Lincoln Financial Names Individual Life & Annuity Head
What You Need to Know
Transamerica has new heads of individual annuity solutions and life solutions.
Richard Porter has moved to Nationwide from Prudential.
Dawn Wolfgram is now a field vice president in the Ameriprise distribution organization.
Ellen Cooper, Lincoln Financial’s incoming CEO, is bringing in Matthew Grove to help the company run its retail life and annuity operations.
Grove will join the Radnor, Pennsylvania-based company in July as executive vice president, head of Individual Life & Annuities and Lincoln Financial Network, the company announced earlier this week.
Cooper is preparing to succeed Dennis Glass as CEO after the company’s annual meeting, which is to take place May 27.
Lincoln Financial Network is the company’s organization for independent financial networks.
As head of the network, Grove will be responsible for expanding relationships with advisors and increasing sales of managed accounts.
Grove was previously the CEO of Resolution Life USA, a business that helps run life and annuity issuers’ unwanted blocks of business.
Earlier in his career, he was an investment banking analyst at Donaldson, Lufkin & Jenrette, and a senior vice president at Jefferson National, which helped create the market for fee-based annuities.
He then spent 11 years at New York Life. While at New York Life, he had stints as head of the annuity business and head of life product marketing and underwriting. When he left in 2021, he was co-chief operating officer.
He has a bachelor’s degree from the University of Pennsylvania and a master’s degree in business from Columbia University.
Transamerica
Transamerica — a Baltimore-based arm of Aegon — has named Liza Tyler to be head of annuity solutions and Andrew DeMarco to be head of life solutions in the company’s individual solutions division.
Tyler was previously head of variable annuities at TIAA’s CREF arm.
She has also been an executive in the annuity distribution organizations at Genworth, New York Life and AIG.
Tyler has a bachelor’s degree from the University of Minnesota. While there, she was a member of the golf team.
DeMarco has been head of life market strategy at Equitable.
Earlier, he was an executive at MetLife and then at Brighthouse.
DeMarco has a bachelor’s degree from Bowdoin. He holds the chartered life underwriter and chartered financial consultant professional designations.
Nationwide
Nationwide — the Columbus, Ohio-based mutual insurer — has picked Richard Porter to succeed Rona Guymon as the leader of its brokerage annuity distribution channel.
Guymon is now the leader of Nationwide’s annuity distribution team.
Porter will oversee distribution of annuities through all broker-dealers, including banks, wirehouses and independent broker-dealers.
He was previously the regional vice president for the West Florida region in Prudential’s advisor channel.
He has a bachelor’s degree and a law degree from the University of Louisville, and a master’s degree in business from Pepperdine.
Protective
Protective Life — a Birmingham, Alabama-based subsidiary of Dai-ichi Life Holdings — says Mike Temple, its vice chairman and chief operating officer, plans to retire June 10.
Steve Walker, the company’s executive vice president and chief financial officer, will become vice chairman, finance and risk.
In related news:
Wade Harrison will become an executive vice president and chief retail officer. He has been a senior vice president and president, protection division.
