Prudential names new chief actuary

The company created this role to help accelerate the growth and positioning of DBA’s rapidly expanding network of retail brokerage offices.

DBA combines the commitment of experienced, local market advisors with the sophisticated technology and innovative resources of a respected national company. Employers receive access to a broader variety of carriers, dynamic tools, proprietary products and the ability to effectively navigate the complexities of health care reform. 

Gruenberg’s career includes key leadership positions at Willis North America, Hilb, Rogal and Hobbs; Bank of America Corporate Insurance Agency; and Meeker Sharkey. Most recently, he served as a mergers and acquisitions specialist affiliated with a leading M&A firm. He spent several years serving on the National Broker Advisory Councils of two of the largest national health insurance carriers, as well as is a member of the Employee Benefits Board of the Council of Insurance Agents and Brokers.

AXA Equitable Life Insurance Company, the primary U.S. subsidiary of the global AXA Group, hired Lauren Day as a managing director and head of Corporate Communications. As a member of the executive management group, Day will oversee all aspects of AXA Equitable’s corporate communications strategy and platform, including media relations, public affairs, leadership communications, and employee and field engagement. Day also leads the company’s event planning function and its production business, which includes the AXA Equitable Production Group and The Auditorium at the AXA Equitable Center, a prime theater venue and modern broadcasting facility located in midtown Manhattan.

Before joining AXA Equitable, Day served as vice president of communications at Prudential Financial. Prior to that, she worked for American International Group, Inc. (AIG), where she was responsible for communications strategy and execution related to the company’s global restructuring program. She also was a senior associate in the capital markets group of AIG Global Real Estate Investment Corp.

Day will serve on the Communications Steering Committee of AXA Group. In addition, she will serve on the board of directors of the AXA Foundation, the philanthropic arm of AXA Equitable and the sponsor of the AXA Achievement scholarship program, to direct the company’s philanthropic and volunteer activities within communities across the country where AXA has a presence. Day got her start as a legislative aide, policy advisor and press secretary in the Connecticut State Legislature, and later as a special projects manager and Robert Bosch Foundation Fellow at KfW Bankengruppe in Frankfurt am Main, Germany. She holds A.B. and A.M. degrees from Dartmouth College.

Pacific Resources hired Chris Judd as senior vice president of Sales. He joins Pacific Resources from The Hartford, where he was the head of National Accounts.

In his new role, Judd leads all sales operations and development at Pacific Resources. As member of Pacific Resources’ senior management team, Judd will help guide the company’s overall business strategy and support its vision to provide exceptional benefit advisory services. He will also serve as a liaison to insurance companies.

Judd has more than 18 years of disability, life, voluntary benefits and executive benefits industry experience in sales and executive leadership. Prior to his role at The Hartford, he spent 11 years with UNUM, working as a sales manager and sales executive in Minneapolis, Seattle and San Francisco. Judd holds a BA from Concordia College in Moorhead, Minn.

The Woodlands Financial Group (TWFG) opened five new local branches in:

• Kennesaw, Ga.
• Los Angeles
• Huntington Beach, Calif.
• Richardson, Texas
• Woodlands, Texas

The independent agency is near the 300-mark for total TWFG branches now operating in 21 states, according to Richard “Gordy” Bunch, president and CEO. The firm also touts almost 3,000 general agents and referral agents featuring TWFG insurance services in 38 states.