Manulife Global Chief AI Officer Jodie Wallis named Best Executive by the Globe and Mail’s Report on Business Magazine

TORONTO – Manulife’s Global Chief AI Officer Jodie Wallis has been named a 2026 Best Executive by the Globe and Mail’s Report on Business magazine. Wallis was recognized in the Technology category for her outstanding leadership in deploying artificial intelligence at scale as a core enterprise capability that is driving growth, efficiency and enhancing customer experiences.

The Best Executive Awards celebrate leaders in Canadian industry who deliver material business outcomes while shaping the future of leadership. The award acknowledges Wallis’ role in advancing Manulife’s strategic priority to become an AI‑powered organization. This work supports Manulife’s ambition to be the number one choice for customers by integrating AI solutions across the business.

“Jodie’s leadership has been foundational to advancing our goal to be an AI-powered organization,” said Karen Leggett, Global Chief Marketing Officer, Manulife. “Scaling AI responsibly is as much a leadership challenge as a technology one and Jodie brings strength to both. By pairing innovation with strong governance, trust and inclusion, she has helped embed AI into how we work and how we create value for our customers — positioning Manulife as a leader in AI within our industry.”

Under Wallis’ leadership, Manulife is deploying AI at scale, aiming to unlock value and deliver meaningful benefits across the organization. The company expects to generate more than $1 billion in enterprise AI value by 2027[i]. A central enabler of this progress is Manulife’s new enterprise AI platform, currently in beta testing and expected to move to full deployment later this year. The platform seeks to unlock long‑term enterprise value by allowing Manulife to scale AI quickly, safely and consistently across global markets.

“I’m honoured to be recognized by the Globe and Mail alongside so many respected leaders,” said Wallis. “This recognition reflects the curiosity, collaboration and care of teams across Manulife who are thoughtfully shaping how we apply AI — not just to work more intelligently, but to earn trust, deliver better outcomes for our customers and build a more resilient future.”

Responsible AI remains a cornerstone of Manulife’s approach. Wallis led the enterprise integration of Manulife’s Responsible AI Principles, which guide how AI is designed, built and deployed across the organization.

In June 2025, Manulife was named the #1 life insurance company for AI maturity in the inaugural Evident AI Index for Insurance, reinforcing the company’s commitment to innovation and customer-centric solutions. Manulife has been actively investing in and scaling AI capabilities since 2016.

To learn more about Manulife's AI progress, visit AI @ Manulife.

Caution regarding forward-looking statements

This document contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of the "safe harbour" provisions of Canadian provincial securities laws and the U.S. Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 with respect to Manulife’s use of its digital capabilities and the expected benefits it expects to realize from AI. Although we believe that the expectations reflected in such forward-looking statements are reasonable, such statements involve risks and uncertainties, and undue reliance should not be placed on such statements. Certain material factors or assumptions are applied in making forward-looking statements, and actual results may differ materially from those expressed or implied in such statements. Important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from expectations include but are not limited to general business and economic conditions; changes in laws and regulations with respect to the use of AI-enabled tools; our ability to execute our digital plans and to deploy future digital use cases; our ability to adapt products and services to the changing market; our ability to attract and retain key employees and our ability to protect our intellectual property and exposure to claims of infringement from others. Additional information about material risk factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from expectations may be found in our most recent annual and interim reports and elsewhere in our filings with Canadian and U.S. securities regulators.

The forward-looking statements in this document are, unless otherwise indicated, stated as of the date hereof. We do not undertake to update any forward-looking statements, except as required by law.

About Manulife

Manulife Financial Corporation is a leading international financial services provider, headquartered in Toronto, Canada. Anchored in our ambition to be the number one choice for customers, we operate as Manulife across Canada and Asia, and primarily as John Hancock in the United States, providing financial advice, insurance and health solutions for individuals, groups and businesses. Through Manulife Wealth & Asset Management, we offer global investment solutions, financial advice, and retirement plan services to individuals, institutions, and retirement plan members worldwide. At the end of 2025, we had more than 37,000 employees, over 106,000 agents, and thousands of distribution partners, serving over 37 million customers with operations across 25 markets globally. We trade as ‘MFC’ on the Toronto, New York, and Philippine stock exchanges, and under ‘945’ on the Hong Kong stock exchange. Not all offerings are available in all jurisdictions. For additional information, please visit manulife.com.

[i] The expected value from our AI initiatives include realized run-rate expense reductions, top-line revenue uplift from AI-powered workflows, fraud reduction, and growth absorption

Media Contact

Gina Simonis
Manulife
gsimonis@manulife.com
617-840-4794