We are a team above all

Sébastien GABEZ, age 37, started his career as auditor for Ernst & Young in Lyon, France, where he worked for 5 years. He joined APRIL Group in 2009 and was in charge of financial control and risk management of international operations. He joined APRIL Canada Inc. in Montreal, in 2013, as Chief Financial Officer before taking over as Quebec vice-president of the subsidiary in 2017 and CEO in 2018.

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Ghislain joined April in August 2017 to create the new Contractors’ niche.
His mission was to develop a product adapted to the real insurance needs of contractors in the construction industry, through local and global insurers (London), among others.
Prior to that he worked for 2 years as a commercial broker.
He worked in the commercial lines for 10 years at Promutuel, as well as 3 years for Val International, mainly specializing in construction and civil liability.

Graduated from a major French business school, Daphné de Vitton has worked in marketing management in major groups over the last 15 years, notably in Japan, Germany, Russia, Singapore, etc. She joined APRIL Canada in November 2019 as Director of Marketing Strategy, Innovation and Digital.

A key player for the pleasure craft and commercial marine, garage owners, transport, estate owners, construction contractors, medical professionals…and others to come, APRIL Canada continues to transform itself by putting digital and innovation at the heart of its strategy. Daphné is therefore putting her expertise at the service of this strategy to continue to support our transformation and that of our industry.

Annie joined the April team in February 2020 as Residential Director.
Having worked in the insurance industry for more than 30 years, her experience is mainly in brokerage, of which the last 6 years were spent as a brokerage firm manager.

Kent joined April in February 2015 as National Director of Commercial Lines.
Kent brings 11 years of Insurance industry knowledge spanning Primary, with Aviva, to Reinsurance, with Munich Re – Including a strong underwriting background, market knowledge, and leadership skill set.

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Russel joined APRIL Canada in 2008 through the acquisition of his successful MGA, Canada Worldwide. Russel has been a pioneer in the development of the MGA model in Canada – particularly in the creation of binding underwriting contracts with Lloyds of London. Russel has 25 years of experience as an underwriter and director working in niche markets.

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Patricia joined APRIL in November 2012 as a Residential Underwriter. She became the Residential Team Leader in 2015, and was appointed Transport & Personal Lines Director in 2016. She is now Personal and commercial vehicles Director.

She has been working passionately within the industry for more than 20 years as a trainer, underwriter and as a manager.

Known for her close relationships with brokers, her high-quality customer service can only benefit our Canadian brokers and their clients. She always works hard to implement new products and solutions to ease brokers’ lives.

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LinkedIn Profile

Patricia joined APRIL in November 2012 as a Residential Underwriter. She became the Residential Team Leader in 2015, and was appointed Transport & Personal Lines Director in 2016. She is now Personal and commercial vehicles Director.

She has been working passionately within the industry for more than 20 years as a trainer, underwriter and as a manager.

Known for her close relationships with brokers, her high-quality customer service can only benefit our Canadian brokers and their clients. She always works hard to implement new products and solutions to ease brokers’ lives.

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Kristina has over 11 years of insurance experience in both personal and commercial lines. Her past experience well equips her to easily explain April’s products, and empathize with Brokers market challenges. Her strong customer-centric attitude strengthens relationships with our existing brokers & creates opportunities to build new ones.

Tracey Paish – Business Development Manager – Western Canada

Tracey Paish as 20 years professional experience in the insurance sector. She knows particularly well the Western Canada market place.

She brings with her a strong experience including 8 years as an underwriter for PAL Insurance, 8 years as trainer at Compu-Quote (now Applied Systems) and 4 years as client experience advisor at Keal Technology.

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Kent joined April in February 2015 as National Director of Commercial Lines.
Kent brings 11 years of Insurance industry knowledge spanning Primary, with Aviva, to Reinsurance, with Munich Re – Including a strong underwriting background, market knowledge, and leadership skill set.

LinkedIn Profile

Kent joined April in February 2015 as National Director of Commercial Lines.
Kent brings 11 years of Insurance industry knowledge spanning Primary, with Aviva, to Reinsurance, with Munich Re – Including a strong underwriting background, market knowledge, and leadership skill set.

