Veteran to bring over 20 years of industry experience, including leadership roles at top Canadian insurer
Assuris – an independent, not-for-profit, industry-funded compensation organization that protects life insurance policyholders – has announced the appointment of Paul Petrelli as its next president and CEO.
Petrelli is slated to join the organization on January 24, 2021. He will replace the incumbent president and CEO Gordon Dunning, who will retire at the end of this year after almost three decades of service at Assuris.
“Mr. Petrelli brings a deep knowledge of the life insurance industry and a strong understanding of the regulatory framework at the Federal and Provincial levels," said Dan Thornton, chair of the board at Assuris.
Petrelli will bring with him more than 20 years of experience in the industry, which includes a wide variety of senior leadership roles he has held at Sun Life.
Most recently, he was given responsibility over the company’s global M&A, securities, technology and intellectual property legal teams, corporate secretarial and legal operations. He has also been Sun Life’s global head of Compliance, CFO of its Canadian business, and head of Investor Relations.
After obtaining his B.A. (Honours) from the University of Toronto in 1991, he received his LL.B. from the University of Windsor School of Law in 1995, then admitted as a member of the Law Society of Upper Canada in 1997. In 2019, he also earned a Master of Law degree specializing in Innovation, Technology, and Law from the University of Toronto School of Law.
“Mr. Petrelli's unique combination of skills will be a tremendous asset to Assuris as we continue to focus on being prepared and provide better protection for Canadian policyholders in the unlikely event that a member life insurance company fails,” Thornton said.
