What are some highlights of your career journey at Canada Life?

When I reflect on my 25-year career at Canada Life, a real highlight has been leading innovative work across our organization, including exploring and integrating new capabilities like AI. I’ve been fortunate to have worked in many different corners of the organization. From leading teams in product, analytics, digital and marketing to claims management and operations, as well as technology and actuarial roles, I’ve gained a rich and diverse experience here.

Along the way, I’ve worked with incredible people. Having the opportunity to learn from others while experiencing different parts of the business is among the greatest benefits of being at a large organization like Canada Life. It’s a place where I’ve continually grown and evolved my career without ever having to change employers — while at the same time mentoring and coaching the next generation of leaders. It’s been very rewarding.

How is AI helping to modernize work at Canada Life?

Canada Life applies human-led AI across our business to elevate our customer experience, drive innovation and optimize processes and operations in a responsible and thoughtful way. AI is helping us improve service for our customers by allowing us to work more effectively and make better and faster decisions.

In our contact centres, we’re currently using AI to transcribe and summarize calls and improve our case handling. We use intelligent document-processing AI to more accurately and quickly process work. Across claims and underwriting, it enhances predictive accuracy, streamlines decision-making and supports better health outcomes. In addition, it allows for more personalized customer engagement, helping people make the most out of their plans and investments with Canada Life.

Essentially, we have enterprise AI solutions integrated across our organization to boost employee productivity, streamline content creation and enhance our workflows.

Looking ahead to the future, what is AI’s potential?

There’s tremendous potential for AI to continue to modernize and reshape the way we do business. It will have a profound impact on how we work and is increasingly becoming a part of our everyday lives. It’s being embedded in tools and technologies we already use. It will increase the pace of automation. Agent-assist capabilities will further streamline work and allow employees to focus on contributions that add greater value.

Importantly, though, we will continue to be responsible and thoughtful in applying AI. Maintaining the trust of our customers underpins everything we do. We’re mindful of protecting our customers’ information, rights and data. Overall, we’re responsibly applying new technologies, including AI, in our business and we follow a strong, responsible AI governance framework to mitigate risk.

How important is collaboration to ensure we benefit from the best of AI?

AI is evolving at an incredible pace, and it’s hard for organizations and people to keep up. We’ve had the greatest success when we experiment and iterate before scaling more broadly. We partner closely with technology, business teams, risk partners and end users to really understand what is needed and how to make the most out of AI’s capabilities.

As we navigate this new world of opportunity, I believe collaboration and fostering connections with other organizations and professionals is key. That’s the main reason why I helped found the Manitoba Association of AI Professionals. We recognized a real need to connect professionals, organizations, governments and educational institutions across the province to ensure there was effective collaboration and learning taking place with this technology. We’ve had tremendous appetite from members in the community to connect, collaborate and share learnings, which has been great to see.

Why is it a priority for you to help advance women in leadership?

At Canada Life, we’re committed to building a diverse, equitable and inclusive company for our people, customers and communities. I’ve been fortunate to have had great leaders and mentors who have helped shape my career and I’m passionate about offering that same guidance to others as they develop their careers. I’ve been an active advocate for women in leadership for a long time and have supported many in their career journeys. As executive sponsor for the women in leadership employee resource group at Canada Life, I’ve had the opportunity to contribute to a community of champions and allies committed to empowering, elevating and educating others in the pursuit of positive change. To me, this work really matters and I’ve been happy to be part of it.

What strategies do you use to successfully navigate a fast-paced industry?

I rely on a few core strategies that have consistently helped me lead with clarity and impact. First is to have purpose and outcomes as your anchor, and to prioritize what truly matters and ensure alignment across teams and the work we do. Second is to embrace change and adopt a growth mindset. Change is a constant and I view it as an opportunity to learn and evolve, rather than a disruption. This mindset fosters resilience and adaptability, which are essential in a dynamic and fast-changing environment. Third is to collaborate. Transformations don’t happen in silos. I work closely with leaders across our organization to identify high-impact opportunities and align on shared goals. I also appreciate gaining a broad perspective and drawing inspiration from people inside and outside our industry. Fourth is to mentor and empower future leaders by creating space for them to grow. We’re building a culture that’s not only agile but deeply invested in our long-term success.