financial Services is pleased to present the sales and service team of its Toronto Regional office.
Back row – left to right: Paul Vanderkolff, Victor Rosa, Toms Lokmanis, Carl Proulx, Maria Amoroso, Thomas Drolet, Narmina Sadikhov.

Front row – left to right: Willie Robb, Sheri McGlynn, Clark Steffy, Sandra Moroz, Mara Canal, Kimberley Spratt, Vilma Punsalan.

Dawn Jia,
Vice President, Head, Active Equities,
North America for State Street Global Advisors

We are pleased to announce that Dawn Jia has been appointed as Head of Active Equities for North America for State Street Global Advisors (SSgA), a key part of SSgA’s global Active Equity team, reporting to Dr. Marc Reinganum.

Ms. Jia was previously responsible for managing the Canadian active equity team. In this expanded role, she will also oversee US active equity strategies. Dawn will continue to be based in Toronto and report locally to Peter Lindley, President and Head of Investments for SSgA Canada Ltd.

A graduate of the MBA program from the Richard Ivey School of Business at the University of Western Ontario, Ms. Jia holds both a BS and an MS in Engineering from Tianjin University in China, and has earned the Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) designation.

R. Gregory Ross, President and Chief Executive Officer, AEGON Capital Management Inc. (“ACM”), is pleased to announce the appointment of James Kelly, as Senior Vice President, Institutional Sales. In his new role, James will be responsible for building best-in-class solutions for institutional clients by leveraging the domestic money management expertise of ACM and global expertise of AEGON Global Asset Management.
Prior to joining ACM, James was a Senior Partner with Investeam Canada, following 22 years with RBC Capital Markets, where he served as Managing Director, Head of Fixed-Income sales.

AEGON Capital Management manages more than $8 billion CAD in assets, comprised of institutional and asset liability matching investments. AEGON Capital Management is backed by the strength of AEGON N.V., a Netherlands-based insurance and financial services company, with more than US$500 billion in assets under management. AEGON N.V. stands at the centre of an integrated international network of 1,100 investment-related professionals located in investment hubs across North America, Europe, and Asia.

Clark Steffy was recently appointed Regional Vice-President, Sales, Group Savings and Retirement, Ontario, Atlantic & Western Canada at Industrial Alliance Insurance and Financial Services inc.

Clark will be responsible to coordinate the efforts of our sales teams in Toronto, Vancouver, Calgary and Halifax and will have the mandate to consolidate and expand our distribution networks.

Industrial Alliance is the fourth largest life insurer in Canada, with assets nearing
$73.4 billion. The company has experienced significant growth, with a comprehensive pension product line-up and over $8.5 billion in pension assets under management.