Great-West Lifeco Inc. and iA Financial Group have confirmed the election of all board nominees at their respective annual meetings, with shareholders also backing auditor appointments and, in iA’s case, the company’s executive pay approach while rejecting several shareholder proposals.
Great-West Lifeco Inc. said all 20 director nominees listed in its March 12, 2026 management proxy circular were elected at its annual and special meeting of shareholders.
Support for the slate was strong across the board. Most directors received more than 98% of votes cast “for,” with several above 99%. Among those drawing relatively higher opposition, long-time Desmarais family representatives André Desmarais and Paul Desmarais Jr. received 95.64% and 94.16% support, respectively, while chair and CEO R. Jeffrey Orr was backed by 92.72% of votes cast, with 7.28% voted against.
Other nominees, including Michael R. Amend, Deborah J. Barrett, Robin Bienfait, Sally M. Dewar, Gary A. Doer, T. Timothy Ryan, Dhvani D. Shah, Siim A. Vanaselja and Brian E. Walsh, all drew between 98.7% and just under 100% support.
Final voting results on all matters from Great-West’s meeting will be filed on SEDAR+ in due course.
iA Financial Group reported that all director nominees listed in its March 10, 2026, management proxy circular and information documents were elected to the boards of iA Financial Corporation and Industrial Alliance Insurance and Financial Services.
The group also announced the election of a new director, Kenneth F. Kroner, to the iA Financial Corporation board.
Kroner is a corporate director with extensive global investment and asset management experience. He spent 22 years at BlackRock, serving as senior managing director and a member of its Global Executive Committee, later joining the board of Alberta Investment Management Corporation. He also founded and led Pluribus Labs LLC, a global equity investment firm specializing in quantitative investment strategies.
Common shareholders of iA Financial backed all director nominees, with support largely at or above 99%.
Votes “for” ranged from 97.79% for board chair Jacques Martin to more than 99.9% for several directors, including Yousry Bissada (99.88%), William F. Chinery (99.89%), Martin Gagnon (99.91%), Kenneth F. Kroner (99.90%), Johanne Papillon (99.92%) and Denis Ricard (99.92%). Even the lowest support level, for Martin, stood at 97.79%, with 2.21% of votes withheld.
Ernst & Young LLP was reappointed as external auditor, receiving 99.10% of votes cast, with 0.90% withheld.
Shareholders also approved, on an advisory basis, iA Financial Corporation’s approach to executive compensation, with 93.86% of votes “for” and 6.14% “against.”
Meanwhile, three shareholder proposals were rejected. A resolution seeking to improve shareholder participation in annual general meetings drew 0.21% support, with 99.79% of votes against. A proposal calling for an advisory vote on environmental policies attracted 20.57% support and 79.43% opposition. A third proposal to adjust the board competency grid to include explicit environmental expertise received 4.34% support, with 95.66% of votes cast against.
At iA Insurance, each of the nominees listed in the information document for participating policyholders was also elected, five by participating policyholders and eight by the company’s sole common shareholder, iA Financial Corporation.
Participating policyholders voted in favor of Martin Gagnon (94.89%), Ginette Maillé (94.16%), Johanne Papillon (94.53%), Marc Poulin (93.80%) and Suzanne Rancourt (94.89%). iA Financial Corporation, as sole common shareholder, cast 100% of its votes in favor of the remaining nominees: Yousry Bissada, William F. Chinery, Alka Gautam, Emma K. Griffin, Jacques Martin, Denis Ricard, Ouma Sananikone and Rebecca Schechter.
Ernst & Young LLP was also appointed as external auditor of iA Insurance by the sole common shareholder.
