Manulife Appoints General Counsel

Manulife announced the appointment of Mike Coyne as general counsel, effective September 1, 2025. He will join Manulife’s Executive Leadership Team and will report to Phil Witherington, Manulife’s president and CEO.

Coyne most recently served as senior fellow and litigation strategy advisor at the Bank Policy Institute (BPI), a leading non-partisan advocacy and policy think tank for the world’s largest banking organizations. Prior to BPI, Coyne served as general counsel and senior legal officer for the Americas for Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group (MUFG). He was also an executive officer of Tokyo-headquartered MUFG and its commercial bank subsidiary, MUFG Bank Ltd.  Prior to MUFG, Mike spent over 20 years at JPMorgan Chase & Co., ultimately rising to senior vice president, associate general counsel and global co-head of litigation.

“Mike brings demonstrated ability to lead high-performing legal teams, navigate complexity, leverage transformative technology to optimize ways of working, and advise boards and executive leadership with strategic clarity and sound judgment,” said Witherington. “His global perspective and passion for building an inclusive culture, as well as sponsoring, developing, and coaching colleagues, will be invaluable as we write Manulife’s next chapter.”

Coyne is a graduate of Boston College Law School and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. He succeeds Jim Gallagher, who is retiring from Manulife this month.