Former Financial Horizons Group executive vice president and chief operating officer, David Stewart, has assumed a new role as senior vice president of independent distribution with Canada Life.

Taking over the responsibilities previously managed by retiring executive Jim Brownlee, vice president managing general agency (MGA) partnerships, while also taking on national accounts as well, Stewart says his mandate is to grow Canada Life’s presence in the independent distribution channel.

Business is accelerating 

He says the carrier experienced some erosion of their market share in the independent channel since 2017 when the tax treatment of life insurance policies changed. Following a rush of advisors and clients seizing the opportunity to buy policies that would be subject to the older rules in effect until December 31, 2016, he says the pullback in the market following that rush has since reset itself and business is now accelerating. “Canada Life has not been satisfied with their penetration in that market. They want to make a concerted effort to grow that,” he says. 

Stewart brings to the role more than 25 years of experience in independent distribution. His experience includes work with a family-owned MGA, a regional aggregator, in national distribution and in a firm owned by an insurance company. (Financial Horizons was acquired by Great West Lifeco Inc., Canada Life’s parent company, in 2017.) “I’ve learned a lot of perspectives and how to work in the independent space in a lot of different ways,” he says. 

“Now I get to have an impact on not just one distributor, I can work with multiple independent distributors, anywhere from 80,000 to 100,000 advisors, to ensure that we preserve the right independent counsel and advice to Canadian consumers who desperately need and desire that independent advice.” 

Taking over for Stewart at Financial Horizons is Heidi MacDonald who became executive vice president of distribution and operations in June 2022.

More than 30 years in the life insurance industry 

By Serge Therrien 

Jim Brownlee has worked for more than 30 years in the life insurance industry. He was an advisor in the early days of his career, subsequently moving to other spheres of the industry, including financial planning, sales training, recruitment. He eventually made the jump to London Life as Chief Operating Officer for Western Canada. 

In 2017, he was promoted to Canada Life as Vice-President MGA Partnership, a position for which he was the point of contact with 40 insurance and financial services firms in Canada.