Broker World

Legal & General America

Troy Thompson, FSA, joined Legal & General America as vice president, product management. In his new role, Thompson has responsibility for product development and in-force product management.

Thompson’s career is remarkably correlated to LGA’s business needs today. Thompson was most recently vice president of USAA, in San Antonio, TX, where he was first the strategic leader of life and investment company operations and then a leader in an enterprise transformation initiative. This initiative aided the shift from a product-line-centric organizational underpinning to a shared distribution multi-product solutions orientation.

At Genworth Financial, Thompson served as senior vice president of fixed life products, universal life products and term life products. He also led the development of team and UL portfolio efforts, resulting in more than $200 million in annual sales, $300 million in after-tax income, and annual growth rates as high as 70 percent. In doing so, Thompson also artfully managed capital with structures that funded noneconomic AG38 and XXX reserves, including the industry’s first securitization.

Thompson is an actuary’s actuary, but also a trusted collaborator. He has a long and demonstrated history of working closely with distribution and marketing. Thompson said, “This is the business I’m passionate about and I’m thrilled to be part of the LGA team.”

A mathematics graduate with honors from the University of Texas, Thompson is a Fellow in the Society of Actuaries. 

The MedAmerica Companies

Bill Naylon was elected president of Med­America Insurance Company, Med­America Insurance Company of New York, and MedAmerica Insurance Company of Florida (collectively, “MedAmerica”) at the board of directors meeting held recently. 

Naylon has held various executive financial and subsidiary positions for Excellus BlueCross BlueShield since 1988 and has been acting president for MedAmerica since the retirement of the former president, Bill Jones, in December 2013.

“Bill understands our expectations for MedAmerica and has already taken meaningful actions to position MedAmerica for long term sustainability,” said Chris Booth, CEO of The Lifetime Healthcare Companies, Inc., the parent company of both Excellus BlueCross BlueShield and the MedAmerica Companies.

Dorothy Coleman, CFO of The Lifetime Healthcare Companies, noted that, “As part of the Excellus and MedAmerica leadership team for more than 26 years, Bill has a deep understanding of our organization’s values and of the long term care insurance industry.”

“I am fortunate to have a strong and seasoned team at MedAmerica,” said Naylon. “We, and the industry in general, have been challenged by the prolonged low interest rate environment. I am confident that we have a viable long term strategy to continue providing insurance for the devastating costs associated with chronic illnesses.”

The MedAmerica Companies underwrite insurance for chronic illnesses in all 50 states and are wholly owned subsidiaries of Excellus Health Plan, Inc., one of the largest not-for-profit health insurers in New York  state. It is the fifth largest seller of long term care insurance nationwide (LIMRA, May 2014). The company reported more than $2 billion in assets in 2013.

Petersen International Underwriters

Petersen International Underwriters, the California-based specialty insurance underwriting and marketing firm, is pleased to announce the launch of its new simplified issue disability insurance program for lower-income markets.

The product was designed to provide affordable, comprehensive, “own occupation” income protection to modest income earning Americans, and offers a variety of elimination and benefit periods to suit individual client needs. This new disability program is also a perfect fit for part-time employees and those with preexisting medical conditions or hazardous occupations.

But according to Thomas Petersen, vice president of Petersen International, “The most intriguing feature of this new product is that of simplified issue, individual disability underwriting. We have streamlined the traditional underwriting process, allowing policies to be approved and issued in a matter of days rather than weeks. Also, applicants aren’t required to go through exhaustive medical exams or lab work.”

Petersen believes that the new simplified issue disability insurance plan is the next step in expanding and diversifying the disability income industry. Those who have been historically underrepresented as DI consumers are now able to acquire an appropriate and affordable insurance plan.

Petersen International Underwriters is a coverholder at Lloyd’s, specializing in excess and specialty disability insurance programs for individuals and corporations. 

