Assumption life may be smaller than many other Canadian life insurers, but with an incoming president and CEO who’s spent much of his career helping to manage growth and merger activity in the head offices of large insurers, growth is likely in store for the Moncton, N.B.-based firm.
“Despite the relatively small size, it’s present in all lines of business,” says André Vincent, who is preparing to move to Moncton from Montreal to take over, effective April 1. Vincent notes that Assumption Life is active in both individual and group insurance, as well as in group savings products, pensions, investment management and mortgages. “I think we’ve just seen the tip of the iceberg, as far as the organization is concerned.”
Vincent, 58, will succeed Denis Losier, who is retiring after 19 years as head of the company. Given the wide variety of roles that Vincent has held in the insurance industry – including positions on both the individual side and the group side, in the field and at the head-office level – he says the role was a natural fit.
“I’ve had quite a number of different experiences as an insurance executive over the past 25 years,” Vincent says. “And I think that prepared me properly for the challenges ahead here at Assumption Life.”
A major portion of Vincent’s career has been spent with Winnipeg-based Great-West Lifeco Inc. (GWL). After earning his MBA at Concordia University, he took on a role with GWL in Montreal that involved working with financial advisors in the marketing and distribution of insurance products.
Vincent earned his insurance license and his chartered life underwriter designation early in his career, and as part of his initial role with GWL, he worked with some clients of his own.
After about nine years, Vincent became increasingly interested in operations at head office. “When you’re in the field,” he says, “and you’re looking at either the products you’re selling or what the company is doing, you’re always second-guessing whomever is making those decisions. I wanted to understand how decisions were being made at the corporate level.”
Vincent moved to Winnipeg to work in GWL’s head office, where he was director of marketing services and liaison agent for the firm’s group business line.
Vincent was transferred back to Montreal – where he was born and raised – four years later, having been appointed head of GWL’s group operations in Quebec.
After 16 years with GWL, Vincent was recruited by Lévis, Que.-based Desjardins Group to work in its subsidiary now known as Desjardins Financial Security Independent Network as a senior vice president in the group division. He joined that firm during a period of significant growth and transformation for the subsidiary in the mid-1990s, with numerous mergers and acquisitions underway.
“The company was going through major consolidation,” Vincent says. “It was a ‘once in a lifetime’ challenge.”
Vincent decided to make a career change in 2000, becoming an executive search consultant for nine years – primarily for insurance-industry clients. The search work allowed Vincent to focus on an aspect of his executive roles that he’d enjoyed thoroughly: helping people develop and grow in their own careers. “Mentoring and coaching people,” Vincent says, “is really what I like the most.”
@pagebreak@Although Vincent enjoyed the consulting work, he missed the collaborative aspects of working at a large corporation and the opportunity to participate in an organization’s internal decision-making process. “When you’re working as a consultant,” he says, “especially as a search consultant, it’s very lonely work. You’re on your own. Once you’re through with a mandate, you move on to the next client, the next candidate. There’s no continuity.”
Eager to return to the insurance industry, Vincent accepted a role as vice president of group insurance business for the Quebec region with Medavie Blue Cross in 2008 – a position he held until accepting the role at Assumption Life.
Growth is top of mind for Vincent as he takes the helm at Assumption Life. Although the company is more than a century old – it was founded in 1903 – it remains relatively modest in size. The company has relationships with about 5,000 independent advisors across the country, and it generated a record of $12.8 million in life insurance sales in 2012.
Assumption Life also owns a 70% stake in an investment-management subsidiary, Louisbourg Investments Inc., which has approximately $2 billion in assets under management.
“We realize that we’re a small player in a world of giants,” Vincent says. “We’re realistic about it.”
He’s confident that Assumption Life has plenty of room for growth – especially as the company makes strides outside of Atlantic Canada. Although the firm’s presence has traditionally been greatest in the Maritimes, Assumption Life has expanded its geographical footprint considerably in the past 10 years, now operating in every province. Three-quarters of the company’s life insurance sales now are generated in Ontario and Western Canada.
The biggest challenge for Assumption Life in the next few years, Vincent adds, will be maintaining a strong pace of growth in the current economic environment.
“How can you, in such challenging times, pursue growth while maintaining or even increasing profitability?” he says. “It’s finding the balancing act between growth and profitability.”
Given that Assumption Life is competing against players that are considerably larger, Vincent says, the company will have to be strategic in its pursuit of growth. He suspects that the company’s strongest prospects for growth may be in niche markets and specialty products that aren’t offered by the bigger insurers. However, Vincent has yet to identify the specific markets on which he intends to focus: “It’s pretty broad, in terms of where we could eventually position ourselves.”
One advantage that Assumption Life has over its larger, publicly traded competitors, according to Vincent, is that it’s a mutual insurance company, and, therefore, is less focused on quarterly financial results. “The nature of a mutual company,” he says, “allows you to take a much longer-term approach to how you want to position yourself strategically in the marketplace.”
Outside of work, Vincent’s passion is music. He has an undergraduate degree in music from a private college in Quebec and, before landing a job in the insurance industry, he had intended to pursue a career as a musician. Although music became a pastime rather than a job, it continues to be a big part of Vincent’s life. He plays the saxophone with a band in Montreal, and he is chairman of the board for the Ensemble Contemporain de Montréal – an ensemble that tours the country.
Vincent also enjoys travelling, reading, sports and spending time with his partner, Suzanne, and his five children.
Vincent also sits on the board for L’Arche Canada Foundation – a charitable organization dedicated to helping adults with intellectual disabilities.
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