Thomas Millar
Sun Life
Toronto,ON
18
years of professional experience
Forward-thinking Senior Manager with 25 years experience in financial services, insurance, and human resources. Looking to secure a senior role, focused on strategic leadership and profitable growth.
Work History
Manager, Insurance Operations
3 Years 11 Months- Train new employees on proper protocols and customer service standards.
- Recruiting, hiring and training of team members.
- Train and guide team members to maintain high productivity and performance metrics.
- Increased team member productivity by enhancing performance monitoring and instituting motivational approaches.
- Delegate daily tasks to employees, streamlining daily progress and efficiency.
- Direct management meetings to enhance collaboration and maintain culture based on trust and group problem-solving.
- Support top-level decision-making and strategy planning, forging productive relationships with top leaders and serving as key advocate for various personnel issues.
Agency Manager
6 Years 6 Months- Outright responsibility for 25 employees and $31 million book of business for Allstate Insurance branch located in Mississauga, ON
- Complete end-to-end accountability for all aspects in management of the branch, including but not limited to, Profitability (Loss Ratio), Sales, Retention, Staffing, Marketing, Brand Visibility, Community Involvement, Customer Satisfaction Indices and Service Levels
- Drove profitable growth within the Brampton Sales Team to achieve highest producing (written premium) sales force in Canada with the most aggressive sales targets in the country
- Book growth exceeded $3.2 million in less than 2 years
- Increased overall retention more than 600 basis points (BPS) after assuming control of the Brampton branch in September 2014
- Achieved the highest profitable growth rate in Canada through very targeted/aggressive marketing campaigns and a massive COI network through 20 years in business
- Implementation of new strategies for staffing, marketing, sourcing new business (COI networks), and retaining current clients in a very challenging economic/political environment
- Drove unprecedented profitable growth (Brampton AIA), and also enabled Allstate to stabilize a new national “Mega” Allstate Insurance Agency business model
Business Development Manager
1 Year 10 Months- Responsible for increasing market share of property and casualty insurance products for Allstate Insurance of Canada
- Network to source potential clients for the Toronto West branch
- Achieve annual sales target of $900,000 in written insurance business while providing the highest levels of client satisfaction
- Increase brand visibility through various marketing campaigns
- Meet all provincial licensing requirements through continual education
Real Estate Representative
3 Years 4 Months- Sales exceeding $21.6 million in vacation properties in the districts of Parry Sound and Pointe au Baril Ontario
- Established strong community presence while expanding the Coldwell Banker brand within the Central Ontario marketplace.
Senior Manager
4 Years 4 Months- Sales and Service Learning and Development
- Designed and published a province wide branch training program for front line customer service employees entitled “Providing Quality Service”
- Delivered as mandatory training to more than 4000 employees
- Managed several Kellogg School of Management programs delivered to Senior Executives from BMO Financial and Nesbitt Burns
- Project Lead for a major strategic initiative that redesigned and aligned training programs between Private Client Group in Toronto and Harris Bank in Chicago
- Delivered various training programs to Investorline call centre in Toronto
- As Program Manager, was responsible for all aspects of learning from design and production to delivery and post-evaluation
- Relationship Manager for several third party vendors such as Instructional Design consulting firms and Printing companies
- Responsibilities included all negotiations of content and pricing, as well as fulfillment for delivery and billing.
Senior Project Manager
- Strategic Initiatives
- Senior Project Leader for major Corporate Human Resources initiative that included salary and job grading reductions for 200+ Online Banking employees
- (1 year project, $300 M budget, 8 Resources)
- Project Manager for decentralization of reporting structure for Investment Fund Specialists
- Organizational change that affected 1000+ employees and overall management accountabilities of Branch Managers nationally
- (15 month project, $1.5 MM budget, 14 Resources)
- Represented VP Business Services for amalgamation of two major Lines of Business - Investorline call centre (King and Bay) and Investment Specialists for Telephone Banking (Bay and Bloor)
- Major changes included alignment of job grades and salaries as well as physical relocation of 120 employees
- (9 month project, $250 M budget, 6 Resources)
- Lead a major Organizational Effectiveness project that moved the entire retail bank from job grades to job bands - This “stratification” of roles was a major culture shift that affected Line functionality, reporting relationships, and managerial layering
- (18 month project, $1 MM budget, 11 Resources)
Project Manager
- People and Culture Group (Corporate HR)
- Project Manager and member of national implementation team for Advanced Performance Management Program - a major strategic initiative for Electronic Financial Services
- Provided extensive consultation for BMO senior executives as an Organizational Design specialist while working in the role of Business Partner
- Acting Project Manager for various campaigns involving production of role profiles for new and existing banking departments
- Liaison between various lines of business and corporate Human Resources relative to job grading processes
- Project lead for creation of an efficient employment agency network that sourced all part time call centre positions.
Team Leader
- Insurance Development and Sales
- Managed 30+ Insurance sales employees (direct reports) as part of BMO Corporate Marketing
- Responsible for all aspects of the department including interviewing, hiring, training, scheduling and all budgetary requirements
- Developed highly successful Credit Insurance product line, which was marketed through Electronic Financial Services (including mbanx) starting in fiscal 1998
- (Mortgage Life Insurance, Accident & Illness Mortgage Protection, Death and Dismemberment Insurance)
- Synthesized and implemented scripting changes to retail mortgage and credit card sales programs
- Increased Ontario client base for BMO Corporate Insurance. Sales team achieved highest National sales numbers for MasterCard Balance Insurance and Mortgage Insurance in 1998 and 1999. ($25 million in revenue)
Credit Officer
- Loans and Mortgages
- Processed loan and mortgage applications via telephone and Internet for the Toronto Telebanking Centre
- Adjudicated applications using stringent Bank credit guidelines and processes
- Developed successful sales pipeline through branch network that produced record sales numbers
Education
Bachelor of Arts - Business Administration
BBA - Business Administration
Ontario Real Estate Licence
Ontario General Insurance Licence (OTL
Skills
Coaching and mentoring
Recruitment
Staff training/development
Business Development
Project planning and development
Adult learning theories
New hire on-boarding
Change Management
Timeline
Manager, Insurance Operations
Sun Life
11.2022 - CurrentRead More
Agency Manager
Allstate Insurance of Canada
09.2014 - 03.2021Read More
Business Development Manager
Allstate Insurance of Canada
10.2012 - 08.2014Read More
Real Estate Representative
S.W.E Heritage Real Estate Ltd
05.2009 - 09.2012Read More
Senior Manager
BMO Financial Group Institute for Learning
11.2004 - 03.2009Read More
Senior Project Manager
Bank of Montreal
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Project Manager
Bank of Montreal
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Team Leader
Bank of Montreal
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Credit Officer
Bank of Montreal - Telebanking Group
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Seneca College
Bachelor of Arts from Business Administration
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York University
BBA from Business Administration
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OREA Real Estate College
Ontario Real Estate Licence
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Insurance Institute of Ontario
Ontario General Insurance Licence (OTL
Read More