Manulife Financial Corporation has beefed up its analytics capabilities with the appointment, announced yesterday, of one of Canada's Most Powerful Women to the newly created role of Chief Analytics Officer effective April 1.

Cindy Forbes comes to the position from her post as Executive Vice President and Chief Actuary after a range of senior positions within Manulife's Investment, Reinsurance, Group Functions and Asia Divisions.

Forbes was recognized by the Women’s Executive Network late last year as being one of “Canada’s Most Powerful Women,” an award that sets out to recognize the “professional achievements of strong female leaders across the country.”

According to a company statement issued announcing the appointment, Forbes is to “be responsible for expanding Manulife's analytical capabilities from both internal and external sources, and monitoring and introducing advanced analytic solutions to the business. She will report directly to Paul Rooney, Senior Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer. “

"Analytics are fundamental to Manulife's customer-centric strategy and the overall improvement of our decision making," said Rooney. "Cindy will be responsible for building the company's analytic capability and providing this information to our business leaders to enhance the company's top and bottom line performance."

Her position as Executive Vice President and Chief Actuary is to be filled by Steve Finch, who was most recently Chief Financial Officer of John Hancock Financial Services.