New York Life announced that vice chairman John Y. Kim has been elected effective immediately. The president's role has been held by chairman and CEO Ted Mathas, who was elected to the position of president in 2007. Kim continues reporting to Mathas, who remains chairman of the board and chief executive officer. Kim retains the role of chief investment officer of New York Life, as well as overall responsibility for the investments group and enterprise-wide technology. With his promotion to president, the company's largest business unit, the insurance & agency group, has been added to his current responsibilities.
Meanwhile, Mathas also announced that Chris Blunt will return to investments to run the group as its president, reporting to Kim. Blunt joined the company in 2004 as head of New York Life Investments' Retail Investments strategy, where he was successful in growing Investments' sales of mutual funds through all of its distribution partners. He most recently headed the insurance & agency group with co-president Mark Pfaff.
In other New York Life news, the company has been named one of 2015's "Best Companies for Multicultural Women" by Working Mother magazine, an honor that recognizes the 25 U.S. corporations that create and use best practices to make sure women of color employees advance and excel. This is the fifth consecutive year that New York Life has been named to this prestigious list. A full list of the 2015 Best Companies for Multicultural Women can be found on workingmother.com.
The Florida Association of Health Underwriters (FAHU) Symposium 2015, Florida's largest gathering of healthcare brokers, agents, consultants and carrier representatives begins Thursday, July 23rd at the Renaissance Orlando. Janet Trautwein, the Chief Executive Officer of the National Association of Health Underwriters (NAHU) in Washington, D.C., will deliver the symposium's opening address. For the symposium agenda go here. FAHU is a non-profit organization of insurance professionals dedicated to serving the public by strengthening the insurance marketplace, advocating for effective legislation, ethical leadership and professional standards, and by educating our members and the consumers they serve.
Hearsay Social, provider of the Predictive Social Suite for financial advisors and insurance agents, announced it will create and deploy a program with Southern Farm Bureau Life Insurance Company that enables its multi-line agents to meaningfully and compliantly engage with clients and prospects on social media. The Southern Farm Bureau Life Insurance network extends across 11 states with an office in nearly every county within each state. The company's focus on having a strong, local presence means that its agents are often active members in their communities and have deeply personal relationships with clients. The Hearsay Social platform will allow Southern Farm Bureau Life Insurance Company agents to select pre-approved content, such as news, company announcements, and other resources, and easily share it with their social networks across Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter.
The Insured Retirement Institute (IRI) announced that the IRI Fact Book 2015 – offering the latest retirement income research, industry data, and sales reports for the variable and fixed annuity markets – is now available for financial professionals. The latest edition of the IRI Fact Book provides an overview of changes in the annuity marketplace, including product innovation, and outlines considerations for financial advisors for including insured retirement strategies in retirement plans. To view the table of contents from the IRI Fact Book 2015, click here. Financial professionals can download the IRI Fact Book by visiting the IRI Marketplace.
Lincoln Financial Group (NYSE: LNC) announced that it has expanded its Lincoln American Legacy® suite of variable annuities with the exclusive addition of a broad new set of single- managed funds, American Funds Insurance Series – Portfolio SeriesSM. The new Portfolio Series funds may help investors in addressing specific retirement needs, including building savings, planning for distributions, and preserving long-term assets. In addition, these funds can be used either together within an objective-based framework, or individually, depending on various factors, including an investor's time frame and risk tolerance. For more information about Lincoln's American Legacy, please visit www.lincolnfinancial.com
