Manulife appoints Linda Mantia as Chief Operating Officer

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TORONTO, Sept. 7, 2016 /CNW/ - Manulife today announced that Linda Mantia will join Manulife as Senior Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer (COO), effective October 3, 2016.  Ms. Mantia will be a member of the Executive Committee and the global leadership team, and she will lead approximately 7,100 people around the world.

Ms. Mantia will provide leadership to many of Manulife's essential group functions, ranging from strategy creation to execution, on a global basis, ensuring they deliver strong and consistent value, expertise and thought leadership to Manulife's and John Hancock's businesses around the world.  She will play a critical role in defining corporate strategy, policies, standards, and processes, and will also drive and oversee Manulife's innovation portfolio.

"Linda is a collaborative, innovative and transformative leader, with deep roots in digital disruption and a passion for delivering exceptional customer experiences," said Donald A. Guloien, President and Chief Executive Officer, Manulife.  "The proven track record of success she has built throughout her career is not only directly relevant to the COO role, but also aligns closely to our customer-centric strategy."

Paul Rooney, who currently serves as COO, has made the decision to leave the company.  He has agreed to stay until the end of December and work with Ms. Mantia to ensure a smooth transition.  Mr. Rooney joined the company in 1986 as an actuarial student, and held a wide variety of increasingly senior positions which developed him into one of Manulife's top leaders.  He was instrumental in a number of recent strategic transactions undertaken by Manulife, including the Standard Life and New York Life Retirement Plan Services acquisitions and the Standard Chartered and DBS partnerships.

Most recently, Ms. Mantia served as Executive Vice President of Digital, Payments and Cards at Royal Bank of Canada (RBC), Canada's biggest lender.  She was responsible for RBC's award-winning credit card business, as well as the bank's mobile and online banking platforms.  Before joining RBC, Ms. Mantia worked at global management consulting firm McKinsey & Co., and prior to that, she practiced corporate securities law at Davies Ward Phillips & Vineberg LLP.  She holds a law degree from Queen's Law School in Canada.

About Manulife
Manulife Financial Corporation is a leading international financial services group providing forward-thinking solutions to help people with their big financial decisions.  We operate as John Hancock in the United States, and Manulife elsewhere.  We provide financial advice, insurance and wealth and asset management solutions for individuals, groups and institutions.  At the end of 2015, we had approximately 34,000 employees, 63,000 agents, and thousands of distribution partners, serving 20 million customers.  At the end of June 2016, we had $934 billion (US$718 billion) in assets under management and administration, and in the previous 12 months we made more than $25.4 billion in benefits, interest and other payments to our customers.  Our principal operations are in Asia, Canada and the United States where we have served customers for more than 100 years.  With our global headquarters in Toronto, Canada, we trade as 'MFC' on the Toronto, New York, and the Philippine stock exchanges and under '945' in Hong Kong.  Follow Manulife on Twitter @ManulifeNews or visit www.manulife.com or www.johnhancock.com.

SOURCE Manulife Financial Corporation

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Media Contact: Graeme Harris, Manulife, 416-852-9476, [email protected]