During his nine years as president, the company saw continuous expansion and record profits with the number of jobs in Halifax more than doubling to over 1200.
Under his leadership, Maritime Life gained a solid reputation for employee relations and appearing every year among the leaders in the Report on Business list of top 50 employers in Canada.
When Maritime's parent company, John Hancock Financial, was purchased by Manulife, Black resigned rather than move to Ontario.
He has also been on the board of Dalhousie University (Vice-chair), Standard Life of Canada (deputy chair), and Nova Scotia Business Inc.
[3] He has led a leadership seminar for senior executives since 2006 and is a regular columnist in the Halifax Chronicle Herald on public policy issues.