THE CANADA LIFE ASSURANCE COMPANY - Key Persons
Job Titles:
- Chief Underwriting Officer
Job Titles:
- Head of Structured Reinsurance
Job Titles:
- Fellow of the Society of Actuaries
- Head of Reinsurance Pricing
As President of our Canada Life Re entity in Bermuda, Brendan Kearney leads the growth of the international reinsurance business there. Additionally, he is responsible for the reinsurance pricing function for our team in Toronto.
Brendan joined Canada Life Re in Dublin 2009, before moving to Toronto in 2015, and to Bermuda in 2023. He has held roles of increasing responsibility in reinsurance pricing and operations, in addition to supporting and leading various projects and corporate initiatives.
Brendan is a Fellow of the Society of Actuaries (2017), the Society of Actuaries in Ireland (2014), and the Institute and Faculty of Actuaries (2014).
Job Titles:
- VP Reinsurance Treaties and Deal Administration Head of US Operations
Job Titles:
- Fellow
- Member of the Executive Team
- CEO, Canada Life Re Ireland Dac
As Managing Director of Canada Life Re Ireland dac in Dublin since June 2017, Conor is responsible for the Group's reinsurance operations in Europe.
Conor has over 25 years' experience in the financial services space, both in life assurance and in the financial markets. Conor spent the earlier part of his career as an actuary working in Dublin-based life assurance companies before moving into a client-facing role as Director and Senior Consultant in Life Strategies (now Milliman). In 2001, Conor co-founded and lead, Ireland's first online retail derivative provider ‘Delta Index' until 2011. Conor was most recently Managing Director of Barclays Insurance Dublin.
Conor is a fellow member of both the Society of Actuaries in Ireland and the Institute and Faculty of Actuaries in the UK.
Job Titles:
- COO
- Member of the Executive Team
- Chief Operating Officer, Reinsurance
As the Chief Operating Officer, Derek Popkes is responsible for the group's life reinsurance marketing, pricing, underwriting, and administration operations.
Derek joined Great-West Life in 1996 and held a number of actuarial roles before joining the reinsurance group in 2001. Over the following years Derek held a number of actuarial, pricing and marketing roles in the group's London and Dublin offices including overall leadership of the group's European reinsurance operations based in Dublin. From 2012-2017 Derek held the role of Great-West Life's European Chief Risk Officer with responsibility for the effective operation of the group's risk management system across its European insurance and reinsurance operations. He is a Fellow of the Canadian Institute of Actuaries (1999) and the Irish Institute of Actuaries (2007).
Job Titles:
- Head of International Markets Business Development
Job Titles:
- Head of Business Development
Job Titles:
- Member of the Executive Team
- Chief Risk Officer, Reinsurance
- CRO of CLIRe
As CRO for Cana da Life Reinsurance, Eamonn Mernagh is responsible for oversight of all risk-taking activities across the Reinsurance Division.
Prior to taking up this role, Eamonn has been the CRO of CLIRe for 5 years, where he was responsible for developing and implementing risk policies and reporting to the local Board and the Irish regulator on risk issues. Eamonn continues to retain his CRO function at CLIRe. Eamonn is a Fellow of the Society of Actuaries in Ireland (2008) and is a Chartered Enterprise Risk Actuary (CERA).
Job Titles:
- Member of the Executive Team
- CEO, Barbados Branch
- CEO, London Life & Casualty ( Barbados ) Corp
- Chief Executive Officer, London Life and Casualty ( Barbados ) Corporation
- Fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accountants
- London Life in 1992 As Vice - President, Property
As Chief Executive Officer, Gabriel Kelly oversees all operations in the Barbados office.
Gabriel joined London Life in 1992 as Vice-President, property and casualty operations and now oversees the Property & Casualty business in the Barbados office. A native of Ireland, Gabriel is an experienced professional in all aspects of traditional and non-traditional property and casualty reinsurance for international markets.
Gabriel is a Fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accountants (1994).
Job Titles:
- Member of the Executive Team
- General Manager & Actuary, Barbados Branch
- General Manager & Actuary, the Canada Life Assurance Company ( Barbados Branch )
As General Manager and Actuary, Gareth Dobson leads the Barbados Branch of Canada Life and oversees all offshore life reinsurance operations.
