Leadership Team
Meet Sagen™’s executive leadership—the heads of our household.
Stuart Levings
President and Chief Executive Officer
Mr. Levings assumed his current role as President and Chief Executive Officer in January 2015. Prior to that Mr. Levings served in the roles of Senior Vice President, Chief Operating Officer, as well as Senior Vice President, Chief Operations Officer and Senior Vice President, Chief Risk Officer. Mr. Levings joined Sagen MI Canada in July 2000 as the Financial Controller and has also held positions in finance and product development, including five years as Chief Financial Officer. Before that, Mr. Levings spent seven years with Deloitte & Touche.
Mr. Levings holds a CPA, CA professional designation with over 20 years of professional experience in a variety of industry sectors. Mr. Levings holds a Bachelor of Accounting Science degree from the University of South Africa and is a member of the Canadian Institute of Chartered Accountants.
Jim Spitali
Senior Vice President and Chief Operating Officer
Mr. Spitali is a seasoned professional with over 18 years of experience in the financial services industry. Since joining the Company in 2015, he has held senior leadership roles including Senior Vice President, Operations and Senior Vice President, Sales and Marketing. Mr. Spitali became SVP & Chief Operating Officer in November of 2023, bringing a diversified perspective and broad set of solutions to drive Sagen’s growth. Prior to joining Sagen, he held a variety of positions in retail banking, wealth management and sales strategy within CIBC and Meridian Credit Union. He is a faculty member with the Pilon School of Business at Sheridan College, teaching in both the Finance and Marketing departments. Mr. Spitali received an honours Bachelor of Business Administration from Brock University and a Masters in Business Administration from Dalhousie University.
Amit Chalam
Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer
In 2023, Amit Chalam joined Sagen as the Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer. Prior to joining the Company, Amit held the role of Risk Consulting Partner in the financial services practice at KPMG. He has worked with a wide variety of insurance companies including general insurers, life insurers, mortgage insurers and reinsurers. While at KPMG, he also held the position of National Service Line Leader for Governance, Risk and Compliance Services. He has spent over 20 years in Toronto, New York and India performing a combination of operational process and controls advisory services, internal audits as well as financial statement audits. Amit is a member of the board of directors of the Canadian Insurance Accountants Association, and is also a director at CANES Community Care, which is a not-for-profit organization based in Toronto.
Winsor Macdonell
Senior Vice President, General Counsel and Secretary
Mr. Macdonell is responsible for all of Sagen MI Canada’s legal and compliance matters, as well as government relations. Mr. Macdonell joined the Company in 1999. He was called to the Bar in Ontario in 1994. Prior to joining the Company, he spent three years in the life and property and casualty industry, and prior to that was in private practice. Mr. Macdonell received an honours Bachelor of Commerce degree from Queens University in 1988 and his LL.B. from Dalhousie University in 1992 and his ICD.D in 2014.
Craig Sweeney
Senior Vice President, Chief Risk Officer
Mr. Sweeney has more than 22 years of professional experience in the mortgage and banking industry. Since joining the Company in 1998, Mr. Sweeney has held senior positions in Operations and Business Development, including Director of Risk Operations and Director of Product Development. Mr. Sweeney received an honours Bachelor of Arts degree in Economics from Carleton University in 1994.
Ed Orlik
Senior Vice President and Chief Information Officer
Mr. Orlik became the Chief Information Officer of the company in April 2022. He has over 23 years of software, data and technology experience across a number of different industries. Prior to joining Sagen MI Canada, he was the Chief Information Officer at Altus Group Limited and EVP Technology and Development for 8 years. His career also included a senior technology position at Katz Group Canada Ltd and progressive technology roles at Nortel Networks. Mr. Orlik has a Masters in Business Administration from McMaster’s DeGroote School of Business with a specialization in the Management of Innovation and Technology and received a Honours Bachelor of Mathematics degree specializing in Information Systems Management from the University of Waterloo.
Mary-Jo Hewat
Senior Vice President, Human Resources and Facilities
Ms. Hewat brings over 20 years of human resources expertise spanning numerous industries and geographies. Ms. Hewat assumed her current role of Senior Vice President, Human Resources and Facilities in May 2016. Prior to joining Sagen MI Canada, she was Senior Vice President, HR Business Partnerships at Ontario Municipal Employees Retirement System as well as Vice President, Human Resources. Her career has also included senior HR roles with Sherritt and Hudson’s Bay. Ms. Hewat has a Bachelor of Commerce from Ryerson University and a Masters in Business Administration from the Schulich School of Business, York University. She also holds the Chartered Directors (C.Dir.) designation and is a Certified Human Resources Executive (CHRE). She also sits on the Advisory Council to Ryerson University’s Human Resource Management and Organizational Design Programs.