Executive Committee

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John D. DesPrez III
Chief Operating Officer, Manulife Financial Corporation
Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, John Hancock Financial Services, Inc.

John D. DesPrez III is Chief Operating Officer of Manulife Financial Corporation and is responsible for the company’s global Insurance and Wealth Management operations, which are organized into three geographically defined divisions: U.S., Canada and Asia & Japan. He is a member of Manulife’s Executive and Management Committees.

U.S. Division
The U.S. Division, which operates as John Hancock Financial Services, is comprised of two segments: U.S. Insurance and U.S. Wealth Management. U.S. Insurance provides life and long-term care insurance products and services to select markets. U.S. Wealth Management provides products and services to individual and business markets, as well as institutional products for employee benefit plans; its four core business lines are 401(k) plans, variable annuities, mutual funds and fixed products. The Division distributes products through a multi-channel network, including the John Hancock Financial Network, a national network of independent career agencies.

Canada Division
The Canada Division offers a diverse portfolio of products and services through a variety of distribution channels. Insurance products include individual life and living benefit insurance as well as group life, health, disability and retirement products and services. Individual wealth management products include segregated funds, fixed annuities, guaranteed investment certificates (GICs) and mutual funds. In addition, a variety of banking products including mortgages, leveraged loans, high interest accounts and GICs are offered through the Manulife Bank of Canada.

Asia & Japan Division
The Asia & Japan Division operates in China, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, Taiwan, Thailand and Vietnam. It provides protection and wealth management products in select markets throughout the region. Protection products include life insurance, group life and health insurance, and hospital coverage. Wealth management products include mutual funds, pensions, variable annuities and segregated funds.

Mr. DesPrez is based in Boston and is Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of John Hancock.

Before taking on his new role as Chief Operating Officer, Mr. DesPrez directed all phases of Manulife’s U.S. and Canadian operations. He assumed responsibility for all of John Hancock operations in September 2005 and all Canadian operations in June 2007. Previously, he led John Hancock’s U.S. Wealth Management businesses, a role he took on after the merger of Manulife and John Hancock in 2004.

From 1998 to June 2004, Mr. DesPrez served as Chairman and President of The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company (U.S.A.) (Manulife USA), overseeing all Manulife’s U.S. operations.

Mr. DesPrez was President of The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company of North America (Manulife North America), a leading provider of variable annuity products in the United States, from 1996 to 1998. Between 1994 and 1996, he served as President of North American Funds, Manulife’s U.S. mutual fund operation.

Between 1991 and 1994, Mr. DesPrez also held the position of Vice President, Secretary and General Counsel of Manulife North America and was responsible for the creation and start-up of The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company of New York (now John Hancock New York), Manulife’s New York operating company.

Before joining Manulife, Mr. DesPrez practiced law in private practice between 1988 and 1990. He was with the firm of Jones & Blouch Attorneys-at-Law between 1983 and 1988 where he was an associate and a partner during 1988. Jones & Blouch (now Dykema Gossett PLLC) has long represented Manulife and its affiliated companies.

Mr. DesPrez is active in a variety of industry organizations, including serving as a member of the Board of Governors of the Investment Company Institute, Washington, D.C., and as a member of the Board of Directors of the American Council of Life Insurers. He also serves as a Trustee of the Institute of Contemporary Art in Boston.

Mr. DesPrez graduated from Harvard College in 1978 with an A.B. in Economics and earned a J.D. from the Georgetown University Law Center in 1983.