Board Directors
As Serenia Life Financial’s governing body, the Board of Directors oversees all matters involving Serenia Life and focuses on serving the interests of our members, now and into the future.
R. Paul Hogan, Chair
Ajax, Ontario
Paul Hogan brings 30 plus years of experience as a partner at PricewaterhouseCoopers where he served a diverse portfolio of clients, including companies in finance (banks), technology, broadcasting, entertainment, energy, mining, real estate, manufacturing, the non-profit sector and government. He is a Fellow Chartered Professional Accountant (FCPA, FCA) and was formerly a Certified Information Systems Auditor (CISA) and a Certified Public Accountant, Illinois. Paul has a Bachelor of Commerce degree and an MBA, and has also completed the Institute of Corporate Directors course. He specializes in synthesizing data, seeing the big picture and understanding future business directions, with particular skills in the areas of strategic thinking, human resources matters, risk management financial analysis and projections, customer satisfaction, internal controls and computer risks and controls.
Paul has served the boards of various charities including the United Way, Plan International Canada, World of Science and the Guelph Bible Conference Grounds. Over the years, he has provided governance and strategic planning expertise to many church-related institutions and is currently the Board Chair for Youth for Christ GTA. Paul and his wife Patricia live in Ajax, Ontario.
Glenn Hymers, President & CEO
Oakville, Ontario
Glenn Hymers is an executive leader with a passion for creating teams, leading change and growing businesses. He has demonstrated outstanding performance against key business goals and implemented innovative growth and distribution strategies with organizations such as CST Consultants, Foresters Financial and the Royal Bank. Glenn graduated from Carleton University with a Bachelor of Commerce and received his MBA from the University of Toronto. He is also an Institute-Certified Director through the Rotman School of Management. Glenn has a keen appreciation for Serenia Life Financial’s mission and values, with a particular focus on using kindness as a compass at work and at home. Glenn and his family live in Oakville, Ontario.
W. Bryce Walker
Waterloo, Ontario
Bryce Walker has had a 30-year career in the financial services business where he has served in Senior Officer positions in Finance and the Group Insurance business at Manulife Financial. He has served as Chair of the Board of Wilfrid Laurier University, Grand River Hospital, and the Investment Committee of the Kitchener Waterloo Community Foundation. He is also Vice-Chair of the Board of Trustees of the Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan and is a director of the Workplace Safety and Insurance Board where he is chair of the Human Resources and Compensation Committee.
Bryce has served both as a Warden and the Treasurer of his local church. He lives in Waterloo with his wife Nancy, they have two children and two grandchildren.
Lee Bennett
Greater Toronto Area, Ontario
A senior financial executive, Lee Bennett spent over thirty years working for global financial organizations within insurance, banking, asset management, and capital markets. Before retiring, Lee was President of two brokerage firms: TD Wealth Financial Planning and CIBC Direct Investing and Advice. Lee has over 12 years of experience as a board member, and presently serves as Vice Chair of the board at March of Dimes Canada and Intouch Insight Ltd. Additionally, she serves on the Independent Review Committee for Investors Group Investment Management Ltd.
Lee holds a Bachelor of Arts degree from Western University, earned the Institute of Corporate Directors designation from the Rotman School of Management, holds the Partners, Directors, and Senior Officers designation from the Canadian Securities Institute and the ESG Global Competent Boards Designation, GCB.D.
As a Board Director, Lee brings in-depth experience in strategy design and execution, business to consumer distribution, sales distribution, and large digital and technology transformations to the role.
Lee and her husband, Will, have two children. They live in Toronto, where she enjoys sitting on the Fundraising Committee for Abiona Centre for Infant and Early Mental Health.
Dr. John A. Colangeli
Kitchener, Ontario
John Colangeli is Chief Executive Officer of a large not-for-profit organization operating in Southwestern Ontario. Having spent three decades in non-profits, hospitals and government, John’s passions are public service, board governance and growing people and organizations. He has been an advisor to two Ministers of Health while in government and served on provincial boards and task forces. John has a PhD from the University of Waterloo, has completed graduate work at Queens University in Kingston and attended an executive program at Harvard Business School. He lives in Waterloo with his wife, Lee Ann.
Clifford J. Inskip
Oakville, Ontario
Cliff Inskip is President of Polar Star Advisory Services Inc., an independent consulting firm he established that advises government and large corporate clients on major infrastructure projects and related financing matters. He has over 30 years of investment and corporate banking experience based in Canada and the United Kingdom. Cliff retired from CIBC at the end of 2014, where he was Managing Director and Head of CIBC’s infrastructure advisory and bond underwriting business. He has worked closely with the private placement groups of all major Canadian life insurance companies.
Cliff has a BASc (civil engineering) and an MBA from UBC and is a CFA charterholder, a Fellow of the Canadian Securities Institute, a Fellow of the Association of Corporate Treasurers (UK), a Professional Engineer (P. Eng.), and has Chartered Director and Audit Committee Certified designations from Directors College, McMaster University and an FRM designation from the Global Association of Risk Professionals.
Cliff is the Chair of Ontario Non-union Education Trust and also serves on the boards of OMERS pension plan, JCM Power Corporation and Kerr Street Mission. Previously, he served on the boards of Oakville Enterprises Corporation, CIBC World Markets plc based in London, England and his church board. He and his wife Brenda have two children and five grandchildren.
