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Group Benefits Leadership Conference (Canada)

Future of Group Benefits Through Disruptive Innovation

10/3/2017 - 10/4/2017
Radisson Admiral Hotel - Toronto Harbourfront, Toronto, ON, Canada

Overview

Who Attends

Executives responsible for sales/distribution, marketing, product development/management and strategy of Group Benefits.

Highlights

This LIMRA conference is for Canadian carriers and reinsurers, and it will serve as a platform for the discussion of pertinent issues related to group business. Attending will provide you with the insights you need to remain competitive and secure a market leadership position. With a sharp focus on Canadian group insurance, voluntary benefits, and health care, the Group Benefits Leadership Conference is an offshoot of LIMRA’s annual Group & Worksite Benefits Conference, but it covers Canadian issues exclusively. Attend for exhaustive coverage of group marketing and distribution issues in Canada, new information, insights, and strategies for increased marketing and distribution effectiveness, and networking opportunities with top Canadian group benefits executives and other thought leaders from across the industry.

Speakers

Scott Beckett
Partner, Kearns Edgewater Financial Services Inc.

Scott Beckett

Partner, Kearns Edgewater Financial Services Inc.

Scott is a founding partner in Kearns Edgewater Financial Services Inc. (KEFSI) a “bespoke” insurance marketing firm in downtown Toronto specializing in employee and executive benefits and sophisticated planning for successful Canadians. The firm operates across Canada. From 2008 – 2014 Scott was President of Edgewater Financial Group Inc., now part of KEFSI. Scott is a Director of One Posting Canada; founded in Dublin, One Posting is a fast growing, innovative cloud based invoicing company expanding throughout North America with offices in Toronto. Until 2008, Scott was Vice President of Living Benefits at a major national insurance wholesaling organization. Scott has held a variety of senior positions in insurance marketing and product development and sales. Past roles include leading Crown Life’s North American Disability Insurance Division and prior to that as an actuarial student at the Paul Revere Life Insurance Company.
Greg Dubejsky
Program Manager, Advertising, Amazon

  • Wednesday, October 4, 2017

    8:00 am - 9:00 am: GENERAL SESSION 3

Greg Dubejsky

Program Manager, Advertising, Amazon

 Greg is an experienced senior leader with more than a decade's experience in global brand strategy, global innovation design & delivery, go to market execution, and business model innovation on billion dollar brands. His work has been recognized by Procter & Gamble, the United Way, and at the Cannes Advertising festival. Greg has worked in Canada and the U.S. in the consumer packaged goods and banking sectors, including several year’s leading the global innovation capability for Gillette. He recently was the Director of Corporate Engagement with the MaRS Discovery District, the world’s largest urban innovation hub.  At present Greg has joined Amazon to help scale their fast growing media business and bring innovative new solutions to life. He presents regularly to corporate executives and innovation practitioners. A sample of his work is available at https://medium.com/@gregdubejsky

Sally Hagan
Regional Director, Group Benefits, NFP Canada

  • Wednesday, October 4, 2017

    10:45 am - 12:00 pm: GENERAL SESSION 4

Sally Hagan

Regional Director, Group Benefits, NFP Canada

After a 13+ year career at Mercer Human Resource Consulting, where she achieved the role of Principal, Sally Hagan joined NFP Canada in 2016 as a Senior Account Executive. In March 2017 Sally took on the role of Regional Director, Group Benefits where she currently leads regional sales and marketing initiatives, mergers and acquisitions and manages mid-to-large client consulting cases. Client-specific solutions are Sally’s strength, along with her unwavering commitment to delivering exceptional service and quality products. For these reasons, the loyalty of Sally’s clients is unparalleled in the group benefits industry. Sally is an employee group benefits maven with a long-established and consistent record of success in delivering superior, leading-edge plan management solutions for public and private employers of all sizes. She possesses extensive knowledge on market trends, Canadian legislation, and the economic influences that impact employee benefits administration and drug plan management. Sally works closely with organizations looking to harmonize their benefit program across acquired companies to help her clients deliver a “one global plan” total rewards package while respecting regional differences. Sally is passionate about keeping her benefits knowledge up-to-date to maintain her thought-leadership role at NFP Canada.
Jaime Hugessen
Vice President, Group Distribution, Empire Life Insurance Company

