Rona Ambrose Appointed to Manulife's Board of Directors

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TORONTO, Aug. 9, 2017 /PRNewswire/ - Manulife today announced that the Honourable Rona Ambrose has been appointed to its Board of Directors, effective September 1.

Ms. Ambrose is a former Leader of Canada's Official Opposition in the House of Commons and former leader of the Conservative Party of Canada. As a key member of the federal cabinet for a decade, she worked as Minister across nine Canadian government departments. Her service included the role of Vice Chair of the Treasury Board and chair of the cabinet committee for public safety, justice and aboriginal issues. Ms. Ambrose also served as the Minister responsible for the Status of Women, and is a passionate, internationally recognized champion for the rights of women and girls.

Manulife is committed to gender diversity at the Board level, and with the addition of Ms. Ambrose, 40 per cent of Manulife's independent directors are women.

"Rona has an extensive track record of strong leadership and a wide range of experience at the most senior levels of the Canadian government, and will add important diversity of thought and perspective to our Board," said Richard DeWolfe, Chairman of the Board, Manulife. "We are excited to welcome her to Manulife and are confident she will make a positive and lasting impact on the Board and the Company more broadly."

Ms. Ambrose will join the Manulife Board's Management Resources and Compensation Committee and the Risk Committee.

In addition to serving as an independent corporate director, Ms. Ambrose is a Global Fellow at the Wilson Center's Canada Institute in Washington, D.C., focusing on Canada-U.S. bilateral trade and North American competitiveness issues. She also serves on the advisory board of the Canadian Global Affairs Institute. She holds a Bachelor of Arts from the University of Victoria and a Master's in Political Science from the University of Alberta. She is also a graduate of the Harvard Kennedy School of Government Senior Leaders Program.

About Manulife

Manulife Financial Corporation is a leading international financial services group that helps people achieve their dreams and aspirations by putting customers' needs first and providing the right advice and solutions. We operate as John Hancock in the United States and Manulife elsewhere. We provide financial advice, insurance, as well as wealth and asset management solutions for individuals, groups and institutions. At the end of 2016, we had approximately 35,000 employees, 70,000 agents, and thousands of distribution partners, serving more than 22 million customers. As of June 30, 2017, we had over $1 trillion (US$780 billion) in assets under management and administration, and in the previous 12 months we made $26.7 billion in payments to our customers. Our principal operations are in Asia, Canada and the United States where we have served customers for more than 100 years. With our global headquarters in Toronto, Canada, we trade as 'MFC' on the Toronto, New York, and the Philippine stock exchanges and under '945' in Hong Kong.

SOURCE Manulife Financial Corporation