Manulife elevates HK CEO to charge of whole of Asia

Manulife has appointed Damien Green as Asia CEO as part of its global changes to its executive leadership team. Currently CEO of Manulife Hong Kong, Green will replace Anil Wadhwani who is leaving the company. Green joined Manulife in 2018 as chief strategy and transformation officer for Asia. Manulife said that Green boasts extensive experience in the insurance industry, having held leadership roles across Asia with MetLife, AIA, and AustralianSuper.

The company added that under Green's leadership, Manulife Hong Kong has become the largest life insurer in the market based on total new premiums and remains the largest mandatory provident fund provider in Hong Kong. Moving forward, Pankaj Banerjee, chief distribution officer for Manulife Asia, will serve as interim CEO of Manulife Hong Kong, pending completion of the appointment process for Green’s successor.

“Manulife has been in Asia for 125 years, and we have earned the right to step up our ambitions in the region, drawing on our pre-eminent agency force, our unrivalled distribution partnerships and our highly engaged people and culture. I am honoured and humbled to lead Manulife to the next stage of growth in Asia as the most digital, customer-centric global company in our industry," said Green.

Green will report directly to Manulife president and CEO Roy Gori. Other appointments include Naveed Irshad, who will become Canada CEO.

“Today’s announcement underscores the depth of our leadership bench. These outstanding leaders bring strong track records for delivering results and have a shared passion for building winning teams. I look forward to working with them as we continue to drive growth across our franchise and advance our digital, customer leadership efforts," he said.

The insurance company had another major management reshuffle earlier this year on its marketing. Former Asia CMO Julie Nestor joined Mastercard as SVP, head of marketing and communications for APAC. She worked for Manulife for close to two years during which she was responsible for the significant contributions made to Manulife's marketing efforts across APAC. She joined the insurer in October 2020 from Hilton where she formerly held the role of VP, marketing and GM of eCommerce, Asia Pacific.

Meanwhile, in Singapore, head of Marketing of Manulife Singapore Aparna Guruprasad also stepped down from her role earlier this year. cording to Aparna's LinkedIn, she is an experienced leader in brand, marketing and customer experience. She is also able to effectively utilise creativity, commercial viability, and collaboration to achieve "best-in-class results for the customer and the organisation".

The company has since appointed Lay Ean Goh as senior director of brand and marketing for Asia. Her appointment was effective from March 2022. Goh joined Manulife as director, brand and marketing for Asia in January 2019 and was a brand custodian in this position, supporting 10 markets in Asia to grow brand awareness and consideration.

In this position, she developed ManulifeMOVE's brand refresh logo and visual identity, launched ManulifeMOVE’s regional campaign in 2019, and developed offline events such as Angkor Wat Marathon 2019’s key visual for the event which was used for three consecutive years.

Related articles
Former Manulife Asia CMO Julie Nestor joins Mastercard
Manulife Asia CMO Julie Nestor to step down
Manulife Singapore's marketing head steps down