The Life Insurance Council of New York, Inc. elected Bridget M. Healy, executive vice president & chief legal officer of ING U.S., Inc., to serve as chairman of the board of directors for 2013.
Healy oversees the law, compliance, corporate responsibility and federal and state government affairs functions for ING U.S. In this capacity, she is also a member of the ING U.S. Executive Committee.
Previously, Healy served as senior vice president & group general counsel at The Travelers Companies, Inc., where she was a member of the Operating Committee, the company's top management body.
Prior to her years at Travelers, Healy served as vice president, general counsel & corporate secretary for Becton Dickinson and Company, where she was a member of the Executive Management Team. She also practiced law in the United States and Europe for nine years with Davis Polk & Wardwell and was a partner in the firm of Stroock & Stroock & Lavan LLP.
Healy's prior legal experience included counseling boards on corporate governance issues and representing corporations, financial advisors and major shareholder groups in connection with domestic and cross-border mergers, acquisitions, divestitures and joint ventures.
Healy received her J.D. from Georgetown University Law Center, magna cum laude, and is a graduate of Brown University, with an honors degree in International Relations and French Studies.
In other news:
John O'Gara and Richard Simonetti have each been elected senior vice president in New York Life's Agency Department, reporting to Mark Pfaff, executive vice president and head of Agency.
O'Gara is responsible for New York Life's wholesaling operations across all product lines within the Agency distribution channel including life insurance, annuities, investments and long-term care insurance. He also oversees New York Life's Dallas-based Advanced Planning Group, a team of attorneys, certified public accountants and other professionals with whom New York Life agents can exclusively work when serving affluent clients.
Simonetti is responsible for agent and manager recruitment, training and development. This includes growing the company's field force and sales among New York Life's key markets, including women, cultural markets, the LGBT community and young professionals.
O'Gara joined New York Life in 1984 and has held sales and marketing positions across various business operations. He is a graduate of Iona College with a major in business and finance.
Simonetti joined New York Life as an agent in the Long Island General Office in July 1996. Since then, he has served as sales manager in that office from 1998 to 2002, managing partner of New York Life's Vermont office from 2002 to 2005, and managing partner of the Greater Detroit office from 2005 to 2008. Mr. Simonetti earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in economics from the University of Massachusetts at Amherst. He is an active member of the National Association of Insurance and Financial Advisors, the Association of Advanced Life Underwriting and the General Agents and Managers Association.
