New York Life Picks Company Veteran to Lead Retail Annuities
The unit generated $13 billion in 2021 sales.
New York Life Insurance Co. has picked Todd Taylor to be the head of its retail annuities unit.
The unit generated $13 billion in individual annuity sales in 2021, or about 5% of all 2021 U.S. individual annuity sales.
Taylor, who will become a senior vice president, has been a vice president at New York Life and head of retail annuities strategy, marketing, service, administration and analytics.
Taylor succeeds Dylan Huang, who is now a senior vice president in charge of overseeing a wide range of New York Life’s retirement and wealth operations.
What It Means
One of the biggest U.S. annuity issuers is responding to all of the economic uncertainty and market volatility by choosing a top executive who has been deeply involved in data and operations, not someone has come up through sales or through asset management roles.
New York Life
New York Life was founded in 1845.
The company is a mutual life insurer, meaning that it is owned by its policyholders, not by public investors or private equity firms.
It files quarterly and annual results with state insurance regulators, and it posts the results on its own website, but it does not have to worry about mildly disappointing results causing a sharp drop in its stock price.
Todd Taylor
Taylor began working for New York Life as an actuarial intern in 2008.
His first permanent, full-time job was as an actuarial assistant to the pricing actuaries in the individual life business.
He also has worked in retail annuities rate-setting, and in internal consulting at New York Life’s Insurance & Agency Group.
He has a bachelor’s degree in economic analysis and math from Binghamton University, and he is a fellow of the Society of Actuaries, a member of the Academy of Actuaries.
Taylor serves on the board of the Insured Retirement Institute, and on the advisory boards for the Investment and Wealth Institute’s Retirement Management Advisor Commission and the Center for Retirement Income at The American College of Financial Services.
Through his role as a member of the Center for Retirement Income advisory board, Taylor helps influence the work of the center’s co-directors, Wade Pfau and Steve Parrish.
Todd Taylor. (Photo: New York Life)