March 22, 2022 - Equitable Life of Canada today announced the completion of recent leadership changes. Amit M. Punchhi, will join Equitable Life on April 4th, as Senior Vice President, Strategy and Chief Marketing Officer. Marc Avaria joined the organization as Senior Vice President Group on March 14th and Cam Crosbie recently transitioned to Vice President, Savings and Retirement on January 1st.
“The next generation of our leadership team has the vision and commitment to further develop our mutual status to deliver client and partner value,” said Fabien Jeudy, President and Chief Executive Officer, Equitable Life of Canada. “As a mutual company we have no other competing interests, our duty and priority rests only with our clients and our partners. This creates a different type of financial services organization made up of people who are committed to developing products and services differently.”
Strategy and Marketing
In this newly created role, Amit M. Punchhi, Senior Vice President, Strategy and Chief Marketing Officer will oversee the development of the Equitable Life mutual brand, strengthen the organization’s competitive position, and drive growth over the long term. Mr. Punchhi brings 30 years of global industry experience to Equitable Life. Throughout his career he has held several senior leadership positions including Chief Business Officer with HDFC Life (India), Chief Executive Officer, Hong Kong & General Manager (Singapore, India and Asia High Net Worth) with Reinsurance Group of America as well as leadership roles at Sun Life (India), Fidelity Investments (Canada) and Manulife Financial (Canada). Most recently, he was a founding team investor and President at Loop Health (India).
Group Business
Marc Avaria has joined Equitable Life as Senior Vice President, Group. Mr. Avaria has more than 20 years of senior leadership experience in the Group Benefits and Disability industry across leading financial services firms, Medavie Blue Cross, Manulife and Canada Life. He will lead all aspects of Equitable Life’s Group business to continue to deliver on exceptional client experience to drive growth in the group benefits space.
Mr. Avaria joins Equitable Life following Dave Bennett’s decision to leave the organization to pursue professional board of directors work. Mr. Bennett has held executive leadership roles at Equitable Life since joining the organization in 2009.
Savings and Retirement
To further innovate on Equitable Life’s digital solutions and client service platforms Cam Crosbie transitioned from his role of Vice President, Information Technology and Chief Information Officer, Equitable Life to Vice President, Savings and Retirement, Equitable Life on January 1, 2022.
Mr. Crosbie leads product development, distribution, marketing, and client services teams to provide client value through the deepening of advisor partnerships. Mr. Crosbie transitioned into this role following the retirement of Judy Williams a 35-year veteran at Equitable Life.
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About Equitable Life of Canada
Canadians have turned to Equitable Life® since 1920 to protect what matters most. We work with independent advisors across Canada to offer individual insurance, savings & retirement, and group benefits solutions to meet your needs.
Equitable Life is not your typical financial services company. We have the knowledge, experience and ability to find solutions that work for you. We’re friendly, caring and interested in helping. As a mutual company, we are not driven by shareholder pressures for quarterly results. This allows us to focus on management strategies that foster prudent long-term growth, continuity and stability. We are dedicated to meeting our commitments to clients – now and in the future.
www.equitable.ca