The health insurance industry is saddened by the loss of Dick Field, who began his career in 1970 with New York Life selling whole life policies in record numbers.  He left the company as a Chairman’s Council member, their top designation, moving to California and concentrating on the health insurance business. In 1982 he and partner Rusty Brown started Innovative Cost Concepts, the first general agency in the country to provide multiple group health insurance quotes and comparisons to their agent force. They put together their first “private label” small group product with Great Republic Life in 1983.

Shortly after they added partner John Word, Field decided to concentrate on the individual marketplace, and his partners formed their own company, Word and Brown, specializing in the group market and becoming one of the largest group insurance wholesalers in the nation. Field went on to put together many private label individual health insurance products, including The Innovator, with United Olympic Life; The Competitive Edge, with Trustmark; The Solution Series, with The Provident; Total Choice and Shared Choice, with United Chambers; e-Solution and the Assur-Care series with Guarantee Trust Life; Unified One, with Unified Life; and GetMED 360, with Fairmont Specialty Group.

His current venture had been Innovative Insurance Specialists, LLC, founded by Field and his soul mate and partner of 18 years, Yvonne Fidure. On a personal note, it was always a delight to run into them while making the rounds of industry events. They never failed to greet me with beaming smiles and earnest welcome and enthusiasm. Dick was a good and loyal friend to many, myself included, and the industry is truly lessened by his loss. [SPH]

The life insurance industry lost a great one recently with the passing of Fred Tseu, CPS Insurance Services, Inc./Guardian of Hawaii.

Born in 1923 in Chansha, Hunan Provence, Tseu moved to Hawaii in 1935. After serving in the U.S. Navy in the Pacific during World War II, Fred graduated the SMU School of Insurance Marketing and started selling insurance in 1947. Tseu also served in the Navy during the Korean War, then returned to the insurance industry, and founded Guardian of Hawaii as a National Fidelity career general agency in 1955. He transitioned the agency from a career shop to a brokerage general agency in 1969.

Very active in his industry associations, Tseu served on the membership and legislative committees of the Honolulu Association of Life Underwriters, on the board of the Hawaii State Association of Life Underwriters, serving as its president in 1982-1983. He was a board member of the Life Underwriters Political Action Committee (LUPAC), and was elected twice to be the state chairman, from 1979-1983 and again from 1984-1988. In addition to his work in the National Association of Life Underwriters (now NAIFA), Tseu was an active member of the General Agents and Managers Association (GAMA), the Hawaii Chapter of CLU, and the American Society of CLU. Guardian of Hawaii was a charter member of the National Association of Independent Life Brokerage Agencies (NAILBA), and the agency still belongs to the group, under the capable leadership of Fred’s children Steven Tseu and Lori (Tseu) Rodriguez.

Tseu was active in his community, participating in various fundraising campaigns for cancer, heart disease and other causes; a member and past president of the Honolulu Optimist Club; a neighborhood commissioner of the Boy Scouts of America; and a youth counselor for the YMCA.

In addition to Lori and Steven, Tseu leaves behind his wife, Edna, and daughters Jeannie and Debbie.

Fred Tseu served our industry and his clients with boundless compassion and integrity during an insurance career spanning more than six decades. He will be missed. [SPH]

Another loss to our industry must be noted with the passing of Robert “Bob” Miller, CLU, ChFC, MSFS. Bob possessed the rare combination of a MENSA’s intelligence with an engaging “everyman” personality. Most recently Bob served as product manager at AAA Life Insurance Company. Prior to joining AAA, Miller was a principal and chief marketing consultant with RAM Marketing Innovation, LLC, and the vice president, marketing innovation, with Ash Brokerage.

Miller graduated from Bradley University in 1972 with a BS in business. He studied the insurance industry extensively through the American College, earning his CLU designation as well as his ChFC and MSFS. However, it was during his tenure with a number of key insurance carriers in the brokerage market that Miller really counted his contributions to the industry, serving first as AVP, marketing coordinator at National Fidelity Life in the early 1980s, next moving to Federal Kemper Life Insurance Company as a director or marketing, product development and systems design. In the early 1990s Bob moved to CNA as vice president, marketing, before landing at American General as director of marketing from 2004 through 2009.

