LIAM appoints Mark O’ Dell as Chief Executive Officer
Kuala Lumpur, 2 January 2019: The Life Insurance Association of Malaysia (LIAM) today announced the appointment of Mark O’Dell as Chief Executive Officer.
Mark recently retired from Manulife Insurance Berhad as its Chief Executive Officer on 30 October 2018, after five years. He will assume his new position at LIAM with effect from 2 January 2019.
A permanent resident of Malaysia, Mark has over 38 years of experience in the life insurance business (including 24 years in Asia) with an excellent track record in spearheading the transformation of the life insurance industry.
“With a full-time CEO who brings with him a wealth of industry experience and expertise, LIAM will be better placed to accelerate our national aspiration of increasing the penetration rate of life insurance, reducing the protection gap, improving customer satisfaction levels and most importantly play an influential role to support nation building and improving the quality of life of Malaysians,” said Anusha Thavarajah, President of LIAM.
“Mark’s appointment further underscores LIAM’s strong commitment to take on the responsibilities and new challenges in transforming the life insurance industry to greater heights.” added Anusha.
Mark holds both the Chartered Life Underwriter (CLU) and the Chartered Financial Consultant (ChFC) designations from the American College. He is also a Certified Financial Planner (CFP). In 2006, he was named the Personality of the Year by the Asia Insurance Review for his contribution to the industry and his leadership in the area of corporate social responsibility.
In October 2018, Mark was honoured with the “Outstanding Leaders in Asia” award from ACES (Asia Corporate Excellence and Sustainability Awards).
He was Senior Vice President, South East Asia of Manulife from November 2012 to January 2016, overseeing Singapore, Malaysia and Philippines during which the territories experienced strong growth. He went on to serve as the CEO for the company’s life operations in Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia and Taiwan spanning the past 20 years.
He was also appointed the President of the Life Insurance Association of Singapore and the Financial Planning Association of Singapore in 2007-2008.