LinkedIn Profile

John Azzarello joined April in 2015 as Commercial Team Leader in the Toronto office of April Canada.  The addition of John to our Toronto office brings an experienced Team Leader with multi-line commercial underwriting, management and business development background. John’s experience adds depth to April’s offering in Ontario and strong leadership to assist underwriters and brokers in our shared growth opportunities.

Ghislain joined April in August 2017 to create the new Contractors’ niche.
His mission was to develop a product adapted to the real insurance needs of contractors in the construction industry, through local and global insurers (London), among others.
Prior to that he worked for 2 years as a commercial broker.
He worked in the commercial lines for 10 years at Promutuel, as well as 3 years for Val International, mainly specializing in construction and civil liability.

Annie joined the April team in February 2020 as Residential Director.
Having worked in the insurance industry for more than 30 years, her experience is mainly in brokerage, of which the last 6 years were spent as a brokerage firm manager.

After working at Coast Capital Insurance Services Ltd. in British Columbia for 22 years, Lucie joined APRIL Canada in September 2015 as a senior underwriter in residential insurance.

Her know-how in underwriting and her 31 years of experience as a broker and manager has allowed her to be promoted in November 2016 as a residential Team Leader (out of Quebec).

Her passion results in her strong engagement towards the industry: she has recently instructed CIP & IBABC courses. Thanks to that, she has developed a particularly strong contact with the brokers.

Lucie proudly represents the values of APRIL Canada, she doesn’t hesitate to think “out of the box” to help our brokers with their difficult risks.

After a college degree in accounting and management, Sophie joined the insurance industry in 2017 as an underwriting assistant for the transportation department of APRIL Canada. Motivated by the desire to offer and ensure excellent customer service, she became a personal automobile underwriter in 2019, then transportation team leader in March 2020 before becoming head of the department in 2021.

Beginning his career at APRIL Canada in 2015 as an Assistant Underwriter, Conal was tasked with helping the Residential team further embed its footprint outside of Quebec by assisting brokers in placing their difficult homeowners risks within the non-standard property insurance market. Following success within the Common Law provinces, he was then presented with the opportunity in 2017 to further grow within the organization by joining the Transport team as Junior Underwriter for its then long-standing long-haul trucking program, serving exclusively Quebec brokers specialized in the Commercial Automobile and Inland Marine (Motor Truck Cargo) market sectors. Merging together this acquired industry knowledge and experience, he then joined the Commercial Marine team in 2018 as an Underwriter where he furthered his analytical skills within specialty lines insurance by serving brokers from all provinces within the ocean cargo, marine liabilities, and freight services sectors. Currently serving as Director of Commercial Marine, he is responsible for the overall growth and stability of the niche’s portfolio by ensuring that a flexible and sustainable underwriting process is practiced within all of its insurance product offerings.

LinkedIn Profile

Beginning his career at APRIL Canada in 2015 as an Assistant Underwriter, Conal was tasked with helping the Residential team further embed its footprint outside of Quebec by assisting brokers in placing their difficult homeowners risks within the non-standard property insurance market. Following success within the Common Law provinces, he was then presented with the opportunity in 2017 to further grow within the organization by joining the Transport team as Junior Underwriter for its then long-standing long-haul trucking program, serving exclusively Quebec brokers specialized in the Commercial Automobile and Inland Marine (Motor Truck Cargo) market sectors. Merging together this acquired industry knowledge and experience, he then joined the Commercial Marine team in 2018 as an Underwriter where he furthered his analytical skills within specialty lines insurance by serving brokers from all provinces within the ocean cargo, marine liabilities, and freight services sectors. Currently serving as Director of Commercial Marine, he is responsible for the overall growth and stability of the niche’s portfolio by ensuring that a flexible and sustainable underwriting process is practiced within all of its insurance product offerings.

Executive Benefits Consultant

Benecaid, An APRIL Company

1-416-389-5706