Sun Life CEO and leadership

Colm J. Freyne is Executive Vice-President and Chief Risk Officer of Sun Life Financial. Appointed in 2017, Colm is responsible for Sun Life’s risk management function, global actuarial function, global asset/liability management function, and Sun Life’s Innovation Lab.

Colm joined Sun Life in 2003 as Chief Auditor and has since held various senior leadership positions including Executive Vice-President and Chief Financial Officer from 2009 to 2017. He joined the company following eight years at TD Bank Financial Group, where he held the role of Vice-President and Chief Accountant. He began his career in the Dublin office of Coopers & Lybrand (now PricewaterhouseCoopers) in 1979, moving to its Toronto office in 1985.

Colm is a director of Sun Life’s insurance and asset management joint venture companies in India - Birla Sun Life Insurance Company Limited and Birla Sun Life Asset Management Company Limited.

In 2016, Colm was appointed a Fellow by the Chartered Professional Accountants (CPA) of Ontario. He holds an Honours Bachelor of Commerce degree from University College Dublin and is a qualified Chartered Accountant in Ireland and Canada.

Helena Pagano is Executive Vice-President, Chief Human Resources & Communications Officer, Sun Life Financial. In this role, she is responsible for leading Sun Life’s global human resources and communications strategies. This includes supporting a diverse and inclusive culture that advances the talent and capabilities of Sun Life’s workforce, and leading a corporate communication strategy that positions Sun Life as one of the best insurance and asset management companies in the world.

Helena joined Sun Life in 2017, bringing with her deep global human resources expertise. She has over 20 years’ experience in financial services, supporting retail and institutional businesses. Helena has held a variety of human resources generalist and specialist functions in senior and leadership roles.

Helena holds a Bachelor of Business Administration from Ryerson University. She serves on the Board of the Artist's Health Alliance and is a United Way Major Individual Giving Cabinet Member.

Melissa Kennedy is responsible for the company’s worldwide legal, compliance, corporate secretarial and public affairs functions and is the executive sponsor of sustainability at Sun Life.

Through proactive legal consultation and sound compliance and governance frameworks, Melissa and her teams are responsible for guiding the organization to deliver on its Purpose to help Clients achieve lifetime financial security and live healthier lives.

Melissa joined Sun Life in 2014 with a breadth of experience spanning private practice, regulatory and in-house roles. Prior to joining Sun Life, she was Senior Vice-President, General Counsel and Corporate Affairs for the Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan, one of Canada’s largest pension funds. Melissa started her career in private practice, followed by roles as head of the prosecution team at the Ontario Securities Commission and as Vice-President, Associate General Counsel at a major Canadian bank.

A passionate advocate for diversity and inclusion, Melissa is a founding member of Legal Leaders for Diversity, a group of Canadian General Counsel who promote diversity and inclusiveness in the Legal community. In 2017, Melissa received the Distinguished Alumnus Award from the University of Toronto, Faculty of Law, and in 2016, The Women’s Executive Network recognized her as one of Canada’s Most Powerful Women. In recognition of her team’s efforts to embed sustainability practices into the Sun Life culture and operations, Melissa was awarded the 2017 Environmental, Social and Governance award from the Canadian General Counsel Awards.