Miller’s contributions in product development, marketing support, training and motivation of the field force left a lasting impression on the many home office colleagues, brokerage general agency principals and brokers who were fortunate enough to work with him. Bob played a key role in such industry product innovations as deposit term, re-entry term, level term and ROP term, ISWL and UL. His design support of product illustration software and the industry’s first tele-underwriting process demonstrates the great breadth of his creativity. He was a passionate brokerage industry advocate, a product innovator, a master platform speaker, motivator and trainer, and a successful team leader. I enjoyed many conversations with Bob over the years, chiefly at NAILBA and marketing organization meetings, and I am truly sorry our industry has lost his voice. [SPH]

Partners Advantage

Partners Advantage Insurance Services, LLC, is pleased to announce the appointment of Gary E. Eckebrecht as vice president of sales for its Advantage Division. Eckebrecht will be taking leadership in many of the key areas headed by retiring Senior Vice President James Lehmann.

Eckebrecht is an experienced sales and marketing executive with more than three decades in the financial services industry. He has spent the last 20 years working with life and annuity manufacturers and wholesalers, and has additional experience focused in mutual funds and separate accounts. He has supported retail sales organizations including banks, broker/dealers and independent financial professionals. He also spent many years in several senior management roles at Prudential Financial. As a divisional vice president, he managed a team of regional sales professionals covering 24 states and was responsible for numerous corporate initiatives introducing new financial products and services. His team led the country using a strategic approach to sales and marketing, leading to sales of more than $1 billion annually. Eckebrecht has used his experience to benefit companies in multiple distribution channels, most recently in leadership positions in national insurance marketing organizations. He is a FINRA registered principal and holds insurance and securities licenses. He received his bachelor’s degree in finance from Northern Arizona University.

Partners Advantage President James Wong stated, “Gary will bring strong leadership and experience to guide growth for our Advantage Division and enhance the value financial professionals and agencies provide to their clients.”

Wong went on to say, “We are very appreciative of the steadfast leadership Jim Lehmann has provided over the past several years for our Advantage Division. His integrity has always been his hallmark and we are very pleased that he will continue with us in the coming months in an important consultative role.”

As a part of Eckebrecht’s responsibilities he will develop and maintain a high performance sales team to effectively achieve the objectives of the Advantage  Division, which delivers strategies to assist independent financial professionals and agencies throughout the country in growing their businesses.

Partners Advantage offers top shelf training, technology and service, highlighted by two exclusive training programs. The company’s Advanced Coaching & Business Building Program leverages the experienced coaching skills of two nationally recognized leaders in the financial services industry—Anthony Morris and Tom ­Hegna. The program provides financial professionals with ongoing professional coaching to continually build their businesses to new levels. The second exclusive program is MyTrainingPartners.com, which provides weekly interactive training to help financial professionals grow their product knowledge and understand important sales concepts.

Partners Advantage Insurance Services, LLC, is a national insurance marketing organization with 70 associates located in offices across the country. The company’s advantage division is a one-stop brokerage for licensed agents and agencies throughout the United States who sell annuities and life insurance. The company’s platinum and premier divisions work to enhance insurance marketing organizations and agencies throughout the country. For more information about Partners Advantage, visit www.partnersadvantage.com. 

Genworth

Genworth Financial, Inc. announced that it has named James Boyle president and chief executive officer of its U.S. Life Insurance Division (USLI) and executive vice president of the company.

With more than 30 years in insurance and financial services, Boyle has held a number of leadership positions at ManuLife Financial Corporation. Most recently, he was president of John Hancock Financial Services Inc.—the company’s U.S. division—which included life and long term care insurance, mutual funds and retirement plans, and its independent broker/dealer network. Previously, Boyle was president of John Hancock’s U.S. Insurance ­Company, as well as its U.S. Wealth Managem­ent company. He also served on the board of directors of John Hancock Trust and John Hancock Funds.