  • Wednesday, October 4, 2017

    10:45 am - 12:00 pm: GENERAL SESSION 4

Jaime Hugessen

Vice President, Group Distribution, Empire Life Insurance Company

Jaime joined Empire Life in April 2008 — he has 3 decades of Group Sales and Sales Management experience. Jaime has previously worked in the Investment Management and Consulting industries, bringing a diverse business background to his current role. As Vice President of Group Distribution, Jaime has responsibility for creating and executing Empire Life’s group distribution strategy and for revenue growth. He is a member of the Group Senior Management team as well as a member of Empire Life’s Strategic Leadership Team. Jaime is a graduate of Concordia University where he received his Bachelor of Commerce in 1980. He is also a graduate of the University of Toronto, where he received his Executive MBA in 1997. He is a board member of the Counselling Foundation of Canada and also the LIMRA’s group marketing committee.
Jeff F. Macoun, CLU
Executive Vice President, Group Customer, The Great-West Life Assurance Company

  • Tuesday, October 3, 2017

    3:45 pm - 5:00 pm: GENERAL SESSION 2

Jeff F. Macoun, CLU

Executive Vice President, Group Customer, The Great-West Life Assurance Company

Jeff joined Great-West Life as a Group Sales Representative and worked his way through a variety of increasingly senior positions which include Senior Vice-President, General Sales Division, Senior Vice-President, Wealth & Estate Planning Group and Quadrus Investments and Senior Vice-President of Group Sales and Marketing. In 2015, he was appointed Executive Vice-President, Group; in 2016, Jeff was appointed Executive Vice-President, Group Customer. His industry awards include, Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Medal; Governor General’s Caring Canadian Award; William Bowman Award recognizing his leadership with the YMCA of Western Ontario and St. Joe’s Hospital Leaders and Volunteer Award.
Pascale Mapleston
Partner, Align Benefits

  • Wednesday, October 4, 2017

    10:45 am - 12:00 pm: GENERAL SESSION 4

Pascale Mapleston

Partner, Align Benefits

For the last 17 years, Pascale has worked on both the carrier and the brokerage side of the employee benefit business. Pascale started her career working for a major carrier in 1999 specializing in small group insurance. Over the course of the next 10 years, Pascale had the pleasure of working for several organizations in different roles learning the employee benefit business with companies of all sizes. From travelling the county launching the first on-line quoting and enrolment tool in 2001 to working with large union and not for profit clients Pascale found a passion for benefits and how they can affect and drive change in organizations. Always knowing she would venture off to work on the brokerage side of the business, in 2010 Pascale started her journey by launching Mapleston Benefit Consulting. Five years later the merge of this corporation with her long time mentor Tim Spark formed Align Benefits. Most recently, in addition to being a partner in a successful brokerage in the Toronto market, Pascale is also a partner in Workplace Evolution, sister company to Payment Evolution, as She and Tim work towards merging technology with the existing benefits world in the Canadian marketplace.
Marilee Mark
Vice-President Product & Integrated Health Solutions, Group Benefits, Sun Life Financial

  • Tuesday, October 3, 2017

    3:45 pm - 5:00 pm: GENERAL SESSION 2

Marilee Mark

Vice-President Product & Integrated Health Solutions, Group Benefits, Sun Life Financial

Marilee joined Sun Life in 2013, bringing over 25 years of experience in health care, consulting and the Group Insurance industry including disability management, marketing, product and business development. In her current role she is accountable for the development and execution of Sun Life Financial’s Group Benefit Product strategy and Integrated Health Solutions business. She has been extensively involved in the industry and sits on a number of external Community and Industry advisory boards, including Benefits Canada and the Sanofi Canada Healthcare Survey.
Keri Sheppard
Vice President, Sales & Marketing, Johnston Group, Inc.

  • Wednesday, October 4, 2017

    10:45 am - 12:00 pm: GENERAL SESSION 4

Keri Sheppard

Vice President, Sales & Marketing, Johnston Group, Inc.

