Equitable Names Hector Martinez to Lead Life Business: Personnel Moves

Equitable has hired Hector Martinez to be head of its life insurance business. Martinez previously was in charge of point-of-sale and wholesale insurance sales distribution at Crump Life Insurance Services. He started out at ADP before moving into insurance sales. Martinez has a bachelor's degree from Lehigh University. In other news on personnel moves: Sammons Financial Group has hired John Melvin to be senior vice president and chief investment officer. Melvin was previously the chief investment officer at Hartford Investment Management Co., an arm of Hartford Financial Services Group Inc. He also has worked for Deutsche Bank and for Goldman Sachs. He has a bachelor's degree from Lehigh University and a master's degree in business from New York University. Symetra Life Insurance Co. has hired Daniel Palermino to be senior vice president, benefits distribution and field service, and Solynn McCurdy to be senior vice president, chief diversity, equity and inclusion officer. Palermino previously was vice president, employee benefits sales, at Voya Financial. He has a bachelor's degree from the University of New Hampshire. McCurdy was senior vice president of social impact at BECU, a credit union. He has a bachelor's degree from the University of Washington and a master's degree in education from Seattle University. MetLife has hired Frederick Mitchell to be vice president of U.S. government relations and Tia Hodges to be head of corporate giving and employee volunteerism. Mitchell previously was vice president of congressional relations at the American Bankers Association. Earlier in his career, he worked for the House Ways and Means Committee. He has a bachelor's degree and a master's degree from George Mason University. Hodges was in charge of U.S. Youth Economic Opportunity efforts at the Citi Foundation. She also has been program manager at KaBOOM!, a nonprofit group that builds playgrounds, and she has worked as a partnership development manager for Feeding America of Eastern Wisconsin. She has a bachelor's degree from Loyola University Chicago and a master's degree from Johns Hopkins' business school. StanCorp Financial Group Inc. has hired Alan Assner to be assistant vice president of individual annuities, and it has expanded the role of Jeremy Horner. Assner previously was head of annuity and life product development at Brighthouse Financial. He has a bachelor's degree in actuarial science from Worcester Polytechnic Institute. The Standard has also promoted Horner to vice president of individual disability insurance and the business transformation office. He previously was assistant vice president of individual disability insurance. He has a bachelor's degree in accountancy and a master's degree in accountancy from Brigham Young University. He is a certified public accountant. AmeriLife Group LLC has hired Greg Etchison to be vice president, Medicare supplement and specialty health. He previously was vice president, sales-broker distribution, at Cigna. He has a bachelor's degree from Anderson University. American Enterprise Group Inc. has hired Maggie Spikes to be a regional manager for Indiana and the Ohio markets. She previously was a funeral sales consultant at Matthews Aurora Funeral Services. Before that, she worked for Assurant Solutions and Forethought. She has a bachelor's degree from Ohio University. Zipari, a health insurance customer experience technology company, has hired Kerry Unflat to be chief people officer. She previously was chief human resources officer at HealthcareSource. She also has worked in administration at the Harvard University police department and as managing director of human resources operations at WGBH, Boston's public television station. She has a bachelor's degree from Marist College. (Photo: metamorworks/Shutterstock)