HR News

New York Life Announces Executive Promotions in Agency Department

December 7, 2012

New York Life announced today that John O’Gara and Richard Simonetti have each been elected SVPs in the company’s Agency Department, reporting to EVP and Head of Agency Mark Pfaff. 

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 experienced attorneys, certified public accountants and other professionals with whom New York Life agents can exclusively work when serving affluent clients. O’Gara joined New York Life in 1984.

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.

Simonetti joined New York Life as an agent in the Long Island General Office in July 1996. 

Allianz Life Picks New Policyholder Services VP

December 7, 2012

Allianz Life Insurance Company of North America hired Sandra Gudvangen as VP of policyholder services in the Enterprise Operations department.

According to the insurer, Gudvangen will be responsible for managing policyholder service delivery, including policyholder benefits and claims. She will also oversee administration of the closed block of business, and will lead the development of a new team focused on operations actuarial and tax. Gudvangen will report to the SVP of Enterprise Operations, Jasmine Jirele.

“Sandy has held a variety of senior leadership positions during her career which will be beneficial as Allianz Life continues to enhance our operational processes,” said Jirele.

Gudvangen has more than 20 years of senior and project management experience primarily in the insurance industry. Most recently, Gudvangen was with Hartford Life and Annuity Insurance Company in Woodbury, Minn., for the past 13 years, where she was an AVP for the Distribution Advocacy and New Business area.

National Interstate Names Mercurio EVP, COO

December 7, 2012

National Interstate Corp. has named Tony Mercurio as executive VP and COO, effective Jan. 1, 2013. Mercurio joined National Interstate in 1997 and currently serves as CEO of Vanliner Insurance Co., one of National Interstate's insurance subsidiaries.

"Tony has held several key management positions during his 15 years at National Interstate,” Dave Michelson, president and CEO. “Most recently, Tony's strong leadership has resulted in the successful integration of Vanliner, following our acquisition in 2010. As National Interstate's COO he will be responsible for overseeing all products and for achieving sales and underwriting profit objectives. Tony is well respected in the insurance industry and, within our company and through this expanded role, will ensure that National Interstate continues our excellent track record of profitable growth."

AIG Names Chief Underwriting Officer for Property/Casualty Unit

December 5, 2012

American International Group Inc. has named Kim Garland as AIG Property Casualty as chief underwriting officer for global consumer insurance, transferring from his position as president and CEO of AIG’s United Guaranty Corp. (UGC).

AIG says Garland will be responsible for the consumer book of business underwriting results globally. He will establish the risk appetite and profile for the business, and work with the business lines and regions to establish and drive the strategy for each product line.

Garland will report to Jeff Hayman, CEO of global consumer insurance, says AIG. Garland joined UGC in 2009 as COO. Before that, he spent more than 20 years in the personal lines business working for Safeco and GEICO.

Donna DeMaio will succeed Garland as president and CEO of United Guaranty, reporting to Peter Hancock, CEO of AIG Property Casualty. DeMaio will be responsible for the profitability and growth of the business. Previously, she was UGC’s COO.

 

Allianz Life Promotes Norwood to Director of IT Infrastructure

November 30, 2012

Allianz Life Insurance Company of North America (Allianz Life) promoted Dwan Norwood to director of Midrange Operations within the Information Technology group.

He will be responsible for IT infrastructure service delivery functions along with technology solutions to support business plans for the company. According to the insurer, it will be his job to drive projects, solutions and technology portfolios to ensure stability of IT systems while managing vendor relationships. Norwood will report to the VP of IT Infrastructure, Tom Mundt.

“Dwan consistently delivers high quality results and has established himself as a trusted leader within our organization,” states Mundt. “During his time with Allianz Life, he has made significant contributions to ensure more effective operations and strategic planning. I am confident that Dwan will have continued success in his new role.”

Norwood has more than 15 years of experience in IT. He originally joined Allianz Life in 2010 as a senior manager in Midrange Infrastructure where he was responsible for implementation and operations of Midrange Infrastructure including servers and network storage. Prior to that, Norwood was a senior manager of Information Protection with Target Corporation in Minneapolis where he led the Incident Management and Investigations team responsible for information security incident response and network investigations.

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