ACLI President to Retire at End of Year

By Allison Bell

News March 15, 2024 at 11:30 AM

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Susan Neely plans to retire from her post as president of the American Council of Life Insurers at the end of the year.

Neely, who took over as the leader of the Washington-based group in 2018, has played a key role in shaping tax rules and financial services policy in Washington. She served as a spokesperson for life insurers as they were coping with the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on operations on claims.

Associations like the ACLI can "be force multipliers that unify members and address society-level challenges," she said.

The ACLI board has hired Heidrick & Struggles to conduct a search for Neely's successor.

The history: Neely's predecessor as president of the ACLI was Dirk Kempthorne, who was a former mayor of Boise, Idaho, a former a senator from Idaho, a former governor of Idaho and a former federal Interior secretary.

Kempthorne is the chairman of the USS Idaho Commissioning Committee advisory board, and he was part of a four-person team that chartered a jet to evacuate 395 Americans and Afghan allies after the United States pulled out of Afghanistan in 2021.

Neely: Neely started off as an aide to Terry Branstad, the governor of Iowa. She later was an executive at the Health Insurance Association of America, where she helped create the "Harry and Louise" ads, which persuaded Americans that a health system change proposal developed by Hillary Clinton was too complicated.

In 2001, she was part of the team that set up the U.S. Department of Homeland Security.

She then ran the American Beverage Association before moving to the ACLI.

Susan Neely Credit: ACLI

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