Few insurance executives can say they are a “rock star” in both the figurative and literal sense. It is one thing to claim that your professional career in insurance has been nothing short of exemplary, but a whole other thing to be able to say that you – a former insurance leader – play in a band that continues to record and stream music.
Dean Connor, the retired president and chief executive officer of Sun Life, is an insurance rock star in every sense of the word. The recipient of the 2021 Lifetime Achievement Award by Insurance Business Canada and FIRST Insurance Funding of Canada, Connor sat down with Stuart Bruce, chief executive officer of FIRST Insurance Funding of Canada, to reflect on his experiences and how the industry will continue to change long after his leadership.
Having retired in 2021, Connor turned to his passion for music following his 14 years at Sun Life – 10 of which were spent as the company’s CEO.
“I played the guitar almost all my life,” said Connor during the interview. “And I play in a rock n’ roll band, and we’ve just finished ten days in a studio recording our second album.”
Connor’s four-man band, The Binder Brothers, managed to record ten new songs fairly recently, which he says will be put on Spotify soon. But he has also joked that streaming does not pay for the bills; he will have to settle for his music career being a “labor of love.”
“We got a check a few weeks ago, for the last 12 months: $20.11. Split four ways. So it’s not a very profitable career, I have to say.”
But retirement and his music career have not dulled Connor’s sharp insights into the insurance industry. When asked which three words would best describe himself, Connor said that they would be “optimistic”, “relentless”, and “developer” – the last of which was a key role he played during his time as Sun Life’s chief executive.
“I think the thing I’m most proud of in my time at Sun Life – and my time at Mercer before that – was really the talent, the culture, the development of people that I was able to be part of,” he explained.
Commenting on the challenges the insurance industry has had to face in the past few years, and what it will eventually face in the years to come, Connor stressed that the transition to digital will remain a relevant issue.
“This digital journey and trying to make it easier for clients to do business with us – it’s true in the P&C side, [and] it’s true on the life & health side,” the former executive said.
Connor also believes that direct digital sales are the way forward for insurers, based on his personal dealings with his broker.
“I look at the paper I get from my insurance company – my broker doesn’t add much value, to be honest,” he said. “I get to renewal, I have to write to them and say, ‘Okay, this is the premium. How does that compare to last year’s premium?’ . . . I mean, it’s just incredibly reactive, I find.”
“So I think there’s a lot of challenge there in bringing the business model forward. And of course, data and systems can be a barrier, but they can also be an enabler there,” Connor said. “I think [insurance] companies are going to continue – have to – invest big time in technology to bring data systems forward into the 21st century. So you can be more nimble, and you can change things quickly.”
