Steve Kluever Leaves Jackson National for The Hartford

Kluever joins The Hartford as the company prepares to introduce enhancements to The Hartford’s Personal Retirement Manager variable annuity product suite, to be rolled out late in the second quarter. Specifically, he will be responsible for managing and developing the company’s annuity product portfolio. He will also lead The Hartford’s annuity marketing team to best position its products for success in the marketplace.

Kluever served as senior vice president of product and investment management at Jackson National Life. In this role, he was responsible for product development and competitive intelligence for annuities and life insurance as well as developing the investment portfolio for Jackson’s variable insurance products. Kluever was also responsible for introducing the variable annuity industry’s first stand-alone lifetime guaranteed minimum withdrawal benefit. He began his career at Allstate in 1985, and in 1989 joined Lincoln, assuming roles of increasing responsibility in finance, marketing, and product.

The addition of Kluever to the team is the latest of several investments The Hartford is making to serve annuity clients and support business growth. In February, the company announced a pilot program to arm its external annuity wholesalers with iPad technology to better serve financial professionals. Last week, the company announced that it has nearly tripled its in-house annuity sales team since the beginning of 2011. And in the second quarter, the company will roll out enhancements to The Hartford’s personal retirement manager variable annuity product suite.