During his tenure, he led the transformation of the organizations, executing extensive capital, pricing, product line and portfolio restructurings to return the businesses’ earnings to near pre-recession highs. Ultimately,  he created industry-leading positions in key areas while building John Hancock’s reputation and growth potential.

“We’re delighted that Jim will be joining Genworth, bringing important experience and expertise as we work to turn around our USLI division and our life insurance, long term care insurance, and annuities businesses,” said Tom McInerney, Genworth’s president and chief executive officer. “He will work with our USLI senior leadership team to continue to improve the profitability, financial strength and capital generation of the division, and help accelerate the businesses’ return to growth.”

Boyle holds a B.S. in accounting, cum laude, from Boston College.

Genworth Financial, Inc. is a leading Fortune 500 insurance holding company dedicated to helping people secure their financial lives, families and futures. Genworth has leadership positions in offerings that assist consumers in protecting themselves, investing for the future and planning for retirement—including life insurance, long term care insurance and financial protection coverages—and mortgage insurance that helps consumers achieve home ownership while assisting lenders in managing their risk and ­capital. 

Legal & General America

Troy Thompson, FSA, joined Legal & General America as vice president, product management. In his new role Thompson will have responsibility for product development and in-force product management.

Thompson’s career is remarkably correlated to LGA’s business needs today. Thompson was most recently vice president of USAA, in San Antonio, TX, where he was first the strategic leader of life and investment company operations and then a leader in an enterprise transformation initiative. This initiative aided the shift from a product-line-centric organizational underpinning to a shared distribution multi-product solutions orientation.

At Genworth Financial, Thompson served as senior vice president of fixed life, universal life and term life products. There he also led the development of term and UL portfolio efforts, resulting in more than $200 million in annual sales, $300 million in after-tax income, and annual growth rates as high as 70 percent. In doing so, Thompson also artfully managed capital with structures that funded non-economic AG38 and XXX reserves, including the industry’s first securitization.

Thompson’s an actuary’s actuary, but also a trusted companion and collaborator. He has a long and demonstrated history of working closely with distribution and marketing. Thompson said, “This is the business I’m passionate about, and I’m thrilled to be part of the LGA team.”

A mathematics graduate with honors from the University of Texas, Thompson is a Fellow in the Society of Actuaries.

Legal & General America life insurance products are issued by Banner Life Insurance Company, Urbana, MD, and William Penn Life Insurance Company of New York, Garden City, NY. Banner is licensed to do business in 49 states and the District of Columbia. William Penn does business exclusively in New York. 

American National

American National Insurance Company announces a new product, the Signature Indexed Universal Life Insurance (IUL) policy, available as of July 1, 2014. This innovative life product provides death benefit protection and three indexed crediting strategies along with a fixed account strategy for clients to choose from.

Signature IUL can provide the opportunity to earn interest based upon the performance of the S&P 500 index without the client being directly invested in the index. Therefore, the accumulation value will never decrease based on the fluctuations of the S&P 500 index, as all three of the indexed interest crediting strategies have a built-in floor. One of the indexed strategies currently has a declared floor of 1.5 percent, so that strategy can earn interest even in the event of a decrease in the market.*

Signature IUL will provide clients the permanent protection their families need with the opportunity to increase accumulation value for future emergencies, college education or supplemental retirement income.

This product also includes, at no additional premium, three living benefits covering 16 critical illnesses as well as chronic and terminal illness in the form of accelerated benefit riders. In the event of a qualifying illness, the policyowner may choose between partial or full death benefit acceleration. In order to accelerate the death benefit, the benefit is reduced by an actuarial discount in addition to a small administrative fee (up to $500).

David A. Behrens, executive vice president of American National Insurance Company, stated, “American National’s new Signature IUL builds upon the tested concepts of our previous indexed products to create a competitive second generation IUL with more options for clients and partial living benefit accelerations. Signature IUL allows a client to have control over the placement of their premium in the various indexed strategies or a fixed account while guaranteeing their family’s future will be protected.”