Keri Sheppard has been a member of the Johnston Group team since 2009. He is Vice President of Sales and Marketing at the Johnston Group. Based out of our head office in Winnipeg, he also acts as Business Development Director for the province of Manitoba. Prior to joining Johnston Group, Keri worked as a pharmaceutical sales account representative for Proctor and Gamble in Manitoba. This was a big shift from his previous employment as a Canadian Alpine Women’s Ski Team coach from 1999-2006. Before he joined Team Canada’s coaching staff, Keri coached ski racing programs in Ontario, Manitoba, and B.C., as well as Australia. Keri studied at University of Guelph where he received a BA for political science and philosophy in 1993. Keri makes his home in Oakbank, MB, where he’s active in a number of community development organizations.
Mark Sylvia
President and Chief Executive Officer, Empire Life

  • Tuesday, October 3, 2017

    3:45 pm - 5:00 pm: GENERAL SESSION 2

Mark Sylvia

President and Chief Executive Officer, Empire Life

Mark Sylvia joined Empire Life as President and Chief Executive Officer in June 2014. He is also Chair of the Board of Directors for Empire Life Investments. Mark has more than 40 years of experience in the financial services industry with 25 of those years in a CEO capacity. Prior to joining Empire Life Mark was the President of EGI Financial and the CEO of Echelon General Insurance Company and prior to that the President & CEO of Hartford Life. He is a member of the American Society of Safety Engineers and the Society for Risk Analysis. Mark has served as a director of the CLHIA, Assuris, and was Vice Chair of the Industry Committee supervising the wind up of Confederation Life.
Ryan Weiss
Assistant Vice President, Market Development, Great-West Life

  • Tuesday, October 3, 2017

    3:45 pm - 5:00 pm: GENERAL SESSION 2

Ryan Weiss

Assistant Vice President, Market Development, Great-West Life

Ryan has been with Great-West Life for the past 12 years in positions that span claims, operations and sales areas. Working within the Group Customer Experience & Marketing team, he currently has responsibility for the benefits and pension product portfolio across Great-West Life’s block of business. This includes new product development, servicing and specialist support, and strategic relationship development in the delivery of new products.
Paul Wellman
Associate Partner, Cognitive & Analytics, IBM Global Business Service

  • Tuesday, October 3, 2017

    1:15 pm - 2:15 pm: GENERAL SESSION 1

Paul Wellman

Associate Partner, Cognitive & Analytics, IBM Global Business Service

Paul is an Associate Partner within IBM's Cognitive & AI practice responsible for the Insurance sector in Canada. Paul has spent 10+ years across technology and management consulting covering multiple industries and domain areas. Paul’s experience covers many aspects of digital transformation, data, machine learning, automation and industry based cognitive solutions. He combines the best of data science, analytics, management consulting and cognitive capabilities to drive strong value propositions for the Canadian Insurance Industry.
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/paulwellman/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/paul_wellman

Agenda

Registration

Early Registration (register by September 11)
LIMRA member - $550 U.S. plus applicable Canadian taxes
LOMA member - $650 U.S. plus applicable Canadian taxes
Non-Member - $750 U.S. plus applicable Canadian taxes

Regular Registration (register AFTER September 11)

LIMRA member - $675 U.S. plus applicable Canadian taxes
LOMA member - $775 U.S. plus applicable Canadian taxes
Non-Member - $875 U.S. plus applicable Canadian taxes 

Hotel / Venue

Radisson Admiral Hotel – Toronto Harbourfront
249 Queens Quay West
Toronto ON M5J 2N5
Canada
 

Click Here to Book Your Hotel Reservation Online  

Reservations by Phone: +1 (800) 967-9033 (US/Canada Toll-free) 

Make your room reservation by September 11, 2017 in order to receive the group rate of $199 single/double (plus applicable sales taxes). Requests after September 11, 2017 will be accepted on the basis of rate and space availability.

Extend your stay? The group guest room rate will be offered three days prior and three days after the meeting dates subject to availability of rooms at the time of your reservation. You may need to call the hotel directly to book the extra nights. 

As a reminder, the hotel rates may increase after the cut-off date or when the meeting room block sells out, whichever comes first. Make your reservations early to be able to receive our discounted rates.

 Radisson Admiral Hotel

Become a Sponsor or Exhibitor

Sponsors and Exhibitors

Gold Sponsors

Silver Sponsor

Dinner Sponsor

Contact us to learn more:

Joan O'Neil

Senior Conference Coordinator

LIMRA

(860) 285-7741

joneil@limra.com

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