Senior leadership | Foresters Financial

James R. (Jim) Boyle

President and Chief Executive Officer

Jim Boyle was appointed President and CEO of Foresters Financial™ in January 2018. Jim has more than 30 years of financial services experience. He spent almost 20 years with Manulife Financial and John Hancock in a variety of operating roles, culminating in his being named President and CEO of John Hancock in 2008.

Euan Allison

Chief Executive Officer, United Kingdom

Euan Allison has been leading the U.K. business for Foresters Financial™ since February 2008. In this role, Euan leads a team of 145 Field Staff and 165 Head Office staff, serving over 1.3 million Foresters members in the U.K...

Louis Gagnon

Chief Operating Officer

Louis Gagnon, Chief Operating Officer, Foresters Financial^™, is responsible for life insurance operations in the U.S. and Canada, and membership worldwide. He joined Foresters Financial in January 2021...

Matt Berman

President of Foresters Financial, U.S.

Matt Berman is the President of Foresters Financial^™ Life Insurance in the U.S. Previously, he was Chief Distribution Officer, Foresters Financial and President, Foresters Life Insurance and Annuity Company (FLIAC)....

Patricia Colavita

Vice President and Chief Internal Auditor

Pat Colavita joined Foresters Financial™ in 2007, as AVP Risk Management and was appointed as Vice President and Chief Internal Auditor in 2012. In this position she is responsible for auditing Foresters operations in the US, Canada and the UK...

Nicole Gourley

Global Chief Membership Officer

Nicole Gourley is the Global Chief Membership Officer at Foresters Financial™. In this role, she is responsible for membership strategies, benefits, events and governance that enrich family and community well-being...

Mehul Kapadia

Chief Information Officer, Vice-President of IT and Business Transformation

Mehul Kapadia joined Foresters Financial™ in 2015 and was appointed Chief Information Officer in August 2016. In this role, he leads the Information Technology (IT) organization that supports Foresters’ North American Life Insurance and Annuity business and corporate functions, while also advising Foresters’ executive leadership team on technology matters...

David Longfritz

Global Chief Marketing Officer

David Longfritz was appointed Global Chief Marketing Officer at Foresters Financial^™ in May 2018. In this role, he provides leadership and oversight for all marketing, communications and public relations...

Marcia Mendes-d'Abreu

Global Chief Human Resources Officer

Marcia Mendes-d’Abreu joined Foresters Financial™ as the Global Chief Human Resources Officer in January 2019. As a member of the Executive Committee, she provides leadership and oversight of the HR function in developing and implementing talent strategies that enable the organization to meet its strategic, operational, cultural and transformational objectives...

Alvin Sharma

Global Chief Financial Officer

Alvin Sharma was appointed Global Chief Financial Officer at Foresters Financial™ in September, 2018. He has broad financial experience, most recently with Echelon Insurance where he was Chief Financial Officer. He has a wide breadth of experience across a number of areas including corporate finance, investments...

Gaurav Upadhya

Global Chief Actuary and Chief Risk Officer

Gaurav Upadhya was appointed as Chief Actuary at Foresters Financial™ in October 2018 and additionally took on Chief Risk Officer responsibilities in March 2020. Previously he held the role of Chief Financial Officer for Foresters North American Life Insurance and Annuity business. In his current role, he leads the actuarial, capital and risk functions at Foresters globally...

René Zanin

Global Chief Legal Officer, Chief Compliance Officer and Corporate Secretary

René oversees legal, compliance, special investigations and consumer complaint services enterprise-wide including all aspects of insurance law, litigation management, mergers and acquisitions, and general corporate commercial and employment law...

At Foresters, strong corporate governance helps us protect our members and the funds they invest with our organization. Our Board of Directors - elected every four years – is responsible for the business and fraternal affairs of Foresters. The Board oversees the strategic direction and management of our organization, and ensures that processes are in place to ensure the integrity and transparency of our financial reporting and that we conduct our affairs in compliance with laws and regulations. Our current Board of Directors was elected in 2017.

Robert E. (Bob) Lamoureux

Chair of the Board, Human Capital and Governance Committee, Fraternal Committee

During his 35-year career with PricewaterhouseCoopers, Bob served as auditor for a wide range of private and public companies and developed a keen interest in corporate governance. He has served as Chairman of the Board of Royal Group Technologies...

Christopher J. (Chris) Stranahan

International Fraternal President, Chair - Fraternal Committee, Human Capital and Governance Committee

Christopher spent 37 years in a variety of roles at Nestle USA, before becoming the owner of Wild Birds Unlimited. His association with Foresters began in 1985 and he has held various Branch and Regional Council positions...

Katherine A. (Kathy) Bardswick

Risk and Investment Committee, Fraternal Committee, Human Capital and Governance Committee

Following a career that spanned nearly four decades with The Co-operators Group Ltd., Kathy stepped down from her role as President and Chief Executive Officer in 2016. She began her career at Co-operators as an underwriting supervisor, rising through the ranks of management to executive leadership roles...

