New York Life Names Craig DeSanto President
DeSanto started working for the company in 1997, as an actuarial summer intern.
The board of New York Life Insurance Company has elected someone who started at the company as a summer actuarial intern, in 1997, to be its president.
The new New York Life president, Craig DeSanto, has been the company’s co-chief operating officer.
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DeSanto assumed the president’s title from Ted Mathas.
Mathas is New York Life’s chairman and chief executive officer. Mathas became the president, too, in 2018, when John Kim retired.
DeSanto will oversee all New York Life businesses, including the individual life insurance and agency distribution units, along with retail annuities and New York Life Investment Management.
DeSanto has a bachelor’s degree from Cornell University. He is a fellow of the Society of Actuaries and a member of the Academy of Actuaries. He’s a former member of the board of LL Global, the parent of LIMRA and LOMA.
Between 1997 and now, DeSanto has been head of New York Life’s institutional life Insurance business, the company’s individual life Insurance business, and Eagle Strategies. He took charge of overseeing the retail annuities unit in 2018.
In recent months, DeSanto has helped oversee New York Life’s pending acquisition of Cigna’s group life and disability insurance business.
He’s also the author of a popular ThinkAdvisor article, “Whole Life: The Swiss Army Knife of Financial Products.”
— Read Whole Life: the Swiss Army Knife of Financial Products, on ThinkAdvisor.
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