Charles Brindamour

Early life

Charles Brindamour was born and raised in Montréal, Québec in Canada. As a young man, he studied at Laval University in Québec City, Québec, where he graduated with a degree in Actuarial Sciences.

Career

In 1992, immediately after concluding his post-secondary education, Charles Brindamour joined Intact Financial Corporation, which is the largest provider of property and casualty insurance in Canada, as well as a leading provider of global specialty insurance, and, together with RSA, a leader in the UK and Ireland. Starting out as an actuary, Brindamour has spent his entire career at Intact. During his three-plus decades with the company and its former affiliates, he has steadily risen through the ranks, achieving promotions with regularity, including Senior Vice President of Personal Lines, Executive Vice President, and Chief Operating Officer. This culminated with his ascension to the positions of President and CEO in 2008.

Under Brindamour’s leadership, Intact Financial Corporation has achieved several significant milestones that have fundamentally reshaped the landscape of Canada’s insurance industry. To begin with, in 2009, he spearheaded the company’s transition to becoming an independent Canadian entity.

Another defining moment came in 2011, when he orchestrated the acquisition of AXA Canada in a landmark deal that solidified Intact’s position as a leader in the property and casualty insurance sector. This acquisition was the single largest in Canada’s insurance history at the time. Building on this momentum, Charles Brindamour expanded Intact’s presence internationally. 

In 2017, he led the acquisition of OneBeacon Insurance Group, Ltd., marking a strategic move into the specialty insurance market of the United States. This expansion not only diversified Intact’s portfolio, but also positioned the company as a formidable player in the greater North American insurance marketplace. 

Most recently, in 2021, Brindamour orchestrated Intact’s largest acquisition to date with the purchase of RSA Insurance. This transformative deal significantly increased Intact’s premiums from CAD $12 billion to CAD $20 billion, further entrenching its status as the country’s insurance leader.

In a profile published by the Financial Post in February of 2022, Charles Brindamour clarified Intact’s operational philosophy to journalist Andy Holloway. “Dealmaking is not a strategy for us. Dealmaking is just the way to accelerate the deployment of our strategy, and that’s part of our growth story. But it all goes back to winning with customers, employees, and then outperforming on a sustainable basis. And by doing that over a long period of time, you build an advantage that is very difficult to replicate.”

Charles Brindamour is an Associate of the Casualty Actuarial Society, a self-regulating professional association. He is a board member of Intact, as well as the Geneva Association, the Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce, and the Business Council of Canada. He also serves on the advisory board of Gibraltar Growth Corporation and is co-chair of Laval University’s ‘La Grande Campagne’. In May 2019, he received an honorary PhD from HEC Montréal. In 2021, Bennett Jones named him ‘Canada’s Outstanding CEO of the Year’.

In addition to his professional accomplishments, Charles Brindamour is well-known for his commitment to sustainability and corporate responsibility. He co-founded the Intact Centre for Climate Adaptation at the University of Waterloo, highlighting his dedication to addressing climate change through academic research with the ultimate goal of finding practical solutions.

Net Worth

Charles Brindamour’s net worth is estimated to be approximately $63 million.