Sonia A. Baxendale

Chair - Human Capital and Governance Committee, Audit and Compliance Committee

Sonia Baxendale was appointed President and CEO of GRI in January 2019. The Global Risk Institute is the premier organization that defines thought leadership in risk management for the financial industry globally. Prior to joining GRI, Sonia was President of CIBC Retail Markets where she led the Retail and Wealth Management businesses from 2005 to 2011...

James M. (Jim) Bowden

Risk and Investment Committee, Fraternal Committee

Jim Bowden started his 40-year working career in 1967 after receiving a Bachelor of Arts in Accounting with a Minor in Business Administration. After 15 years with the Internal Revenue Service as an agent excise tax specialist...

James R. (Jim) Boyle

President and Chief Executive Officer

Michael C. (Mike) Edge

Audit and Compliance Committee, Fraternal Committee

Mike is a self-employed vehicle distribution sub-contractor, specializing in inspecting, collecting and delivering vehicles through Vale Vehicle Movements of Bromsgrove UK, a fleet and vehicle movement and management service...

Daniel J. (Dan) Fortin

Risk and Investment Committee, Human Capital and Governance Committee

Dan is the former president of IBM Canada with more than 35 years of experience in the technology industry, and 15 years of leadership globally. As president, until his retirement in 2014, he guided IBM in helping Canadian organizations transform their businesses...

Richard P. Hennick

Human Capital and Governance Committee, Fraternal Committee

Richard is a licensed and certified Service Technician Manager with American Opti-Net Inc., a telecommunication infrastructure organization. He has been employed with American Opti-Net for 29 years...

Frank N.C. Lochan

Risk and Investment Committee, Audit and Compliance Committee

Frank has over 25 years' experience in the life and property and casualty industries at the investor level. He had a 30-year career with Brookfield Asset Management Inc. (formerly Brascan Limited), holding a variety of executive positions in corporate planning...

Mike Lombardi

Risk and investment Committee, Audit and Compliance Committee

With over 40 years’ experience in the insurance industry, Mike is currently president of Mike Lombardi Business Consulting (MLBC), providing advice to insurance companies on business strategies, merger and acquisitions opportunities and corporate financial challenges...

Martha E. Marcon

Audit and Compliance Committee, Risk and Investment Committee

Martha was a partner in the Los Angeles office of KPMG until her retirement in 2006 after 31 years of service. She spent over eight years with the firm's top technical resource partner on accounting and financial reporting matters...

Michael P. Stramaglia

Chair - Risk and Investment, Audit and Compliance Committee

Michael is a professional corporate director and President/Owner of Matrisc Advisory Group Inc., a risk management consulting company. He currently serves on the boards of the Equitable Bank, Economical Insurance Group and Munich Re Canada...

Wendy A. Watson

Chair - Audit and Compliance Committee, Human Capital and Governance Committee

Wendy has over 40 years of experience in the financial services industry, retiring in 2009 from State Street as Executive Vice President, Global Services where she led the company’s initiative to advance all aspects of cost leadership worldwide...

Robert W. (Rob) Wight

Audit and Compliance Committee, Fraternal Committee

Rob was employed as a Maintenance Mechanic with O-I Canada for 38 years before retiring in 2006. His extensive volunteer experience with Foresters includes positions in both the Branch and Regional President.

Board committees

Four standing Committees support our Board of Directors in its stewardship of Foresters Financial. From time to time, ad hoc or temporary committees are formed such as the Nominating Committee and the Constitution Committee, which are constituted in advance of each International Assembly, or are a committee to manage a special project, or acquisition. The Board can form other committees on a standing or ad hoc basis as necessary in order to fulfill its stewardship responsibilities.

The primary accountabilities for each of the Board committees are described below:

Audit and Compliance Committee
Martha E. Marcon, Chair
Sonia A. Baxendale
Michael C. Edge
Frank N.C. Lochan
Mike Lombardi
Michael P. Stramaglia
Wendy A. Watson
Robert W. (Rob) Wight

Human Capital and Governance Committee
Robert (Bob) E. Lamoureux, Chair
Sonia A. Baxendale, Chair
Daniel J. (Dan) Fortin
Katherine A. (Kathy) Bardswick
Richard P. Hennick
Christopher J. (Chris) Stranahan
Wendy A. Watson

Fraternal Committee
Christopher J. (Chris) Stranahan, Chair
Katherine A. (Kathy) Bardswick
James M. (Jim) Bowden
Michael C. (Mike) Edge
Daniel J. (Dan) Fortin
Richard P. Hennick
Robert (Bob) E. Lamoureux
Robert W. (Rob) Wight

Risk and Investment Committee
Michael P. Stramaglia, Chair
Katherine A. (Kathy) Bardswick
James M. (Jim) Bowden
Daniel J. (Dan) Fortin
Frank N.C. Lochan
Martha E. Marcon
Mike Lombardi

Foresters Financial and Foresters are trade names and trademarks of The Independent Order of Foresters (a fraternal benefit society) and its subsidiaries.

412580 CAN/US/UK (11/18)