Manulife looks east to find next CEO
Don Guloien, who took over as chief executive of Manulife Financial Corp. at a turbulent time in the insurer’s history, is retiring at the end of September at the age of 60.
He will be replaced by Roy Gori, 48, who he hired to run the company’s Asia division in 2015, and who was then tapped last year to become president of the company.
In an interview Thursday, Guloien said he hired the Australian citizen and Citi veteran with an eye to adding him to the bench lineup of possible successors.
“(Given) the importance of Asia to the company, it would be silly to fill that role with anyone I didn’t think could be CEO,” Guloien told the Financial Post.
He said Gori, who worked for Citi for more than two decades in locations including Sydney, Singapore and Thailand, quickly proved himself to be adept at collaboration, and gained the respect of colleagues beyond the Asian operations.
“It wasn’t a tough decision at the board,” Guloien said, adding that a key to landing the CEO job was a shared vision that Manulife must embrace digital technology and a “customer-centric” approach across all of its geographic locations and product groups.
Gori said he feels he can continue along the path set by his predecessor.
“The organization really is in great shape,” he said.
Currently vice-president and general manager of the Asia division, Gori will take additional responsibility for leadership of Manulife’s Canadian, U.S., and investment operations June 5. His appointment as CEO — which takes effect Oct. 1, when he will also join the board — is subject to immigration approvals, Manulife said.
In the same statement, the insurance giant announced the unexpected departure of Craig Bromley, who was senior executive vice-president and general manager of the company’s U.S. Division (John Hancock).
Guloien declined to elaborate on Bromley’s departure, or say what role, if any, the CEO succession plan might have played.
Guloien took over as head of Manulife from longtime CEO Dominic D’Alessandro in 2009 as the company, which was heavily exposed to equity markets, dealt with the fallout from the 2008 financial crisis.