Gareth joined the UK division of Canada Life in 2006 and held roles of increasing responsibility before moving to Toronto in 2013 to join the reinsurance operations. Senior reinsurance roles in Barbados and Ireland followed before his appointment as Head of Pricing and Protection for Irish Life at the end of 2017. Gareth returned to a reinsurance role in late 2019 as President of London Life International Reinsurance Corporation, leading the relocation of that company to Bermuda before moving to his current role in September 2020.
Gareth is a graduate of the University of Cambridge and a Fellow of the Institute and Faculty of Actuaries (2010).
Job Titles:
- Member of the Executive Team
- Chief Executive Officer of Reinsurance
As Chief Executive Officer of Canada Life Reinsurance Jeff Poulin leads the Reinsurance Divisions, focusing on the continued development of new solutions and new markets.
Jeff joined Canada Life Insurance Company in 1988 as an Actuarial Assistant. In 1992, Jeff moved his family to Barbados where he served as Vice-President, Life & Health.
In 1995, Jeff became part of the US operation in Blue Bell, PA. During his career with CLRE, Jeff has contributed to the development of a sound portfolio of life, health, and annuity reinsurance. From 2007 to 2017 Jeff served as the President of Canada Life Reinsurance Company.
He is a Fellow of the Society of Actuaries (1992) and the Canadian Institute of the Actuaries (1993).
Job Titles:
- Manager, Treaty Administration
Job Titles:
- SVP, Head of Structured Life Pricing
Job Titles:
- Member of the Executive Team
- Chief Actuary
- Chief Actuary, Reinsurance
- Fellow of the Society of Actuaries
As Chief Actuary, Laurie Kolb oversees the actuarial function for the entire Reinsurance group of companies.
Laurie joined the organization in 1995 and has held a number of increasingly senior roles in the Company's Canadian Division (direct operations) and within Canada Life Reinsurance's business development and actuarial teams. Laurie assumed the role of Chief Actuary, Reinsurance in 2018.
Laurie is a Fellow of the Society of Actuaries (2003) and the Canadian Institute of Actuaries (2003).
Lewis Fickett - Chief Compliance Officer, Chief Legal Officer
Job Titles:
- Chief Compliance Officer
- General Counsel
- Member of the Executive Team
Job Titles:
- Chief Marketing Officer, SVP, Sales & Marketing
Job Titles:
- Member of the Executive Team
- Vice President of Operations
- Vice President, Operations, Canada Life Reinsurance
As Vice President of Operations, Marc-André is responsible for heading Pricing, Underwriting and Research functions for US Traditional Life Reinsurance business and leading the Operations team in Regina. He is responsible for the receipt of data, the administration of premiums and claims, and ensuring that our risk is managed through quality review.
Marc-André joined Canada life in 1999 working in varying capacities before joining Reinsurance in 2007. His career stretches over 20 years in the financial services sector gaining strong experience in Valuation and Pricing both from an insurer and reinsurer point of view. Marc-André has extensive experience managing business operations and supporting diverse groups.
Job Titles:
- Member of the Executive Team
- Head of U.S. Life Reinsurance
- Head of U.S. Life Reinsurance / President, Canada Life Reinsurance Company
- President of Canada Life Reinsurance Company
As President of Canada Life Reinsurance Company, Mike Mulcahy is responsible for all aspects of the operations of CLRE including pricing, marketing, and financial reporting, as well as the development of client solutions for Canada Life Reinsurance in the United States.
Mike joined Canada Life Reinsurance Company (CLRE) in 1999, after 9 years pricing individual life and annuity products with direct insurers. As a member of the LLRC team, he developed and priced a diverse range of reinsurance products including life, health, disability and annuities, and he was responsible for Structured Life Reinsurance Pricing for Canada Life Re until 2010.
Mike is a Fellow of the Society of Actuaries (1998) and a member of the American Academy of Actuaries (1995).
Job Titles:
- Director, Underwriting Research
Job Titles:
- Head of Longevity Pricing
Job Titles:
- CFO
- Member of the Executive Team
- Chief Financial Officer, Reinsurance
As CFO, Trish Gehlen Preston oversees financial management operations for the entire Reinsurance group of companies.
Trish joined the organization in 1999 from Deloitte and has held a number of increasingly senior roles in the Company's Investment Division a nd Global Finance operations. She is a Chartered Professional Accountant and represents Canada Life Reinsurance on a number of insurance industry working groups, and assumed this role on June 1, 2021.
Job Titles:
- Executive Advisor, Asia Pacific