We spoke to the President of the Etobicoke Rotary Club, John D. Fleming (Jack if you know him!), about his relationship with MicroSkills and our Youth Service Program Expansion.
Jack Fleming Background
John D. Fleming, Founder and President of Fleming Advisors International, is a broadly experienced life insurance professional with knowledge of both domestic and global markets. Atrusted, respected industry leader, his proven record of accomplishments is representative of both strategic vision and hands-on direction.
With his 40+ years’ experience of top-level management in the insurance and financial services industries, Mr. Fleming’s perception and judgment are much in demand among Senior Executives in the industry. When a project warrants, with Fleming’s exceptional leadership qualities and broad-ranging long-term associations, he assembles and manages a distinguished team of high-level resources.
Prior to the establishment of Fleming Advisors International in 1996, Mr. Fleming had a distinguished career in the industry in both North America and in worldwide markets. He held senior management positions with Confederation Life and New York Life providing direction and oversight to existing operations and ground-breaking initiatives in both the domestic and global environments.
Mr. Fleming has been a strong and recognized contributor to the life insurance industry. He served on the Board of Directors of LIMRA International for four years and was elected Chairman in 1992. In addition, he held several key positions as he served The Canadian Life & Health Insurance Association. He has shared his insights as a platform speaker at major industry meetings in North America and abroad.
MicroSkills:
Where are you currently employed?
Jack Fleming:
I am the Founder and President of Fleming Advisors International LLC. Fleming Advisors International (FAI) is a high-level advisory service established to serve the worldwide insurance and financial services industry. It is structured as a boutique consulting firm, combining the best of entrepreneurial spirit and speed with many of the resources of a larger enterprise.
Fleming Advisors International targets the insurance and financial services industry. Clients range from a single CEO, to a startup company in another part of the world, to some of the best-known names in the industry. FAI brings a fresh, pragmatic understanding of business strategy issues to the table, and fine-tunes the corporate strategic direction to make it more effective.
MicroSkills:
How did you hear about MicroSkills?
Jack Fleming:
I first heard about MicroSkills when we put out the RFP for our Legacy Project for the Rotary Club of Etobicoke and the Rotary Club of Toronto West. Prior to that, I had no first-hand knowledge. But , that is not surprising nor a reflection on MicroSkills. I had been living and working in the USA from 1993 and just returned home to Toronto in January 2013. When I did get back, I immediately re-joined Rotary Etobicoke. I had been a member of the Club in the mid/late – ‘80s.
MicroSkills:
What made you finally decide to work with MicroSkills?
Jack Fleming:
The RFP that we received from MicroSkills was very compelling. It seemed like a very worthy potential project. It made the ‘short list’ of candidates. MicroSkills was invited to make a presentation to our committee. They did, and it further enhanced their position in the competition. At that point, we made the decision to do further due diligence on MicroSkills and one other candidate. We contacted the Toronto Police Service and ask for them to provide feedback to us on the candidates. Again, the report was favourable and added to the level of interest we had in the work of MicroSkills at the Youth Centre on Dixon Road.
Our final step was to have our committee members visit the Centre for a first-hand look at the facility and to get a sense of the work being done. The visit clearly cemented our view that this was an important service to the youth in the area … and … that the facility was lacking many things that would allow the staff to provide and to enhance their services to their clients.
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