A northeastern-based life insurer has unveiled an internal reorganization and several new executive appointments.
MetLife, Inc. (NYSE: MET), New York, has announced that it is reorganizing its business from a U.S. and International business structure into three broad geographic regions to better reflect the company’s global reach.
MetLife significantly grew its global footprint in 2010 through the $16.4 billion acquisition of Alico. The three new business regions, each of which will have its own president, are the Americas, EMEA (Europe, the Middle East and Africa), and Asia.
“To reach its full potential, MetLife needs an organizational structure that leverages the best of both MetLife and Alico,” says MetLife President, CEO and Chairman-elect Steven Kandarian. “This structure will lay the foundation for a global company. Each of our new regions have both mature and developing markets, both of which are critical to shareholder-value creation. At the same time, we will be able to draw on strengths from across each region to drive collaboration and efficiencies.”
In tandem with the reorganization, MetLife says it has appointed William Wheeler as president of the Americas division and Michel Khalaf as president of the EMEA division and a member of MetLife’s executive group. The company adds that the Asia region will report to Kandarian while a search is underway for a new Asia division president.