Desjardins financial Security has hired critical illness insurance expert Sean Long as its individual insurance health products specialist.

The subsidiary of Desjardins Group wants Long to build Desjardins’ presence among advisors and the public in English Canada, says Long. “It will be using my experience in Ontario, Alberta and British Columbia,” he says.

Long will also be working with the company’s actuaries and sales team to create innovative living benefits products — such as long-term care and critical illness insurance — that are tax-effective and cost-efficient.

“CI insurance is priced out of the market for most people,” Long says.

A 34-year veteran of the insurance industry, Long spent the past 10 years as a CI insurance marketing consultant. He has worked with many of the world’s largest reinsurers, giving promotional seminars in Canada, the U.S. and the Caribbean.

While running his own insurance agency, he set up www.criticalillnesslearning.com, an educational Web site for insurance advisors and executives. (The site is for sale to the person who shows a commitment to CI, Long says.)

Along with his broad-based experience comes a reputation for being a straight talker about the industry.

During a presentation at the World Critical Illness Conference in Toronto in April 2005, Long made waves among insurance executives when he drew attention to Canada’s low CI sales figures. One company, he noted, averaged only four CI insurance policy sales per advisor.

A year later, the numbers are no better. “CI is not selling. Sales are flat,” he says.

The key reason is poor advisor education, according to Long — a situation Desjardins hopes to rectify by making a commitment to education and training.

And that’s what has attracted Long to make this shift in his career and accept a full-time position with a large corporation. “Desjardins is being proactive,” he says.