Nick DiRenzo
Oakville, Ontario
Nick Di Renzo is a strategic business leader who has led many transformational changes in leadership, distribution, finance, and operations to achieve superior results while managing risk. He has over 35 years of senior executive experience in the insurance, wealth management, healthcare, mortgage, credit union, banking, and real estate sectors in both Canada and the United States. He recently retired from Sun Life Financial, as President of Sun Life’s investment dealer. He holds a B. Comm. from the University of Windsor, is a Fellow Chartered Professional Accountant (FCPA, FCA), and holds the ICD.D directors designation through the Rotman School of Management.
Nick currently serves on the Boards of Serenia Life Financial and Southbridge Health Care and the Advisory Boards of Yorkville Asset Management and Rapid Dose Therapeutics. He previously served on the boards of various industry associations over the years.
Nick and his wife, Mary, live in Oakville, and have 3 children and 4 grandchildren.
Kathy McIlwham, CPA-CA, FLMI, ICD.D
Waterloo, Ontario
Kathy has extensive experience in the life insurance business, having retired from a 28-year career with Manulife Financial – Canadian Division in 2019 where she served as the Vice President of Group Wellness, Disability and Life. Previous roles with Manulife included VP & CFO Group Benefits and VP & Chief Accountant.
Kathy was a Director with the Grand River Hospital Board from 2009 to 2013, was Chair of the Audit Committee, and was a subcommittee member on the Finance and Resource, Governance and Pension committees. She also served as a Board community representative with the hospital from 2007 to 2013. In addition, Kathy served as President of Kitchener Waterloo’s LOMA (FLMI) Chapter Board from 2015 to 2018, remaining as Past Chair in 2019. She has also worked with the Boards of the Catholic Youth Organization and the Kinettes.
Kathy and her husband raised their 2 children in Waterloo, where they continue to practice their Christian faith and give back to their community through volunteerism.
David Howard, P Eng
Calgary, Alberta
For the past 15 years, David has built National HealthClaim Corporation, as a co-owner and Chief Operating Officer. Based in Calgary Alberta, this technology services company has designed a leading online employee health spending account and reimbursement benefits platform, which is currently used by over 4,000 companies across Canada.
Prior to becoming a successful entrepreneur, David was the Director of Engineering at Interalia for 8 years, overseeing a multi-disciplined team of engineers that developed digital voice solutions. Earlier in his technology career, he held various senior engineering and management positions for telecom products at Nortel (Northern Telecom).
David holds a Bachelor of Electrical Engineering from Lakehead University and is a registered Professional Engineer in the province of Alberta, where he resides in Calgary with his wife of 34 years. He is a past board member of Trinity Christian School in Calgary, serving on the Finance Committee, as well as Treasurer.
Sharon Giffen, FCIA, FSA, ICD.D
Okanagan Valley, British Columbia
Sharon Giffen spent her 35-year career in the life insurance industry. Before retiring from full-time work, she spent 15 years at Foresters Financial, progressing from Vice President of Product Management in 2000 to Chief Risk Officer and Chief Compliance Officer in 2014. Throughout this tenure, she actively supported the fraternal purpose of the organization – speaking and volunteering on behalf of the community.
In 2016, Sharon transitioned to Board service. She currently serves on the Boards of Directors of three insurance companies in diverse businesses: mortgage insurance, group annuities, and health benefits. Previously, she also served on the Board of a national property and casualty insurance company.
Sharon has also volunteered her time as a Board Director of the Society of Actuaries and as President of the Canadian Institute of Actuaries. She also chaired the Board of an opera company on a volunteer basis. The 2010 recipient of the Jacobson-Rugland Award for Outstanding Fraternal Actuary in 2010, Sharon also won an award for an essay entitled “Vision for Insurance Industry for 2020” in 2009.
Sharon moved to the Okanagan Valley in 2021, where she is happily settled with her husband, Ken.
Duane Green, FCSI, CIM, FCA
Greater Toronto Area, Ontario
Duane Green is an award-winning financial services leader who started his career in the life insurance industry in 1994, and has been in a leadership role at Franklin Templeton Canada since 2004. Originally brought on as the organization’s Vice-President of Strategic Alliances, Duane has been responsible for all aspects of Franklin Templeton’s business in Canada as President and CEO since 2017.
In 2017, Duane received the Women in Capital Markets Male Leadership Award, which recognized his efforts to support diversity and inclusion in Canada’s financial services industry. In 2020, Duane was named the Wealth Professional CEO of the Year.
Duane is Chair of the Board and Director of Franklin Templeton Investments Corp. and Chair of the Board and Director of Fiduciary Trust Company of Canada. He also serves on the Board of Directors of the Investment Funds Institute of Canada (IFIC), the Canadian Coalition for Good Governance (CCGG), and Business / Arts (B/A). Additionally, he is Chair of the University of Ottawa Faculty Campaign Cabinet and sits on the Pension Committee of Canada’s National Ballet School.
Duane lives in Toronto with his wife, Angela, whom he has been married to for 23 years. Duane approaches both business and life with a sense of community and giving back.