D'Alessandro names Guloien as replacement for Manulife

Manulife Financial CEO Dominic D'Alessandro will be replaced by Donald Guloien. Guloien, chief investment officer, is a 28-year veteran with Manulife who oversees its global investment activities as well as the Asian insurance and wealth-management businesses. Guloien, 51, will take over when D'Alessandro, 61, retires May 7 after 15 years as CEO, Toronto-based Manulife said in a statement today.

``These will be very, very tough shoes to fill,'' said Ian Nakamoto, research director at MacDougall, MacDougall and MacTier Inc. in Toronto, which manages about C$4.5 billion, including Manulife shares. ``It's going to be very difficult.''

Guloien will vie with competitors American International Group Inc., the largest insurer in North America, and MetLife Inc. for sales of wealth-protection and retirement investments in the U.S. and growing markets in Asia. Manulife's stock has returned about 20 percent a year including dividends since the company became publicly traded in 1999, doubling the gains of the main Canadian equity index.

Manulife also named John D. DesPrez III, the senior executive vice president who oversees John Hancock Financial Services, as chief operating officer, responsible for insurance and wealth management operations in Canada, the U.S., Asia and Japan in 2009.

Manulife rose 65 cents, or 1.8 percent, to C$37.65 at 4:15 p.m. on the Toronto Stock Exchange.

'Ideally Suited'

Guloien is ``ideally suited'' as a replacement, Chairman Arthur Sawchuck said in the statement. ``He is extremely bright and has a deep understanding of all facets of our business.''

Holder of a bachelor of commerce degree from the University of Toronto, Guloien joined Manulife in 1981 as a research analyst. He headed the firm's mergers and acquisition unit from 1994 to 2001, when he led a number of takeovers and sales, including the merger with North American Life Assurance Co., the sale of its U.K. business, demutualization and the company's entry into Japan.

He became executive vice president and chief investment officer in 2001, when he was put in charge of investment operations in Canada, the U.S., U.K., Japan and Hong Kong. Three years later, after integrating Manulife's investment operations with those of John Hancock, he became senior executive vice president and assumed responsibility for Asian operations.

Assets

Guloien currently oversees more than C$250 billion in assets under management for Manulife and its clients, according to the company Web site.

``It's interesting that they should've picked an investment professional,'' said Gavin Graham, director of investments at Toronto-based BMO Asset Management, which manages about C$54 billion. ``They've been a very successful asset-gathering organization and their investment performance has been respectable.''

D'Alessandro announced four months ago that he'd step down as head of Canada's biggest insurer. He helped expand Manulife through acquisitions during his tenure, including the $13.9 billion purchase of John Hancock in 2004, the largest foreign acquisition by a Canadian company at the time.

The deal doubled the size of Manulife's U.S. operations, making it the country's largest seller of group long-term insurance products. U.S. insurance and asset-management earnings typically account for about 40 percent of Manulife's profit.

D'Alessandro, born in Frosolone, Italy, joined investment firm Genstar Ltd. in 1975. He was also an executive vice president of finance at Royal Bank of Canada, the country's biggest lender, and was CEO of Laurentian Bank of Canada. His total compensation last year was C$13.6 million, including salary, bonus and stock options.

He became CEO of Manulife in 1994, and led the company through demutualization in 1999, helping it become a public company in September of that year.

More Here, and Here

OPTIONS
Manulife Financial Corp. CEO Dominic D'Alessandro exercised 30,000 options for company common shares at $15.80 each on Sept 3, 2008. He sold all of these shares the same day at $38.10 each, bringing these holdings to 513,750 shares. This put $669,000 in D'Alessandro's pocket.
Manulife Financial Corp. bought back and canceled 500,000 company common shares from Aug 1 to Aug 8, 2008.