American National Insurance Company (American National), headquartered in Galveston, TX, was founded in 1905 and is licensed to conduct the business of insurance in all states except New York. American National is also a family of companies and offers a broad line of products and services which include life insurance, annuities, health insurance, credit insurance, pension products and property and casualty insurance for personal lines, agribusiness and certain commercial exposures. The family of companies operates in all 50 states.

*From policy month to policy month the accumulation value may decrease due to the monthly deduction regardless of the interest rate credited for any particular strategy.

AIG

American International Group, Inc., recently announced the launch of Elite Survivor Index II, its newly enhanced, cost-effective joint and last survivorship index universal life insurance product that features a built-in death benefit with a no-lapse guarantee, upside potential and downside protection, and the option to access the cash value of the policy anytime after the first year of issue.

“Americans work hard to build their estates and provide for their loved ones and Elite Survivor Index II is designed to be a key part of a comprehensive financial plan, as it offers protection as well as more financial control during uncertain economic times,” said James A. Mallon, president, life insurance, AIG Global Consumer Insurance. “This is permanent life insurance with the potential for cash value accumulation, tax advantages and premium flexibility—and we believe it can serve as an appropriate solution for many family and business needs.”

“Elite Survivor Index II provides the benefits of traditional universal life insurance along with the potential for greater growth in policy value,” said Tim Heslin, vice president, product strategy and implementation, AIG Global Consumer Insurance. “With increased cap rates, now at 13 percent, and higher participation rates, now at 70 percent, the product offers strong upside potential for growth if the market performs well. Further, a new Choice Loan 1 option allows access to the funds while they remain eligible for index interest, so this is life insurance you don’t have to die to use.”

Elite Survivor Index II offers the flexibility to choose among three interest-crediting accounts that fit needs:

 • A declared interest account with a guaranteed 2 percent minimum annual interest  rate.

 • An index interest account with interest crediting linked to the annual growth of the S&P’s 500 Price Index 2, subject to an annual cap and a minimum annual guaranteed interest rate of 0.25 percent, regardless of index performance.

 • An index interest account with interest crediting linked to the annual growth of the S&P 500 Index, subject to a participation rate, and an annual minimum guaranteed interest rate of 0.25 percent regardless of index performance. This provides the potential for higher crediting interest rates when the index is up and the safety of a minimum guaranteed interest rate.

In addition, Elite Survivor Index II features a built-in death benefit with a no-lapse guarantee, which is now guaranteed for up to 20 years or age 80, whichever comes first.

Elite Survivor Index II may be of particular interest to a wide variety of consumers, including: couples who need tax-advantaged supplemental retirement income, couples with children from previous marriages, couples with special needs children, same-gender couples, couples who want to leave charitable gifts, grandparents who want to leave a legacy for a grandchild, and related or non-related business partners.

For more information on Elite Survivor Index II and life insurance you don’t have to die to use, visit www.RetireStronger.com.

Foresters

Dick Freeborough, chairman of the board of Foresters, recently announced the appointment of Anthony (Tony) ­Garcia as Foresters’ new president and chief executive officer. Garcia succeeds current Presi­dent and CEO George Mohacsi, who retired from the organization on June 30, 2014.

With more than 26 years of executive management and leadership experience in the U.S. life and annuity industry, Garcia was most recently president of Western and Southern Agency Group in Cincinnati, OH. Previously he was president and CEO of TIAA-CREF Life Insurance Company. Other financial services industry experience includes positions with Allstate, HSBC and the HealthMarkets life and health subsidiaries. Garcia currently serves on the board of trustees for the American College and board of trustees for the Center of Ethics for the American College. He formerly served on the board of directors of the American Council of Life Insurers.

“Tony Garcia is an outstanding choice who brings broad experience in the U.S. life and annuity industry, successfully leading transformational change and driving profitable growth,” says Freeborough. “Foresters’ board is confident that he is best suited to continue Foresters important fraternal mission and lead the organization into its next period of growth and prosperity.”

“The board is thankful for the strong organization George and his leadership team have built for the future,” Freeborough added. “The progress achieved will provide a strong basis for Tony as he leads the organization going forward.