Manulife Financial Corp. has appointed Warren Thomson as chief investment officer, the company said Thursday.

Thomson, 54, succeeds Donald Guloien, who became president and CEO of Manulife Financial on May 7.

Thomson, a senior executive vice president, will oversees the worldwide investment operations managed on behalf of the Manulife’s general fund and external clients, with total assets in excess of $286 billion.

Thomson was also named to succeed Guloien as chairman of MFC Global Investment Management. He is also a member of Manulife’s executive and management committees.

Before taking on his current role, Thomson was vice chairman of MFC Global Investment Management. In addition to being responsible for MFC GIM’s fixed income and equity security management subsidiaries, he also had oversight of Manulife real estate, declaration management & research, Hancock timber resource group, Hancock agricultural investment group, and NAL Resources. Prior to that, Thomson was responsible for overseeing the management of all U.S. fixed income portfolios, including public bonds, private debt and mortgages for John Hancock.

The investment division team reporting directly to Thomson includes:

• Kevin Adolphe, senior vice president and divisional CFO;
• J-F Courville, president & CEO of MFC Global Investment Management;
• Scott Hartz, executive vice president, general fund investments;
• Stephani Kingsmill, senior vice president & general manager, real estate;
• Kathy Lockwood, vice president, human resources; and
• Alan Seghezzi, senior vice president & chief counsel, Investments.

Thomson worked for Manulife between 1987 and 1994 in corporate tax, and returned in 2001 to the investment division as senior vice president. He Thomson holds a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Toronto and has his Chartered Accountant designation from The Institute of Chartered Accountants of Ontario.

IE