IRI Names New Board Members, Officers

Larry Roth, president and CEO of Advisor Group, has been elected as the Insured Retirement Institute’s new chairman of the board of directors. Roth succeeds Lynne Ford, executive vice president for Calvert Distributors Inc. Ford now holds the position of past chairman and has been reelected to serve another term as a member of the board of directors. That term will expire in 2015.

Elected to serve full terms on the board that expire in 2015 are:

• Cindy Vogl, executive director of Defined Contribution and Retirement Solutions for UBS Global Asset Management (Americas) Inc.;
• Robert DeChellis, president of Allianz Life Financial Services;
• Elizabeth Forget, senior vice president of MetLife Retail Annuity Products;
• Nick Lane, senior executive vice president and president of Retirement Savings for AXA Equitable;
• Maliz Beams, CEO of ING U.S. Retirement;
• Michael Falcon, managing director and head of retirement for J.P. Morgan Asset Management;
• Bruce Ferris, executive vice president of Sales and Distribution for Prudential Annuities;
• Drew Lawton, executive vice president and head of Retirement Solutions for New York Life Investments;
• Bill Lowe, president of Sammons Retirement Solutions;
• Robert Moore, president and chief operating office of LPL Financial;
• Paula Nelson, president of Forethought Distributors.

John Carter, president of Nationwide Financial Distributors, was elected vice chairman; Thomas Streiff, executive vice president and retirement product manager for PIMCO, was reelected secretary; and LPL’s Moore was elected treasurer. 

In other industry news:

Life Sales, LLC appointed Michael Goodyear co-president effective Sept. 1. He shares the leadership role with Steve Thunen.

Goodyear is the former senior vice president of Sales and Marketing for Ann Arbor Annuity Exchange. There, Goodyear worked to build the FMO’s relationships with a number of broker/dealers. Michael expects to continue that work with Life Sales so Broker/Dealers may look to Fixed Index Annuities as another option for their clients.

Goodyear helped build America Direct Life Insurance Agency, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Fidelity Life Association. He worked for JPMorgan Chase as senior vice president of Direct Life Sales prior to that. In that role he helped build sales channels for branch-sold life insurance as well as life insurance sold through credit card and mortgage channels. He also played an instrumental role in the growth of Zurich Direct, a division of the Zurich Group.

Lockton added four employee benefits experts to its Memphis, Tenn., operation.

As an account executive, Jennifer Maddux is responsible for developing health and welfare programs for clients, as well as advising on wellness approaches to improve health and reduce costs. Maddux will also negotiate with insurance carriers and provide ongoing management of employee benefit programs. She has more than 13 years of experience advising companies on employee benefit programs.  

Christine Ferris, a human resources consultant, will advise clients on approaches including health and welfare programs, training and development, and other key HR issues. Ferris has worked in human resources management for more than 12 years.