Christine van Staden joined Canada Life in 2015 as vice-president of group retirement services and national accounts, responsible for leading the national accounts team in selling and retaining group retirement and savings business in the large case segment through the consultant channel. In May 2017, she was appointed as the regional vice-president in the Toronto consultant office, responsible for overall leadership and direction of the sales and service organization for Canada Life’s group retirement services and group benefits services in Toronto. In her most recent role as regional vice-president of group customer and national accounts, van Staden is accountable for all business development activity with distinct teams aligned to the private and public sectors, across group benefits and group retirement services nationally.

Van Staden’s leadership skills were built over 32 years of experience in the pension and benefits industry, both in the U.S. and Canada. Her background includes senior leadership roles as: regional vice-president of group savings and retirement at Standard Life; national director of business development outsourcing and market leader at Mercer; national practice leader in both the U.S. and Canada at Hewitt Associates; and benefits consultant for executive defined contribution plans at Kimberly-Clark Corp. in the U.S.

She holds a bachelor of science (honours) degree in business management from the University of Tennessee and has achieved her pension law certification with Osgoode Hall. Van Staden also serves in a leadership capacity for the Canadian Benefits and Pension Institute’s, Ontario regional council.