Sammon Financial Group has picked Jerry Blair to be the next president of its Sammons Life Insurance Group division.
Blair will succeed Steve Palmitier, the current president of the life business, who is retiring.
Sammons has two subsidiaries that write life insurance: Midland National and North American Company for Life and Health Insurance.
Blair began working for Sammons in 2005 and became the life business chief distribution officer in 2019.
Before that, he spent about eight years at Transamerica.
Blair holds the LIMRA Leadership Institute Fellow and chartered financial consultant professional designations.
Other companies in the life, health and annuity markets also have executive hire news this week.
Transamerica
Transamerica has hired David Curry to be the chief distribution officer of its individual solutions division.
Curry has been national sales director for Lincoln Financial Group.
He will oversee the Transamerica distribution teams for individual annuities and mutual funds as well as for individual life insurance.
Curry spent about 17 years at Lincoln Financial.
He has a bachelor's degree from the University of Virginia.
Truist/Crump Life
Truist has named Rob Carney to be the CEO of its Crump Life Insurance Services division, and Michael Martini to be the division's president.