Dean Connor serves as Chairperson of the Canadian Pension Plan Investment Board and Chair of the Board of Trustees of the University Health Network. Connor was President and Chief Executive Officer of

Sun Life Financial Sun Life Financial Inc. is a Canadian financial services company. It is primarily known as a life insurance company. Sun Life has a presence in investment management with over CAD$1.3 trillion in assets under management operating in a number ...

for ten years up to his retirement from that role in 2021. __NOTOC__

Early life

Connor was born in

Hamilton Hamilton may refer to: * Alexander Hamilton (1755/1757–1804), first U.S. Secretary of the Treasury and one of the Founding Fathers of the United States * ''Hamilton'' (musical), a 2015 Broadway musical by Lin-Manuel Miranda ** ''Hamilton'' (al ...

Ontario Ontario is the southernmost Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada. Located in Central Canada, Ontario is the Population of Canada by province and territory, country's most populous province. As of the 2021 Canadian census, it ...

, Canada. He graduated in 1978 from the Honours Business Administration (HBA) program at the

Ivey School of Business Ivey Business School is the main business school of Western University, located in London, Ontario, Canada. It offers full-time undergraduate and graduate programs in London, Ontario and maintains a Toronto facility for its EMBA program and two ...

at the

University of Western Ontario The University of Western Ontario (UWO; branded as Western University) is a Public university, public research university in London, Ontario, Canada. The main campus is located on of land, surrounded by residential neighbourhoods and the Thame ...

. He was a qualified actuary with the Fellow of the

Society of Actuaries The Society of Actuaries (SOA) is a global professional organization for actuaries. It was founded in 1949 as the merger of two major actuarial organizations in the United States: the Actuarial Society of America and the American Institute of A ...

and the

Canadian Institute of Actuaries The Canadian Institute of Actuaries (CIA) is the national organization of the actuarial profession in Canada. It was incorporated March 18, 1965. The FCIA designation stands for Fellow of the Canadian Institute of Actuaries. As the national orga ...

Career

Early career

In 1978, Connor joined Mercer Human Resource Consulting. Over the course of 28 years, he rose to CEO of Mercer's Canadian operations, focusing on the areas of investment, retirement, group benefits and compensation, and then to its President for the Americas, encompassing the U.S., Canada and Latin America.

Sun Life Financial

Connor joined Sun Life in 2006 as Executive Vice-President with responsibility for the Company's United Kingdom and Reinsurance operations, strategic international activities and corporate functions. He was appointed President of Sun Life's Canadian operations in 2008. In 2010, Connor became Chief Operating Officer with executive responsibility for Sun Life’s Canadian and United Kingdom operations,

MFS Investment Management MFS Investment Management (MFS) is an American-based global investment manager, formerly known as Massachusetts Financial Services. Founded in 1924, MFS is one of the oldest asset management companies in the world and has been credited with pio ...

, Corporate Marketing, Human Resources, Information Technology and other shared business services. Connor served as Sun Life’s President and Chief Executive Officer from 2011 to 2021. Connor was named Canada’s Outstanding CEO of the Year for 2017 based on his outstanding efforts in Vision and Leadership, Corporate Performance, Global Competitiveness, Innovation and Social Responsibility.

Canada Pension Plan Investments

Connor was appointed to the Board of Directors of the Canada Pension Plan Investments in August 2021, and was appointed Chairperson of its Board in October 2023.

Philanthropy/Associations

Connor serves as Chair of the Board of Trustees of

University Health Network University Health Network (UHN) is a public research and teaching hospital network in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It is affiliated with the University of Toronto, and is the largest health research organization in Canada, ranking first in Canada for ...

, Canada’s largest academic health sciences centre. Connor has previously served on the boards of the Business Council of Canada,

Trillium Gift of Life Network The Trillium Gift of Life Network was an agency of the Government of Ontario responsible for the province's organ donation strategy, promotion, and supply. Ronnie Gavsie was the President & CEO. The agency maintained the BeADonor.ca website. It ...

, Roy Thompson and Massey Hall, the Canadian Life and Health Insurance Association, and the Asia Business Leaders Advisory Council. He chaired Toronto Rehabilitation Institute’s $100 million "Where Incredible Happens" campaign. Connor has been involved for many years with

United Way of Canada United Way Centraide Canada () is the national organization for the autonomous, volunteer-based United Ways and Centraides across Canada. The United Way Movement in Canada is a federated network of local United Way offices serving more than 5,000 ...

, including the current Inclusive and Local Economic Opportunity (ILEO) project, and was the Chair of the 2017 United Way Campaign for Toronto and York Region.

Honours and awards

* In 2014, Connor was named Top New CEO by

Canadian Business ''Canadian Business'' is the longest-publishing business magazine based in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, and founded in 1927. The print edition terminated in the end of 2016. Beginning in January 2017, the magazine was published online only. In Octob ...

magazine * In 2017, Connor was recognized as One of the Top 40 Canadian Executives on

Twitter Twitter, officially known as X since 2023, is an American microblogging and social networking service. It is one of the world's largest social media platforms and one of the most-visited websites. Users can share short text messages, image ...

and ranked one of the top 25 CEOs in Canada by

Glassdoor Glassdoor is an American website where current and former employees anonymously review companies, operated by the company of the same name. In 2018, the company was acquired by the Japanese company Recruit Holdings (owner of Indeed) for US$1. ...

* In 2017, Connor was named Canada’s Outstanding CEO of the Year™ *In 2018, Connor was named Ivey Business Leader of the Year *In 2019, Connor was named one of the 100 Best-Performing CEOs in the World by the Harvard Business Review

Personal life

Connor is married to Maris Uffelmann and has three children.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Connor, Dean A. Businesspeople from Ontario University of Western Ontario alumni Year of birth missing (living people) Living people