Steve Masnyk to leave CAMGA, search on for next chief executive

Steve Masnyk will be departing from his role as executive director of the Canadian Association of Managing General Agents (CAMGA) in July, the association’s board of directors announced Thursday at its annual general meeting in Toronto.

The board has begun the process of finding the next chief executive of the association.

Masnyk was appointed as executive director in October 2020, an announcement made by newly appointed president Pete Tessier. Tessier is also past president of the Insurance Brokers Association of Manitoba and co-founder of start-up MGA Taycon Risk.

Masnyk has led CAMGA by growing its membership to 80% of all MGAs in Canada. He has also attracted sponsors and associate members, built the value proposition for the MGA sector, and attracted many capacity providers into the MGA marketplace, CAMGA says in a press release.

In addition, Masnyk was responsible for setting national MGA business operating standards through the CAMGA Code. The undertaking codifies minimum business operating standards for the intermediaries as part of CAMGA membership.

“His leadership has put P&C MGAs on the map in terms of insurance regulators and answering the question of how best to supervise and bring the highest standards of best practices into MGA operations,” CAMGA says in the release.

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“CAMGA has been my proudest working role, in representing the best underwriters in Canada and in bringing together a sector that never advocated in a common voice about its expertise and exceptional value to the entire industry,” Masnyk says.

“Carriers and brokers today feel more trust and confidence in trading with MGAs than they ever had before,” he adds. “The entire sector is maturing and developing to meet the challenges of the commercial and specialty insurance marketplace. I’m happy that CAMGA has played a small part in this evolution, and will continue to represent its members with passion.”

Outgoing CAMGA chair Stephen Stewart says Masnyk built the association into a “fully operational and trusted voice for MGAs in Canada” over the past five years.

“Steve has always raised the MGA flag with everyone and advocated for the tremendous value MGAs provide carriers and brokers,” Stewart says. “He led the development of the Strategic Plan, which will focus more on marketing, branding, and communications by the association; something our new board and his successor will actively pursue with passion.

“We owe Steve a big thank you for his role in changing for the better the delegated authority landscape in Canada.”

Jason Contant

Jason has been an award-winning journalist with Canadian Underwriter for more than a decade, including the past three years as associate editor and, before that, as digital editor for seven years.