Philip Witherington

Phil Witherington is the President and Chief Executive Officer of Manulife, Canada’s largest insurance company, and one of the largest insurance and asset management companies in the world.

Prior to this appointment, Phil Witherington was the President & Chief Executive Officer, Manulife Asia and has been a member of Manulife’s Executive Leadership Team since 2018. Prior to that, Phil served five years as Chief Financial Officer at Manulife beginning in 2018. He was responsible for managing Manulife’s global financial affairs and successfully led the implementation of IFRS 17 and IFRS 9. Phil joined Manulife in 2014 as Chief Financial Officer of Manulife Asia and served as its Interim President & Chief Executive Officer in 2017.

Phil has more than 25 years of experience in insurance and financial services, globally and in developed and emerging markets within Asia. Prior to joining Manulife, Phil led finance in Asia Pacific for the Retail Banking and Wealth Management business at HSBC and earlier served as the Deputy Regional Chief Financial Officer for its Asian insurance businesses. Previously, Phil was Vice President Finance at AIA, based in Hong Kong. He also spent a decade with KPMG in London and Hong Kong, specializing in financial services audit and advisory services, with a particular focus on financial services clients.

Phil holds an Executive MBA jointly awarded by the University of Edinburgh Management School (United Kingdom) and the École Nationale des Ponts et Chaussées (Paris, France). He is also a Fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England & Wales (FCA) and the Hong Kong Institute of Certified Public Accountants (FCPA).