Karen Gavan is the President and CEO of Economical Insurance and a member of the Board of Directors. Karen was appointed to the Board in 2008 as an independent director and chaired the Special Committee during the time of its strategic review and decision to demutualize. She also chaired the Audit Committee until her appointment as President and CEO in June 2011.
Karen is an alumnus of PwC (Coopers & Lybrand) where she began her career over thirty years ago, focused on the financial services industry and, in particular, the insurance sector. She was formerly the Chief Operating Officer of Transamerica Life Canada, where she spent 13 years, starting as their Chief Financial Officer in 1992. Karen also held senior management positions with Imperial Life Assurance Company and Canada Life Assurance Company.
Karen currently sits on the board of Mackenzie Financial Corporation and has served on the boards of a number of corporations, primarily in the financial services industry. She is a past director of a number of charitable organizations, including the Children’s Aid Foundation.
Karen is a fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Ontario and holds the ICD.D designation from the Institute of Corporate Directors.