Georgette Nicholas Now President of American Life’s Parent: Personnel Moves

The board of Midwest Holding has picked Georgette Nicholas to be the company’s president and chief financial officer.

Midwest Holding is the Lincoln, Nebraska-based parent of American Life & Security Corp., which recently made a $100 million deal to share the risk of writing new multi-year guaranteed annuities and fixed income annuities with American Republic Insurance Co.

Nicholas was previously  the CEO of Genworth Mortgage Insurance Australia.

She spent a total of 15 years at Genworth and Genworth affiliates. Before that, she was a director at Deloitte.

She has a bachelor’s degree in accounting from the University of Bridgeport.

Other companies in the life, annuity and health sectors also have personnel moves news.

Vida Capital

Vida Capital — the parent of Magna Life Settlements — has hired Blair Wallace to be its new president and CEO.

The Austin, Texas-based company is owned by RedBird Capital Partners and Reverence Capital Partners.

The company hired Wallace in connection with a succession plan. Wallace is succeeding Jeff Serra, who will continue to be Vida’s chairman.

Wallace was previously a partner and portfolio manager at Tenor Capital Management Co.

Earlier, he was head of complex solutions at Sculptor Capital Management and a managing director of structured credit. He began his career as an associate at Katten Muchin Rosenman.

He has a bachelor’s degree from the University of California at San Diego and a law degree from Brooklyn Law School.

Medical Mutual of Ohio

Medical Mutual of Ohio — the oldest health insurer in Ohio — said Rick Chiricosta will retire from the posts of chairman, president and CEO.

He plans to stay with the Cleveland-based company, which provides health coverage for 1.5 million people, until the end of 2022.

Chiricosta began working for Medical Mutual, as the controller of a division based in Toledo, Ohio, in 1986. He has been the company’s CEO since 2009.

While at Ohio Mutual, he was the secretary of the board of directors for the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame. He also chaired the boards of the Greater Cleveland Partnership and the Cuyahoga Community College Foundation.

In 2019 and 2020, he was co-chair of the Greater Cleveland Food Bank’s Harvest for Hunger campaigns.

Transamerica

Transamerica — a Baltimore-based arm of Aegon — has hired Chris Giovanni be its chief strategy and development officer.

Giovanni was previously corporate treasurer and head of strategic planning and investor relations at Lincoln Financial Group. Earlier in his career, he worked for Citizens Bank and for Goldman Sachs.

Giovanni has a bachelor’s degree from Loyola University Maryland.

TIAA

Teachers Insurance and Annuity Association of America-College Retirement Equities Fund has hired Stephen Tisdalle to be chief brand and demand generation officer.

Tisdalle will move to the New York-based insurance and asset management giant from State Street Global Advisors, where he was chief marketing officer.

Tisdalle has a bachelor’s degree from the University of British Columbia and a master’s degree from the University of California at Los Angeles.

AmeriHealth Caritas

AmeriHealth Caritas — a Philadelphia-based Medicaid plan company — has hired Benjy Green to be the Texas market president.

Green was previously chief of staff for government markets at Magellan. He has also been an executive at Cigna-HealthSpring and UnitedHealth.

He started out as a program budget manager with the Texas Department of Aging and Disability Services.

He has a bachelor’s degree from Texas State University and a master’s degree in business from the University of Phoenix.

GoHealth

GoHealth — a Chicago-based web broker — said it will be looking for a new chief financial officer.

The current CFO, Travis Matthiesen, will become the company’s chief transformation officer.

Securian

Securian Financial has hired Renee Montz to be senior vice president, general counsel and corporate secretary.

She is succeeding Gary Christensen, who is retiring after working for the St. Paul, Minnesota-based life insurer for 37 years.

Montz was previously general counsel at American Equity Investment Life Holding Co. She has also worked for Aegon.

She has a bachelor’s degree from Iowa State University and a law degree from the University of Iowa. She serves on the boards for the Association of Life Insurance Counsel, the Des Moines Arts Center and Women Lead Change.

Washington State

Mike Kreidler, the Washington state insurance commissioner, has hired Mark Dietzler to be chief deputy commissioner.

Dietzler was previously a managing attorney at Liberty Mutual Group.

Earlier in his career, he was an attorney at Farmers Insurance. He has also worked as a lawyer at Davis Pearson and at Vandeberg, Johnson & Gandara.

He has a bachelor’s degree from the University of Minnesota at Morris, a master’s degree in business from Pacific Lutheran University and a law degree from the University of Puget Sound.

Northwestern Mutual

Northwestern Mutual has named Steve Radke president of the Northwestern Mutual Foundation.

Radke has been vice president of government relations at Northwestern Mutual, which is based in Milwaukee, and he will continue to hold that position.

He has been working for Northwestern Mutual since 1994. Earlier in his career, he worked for Rep. Jerry Kleczka.

He has a bachelor’s degree and a law degree from Marquette University, and he has a master’s degree from Georgetown University.

He was recently the chair of the Wisconsin Policy Forum.

Breathe Life

Breathe Life — a Montreal-based supplier of life insurance distribution systems — has hired Carlos Benfeito to be chief technology officer.

Benfeito was previously a vice president at EIS Group, an insurance systems company.

He spent 12 years working on insurance systems at AXA.

Benfeito brings two decades of experience leading technology teams at both large insurance companies and agile startups in North America, including EIS Group, Element AI, Intact and AXA.

He studied software development at the Herzing Institute.

Georgette Nicholas (Photo: Genworth)