Sun Life Financial Inc. has announced the retirement of Chief Executive Officer Dean Connor, confirming that the long-term leader will hand the reins over to existing Chief Financial Officer Kevin Strain in August of next year.
In addition to taking the role of CEO, the 54-year-old businessman will also assume the role of President. He will also be made a board member in February of 2021.
Connor played an instrumental role in transforming Sun Life from a small-scale startup to a major player in the Canadian financial services space.
As Barclays Plc analyst John Aiken explained in an interview, “He really has transformed Sun Life from a bit of a sleepy company into better growth, and he made investments in technology that brought it into the present if not the future.”
As for the future CEO, he joined Sun Life back in 2002 when it acquired Clarica, the company for whom he worked since 1997.
Since announcing Connor’s retirement, Sun Life’s shares incurred little change, sitting at C$57.10 at 10:54 AM Eastern Time.
