Call for candidates for nomination to the Board

The Board is responsible for the stewardship of Foresters and its business and fraternal affairs.  It oversees and supervises the strategic direction and management of the organization, mandates that good internal control processes are in place to ensure the transparency and integrity of the financial reporting, and ensures that we conduct Foresters business and fraternal affairs in accordance with Foresters Constitution and in compliance with all applicable laws and regulations.

Each director has statutory and common-law fiduciary duties.

The current Board was elected in June 2021 and will serve until June 2025.

Composition of the Board

Foresters Board has 15 members, including the International Fraternal President, and President and CEO. All members are elected except the CEO who is a member by virtue of his or her office. Eight Board members are Canadian residents as required by Canadian law.¹

Foresters Board has 10 members with primarily senior business experience and five with primarily fraternal experience. The proportion of business to fraternal members has been established with the input of Foresters regulators, and is necessary to meet the corporate governance standards for financial institutions in Canada, the United States and the United Kingdom.

We will maintain this proportion of business to fraternal members on the Board elected in 2025.

Nominating Process

The Nominating Committee, appointed by the Board in November 2023, will recommend candidates for director as well as for International Fraternal President for nomination to the Board.

The Nominating Committee of the Board is seeking qualified candidates for nomination to the Board.

The requirements are listed below:

• Board nominees must be voting members of Foresters
• The majority (8 out of 15) must be Canadian residents
• Nominees must have sufficient time for Board and committee duties (approximately 20 to 30 days, including preparation time and continuing education, per year to attend in person four or five sets of meetings a year)
• Background and skills should include senior business and/or fraternal experience in the areas of:

• C-Suite/Broad Business Experience
• Audit, Accounting, Actuarial
• Business Transformation/Change Management
• Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG)
• Information Technology/Cyber Security/AI
• International Experience
• Investment
• Legal, Regulatory Compliance and Governance
• Life Insurance Operations
• Marketing, Human Resources, or Communications
• Mergers and Acquisitions/Business Development
• Risk Management
• Sales and Distribution
• Strategic Planning
• Volunteer and Fraternal management

• Personal qualities include the ability to:

• Put forward ideas while respecting the views of others
• Analyze proposals put forward by management clearly and critically
• Probe management proposals assertively and knowledgably
• Communicate ideas clearly and actively participate in discussion
• Understand the fundamental and strategic needs of the organization in the current environment
• Act in the best interests of all members of Foresters
• Understand the balance between the Board’s and management’s role

How You Can Apply – or Nominate a Candidate

We invite all Foresters members to propose suitable nominees for the Board.

The deadline for submission of applications is August 31, 2024.

All applications will be acknowledged, but only suitable candidates will be interviewed.

The Nominating Committee will review all applications and interview only those with the stated qualifications. It will report its recommendations to the Board in May 2025.

Download the Board of Directors Candidate Application here

If you are a Foresters member interested in being considered as a director, or if you know a qualified candidate, please contact:

René Zanin
Corporate Secretary
board@foresters.com


Foresters Financial
789 Don Mills Road
21st floor
Toronto ON M3C 1T9