The Standard Names Retirement Plan Sales Head: Executive Changes

What You Need to Know

Jason Burlie was previously the head of sales and strategic relationships at Prudential Financial.
James Ryan comes to Oceanview from National Western Life, where he was senior vice president and head of sales.
Elizabeth Mann is Verisk's new executive vice president and chief financial officer.

The Standard has hired Jason Burlie to be vice president and head of sales for retirement plans.

He will oversee product design for the Portland, Oregon-based arm of Meiji Yasuda as well as sales, marketing and distribution.

Burlie was previously the head of sales and strategic relationships at Prudential Financial. He was based in Dallas.

He started out as a plan administrator, with TBG Financial, in 1997. He stayed with TBG when it was acquired by Mullin, and he stayed with MullinTB when it was acquired by Prudential.

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

Oceanview

Oceanview Life and Annuity Co. — a Phoenix-based that changed its name from Longevity Insurance Co. in 2019 — has hired James Ryan to be executive vice president of marketing.

Ryan has been senior vice president and head of sales at National Western Life.

He has held positions in sales and related functions at life insurance and financial services providers since 1997. He spent four years at Sun Life Financial, two years as national sales manager at Prudential Financial, seven years at Lincoln Financial Distributors, and more than three years at Voya before moving to National Western Life.

Ryan also worked in relationship management at Cole Capital and Griffin Capital Securities.

He has a bachelor’s degree from the Catholic University of America.

Verisk

Verisk — a Jersey City, New Jersey-based insurance industry data provider — has hired Elizabeth Mann to be executive vice president and chief financial officer.

Mann succeeds Lee Shavel, who is now Verisk’s CEO.

Mann was previously the chief financial officer at S&P Global Ratings and S&P Global Mobility.

The Blues

The Blue Cross Blue Shield Association — a Chicago-based group for the companies that hold the rights to identify themselves as Blue Cross or Blue Shield carriers — has named Lynn Merritt to be its chief human resources officer.

She has been the chief people officer at New Directions Behavioral Health, a behavioral health company owned by Blue Cross and Blue Shield carriers.

Merritt has also worked in human resources and related fields at Cigna, The Hartford, Aetna and Healogics.

She has a bachelor’s degree from the University of Connecticut and a master’s degree from the University of Hartford, and she serves on the board of the American Diabetes Association.

North Carolina

North Carolina Insurance Commissioner Mike Causey has named Jackie Obusek senior deputy commissioner for the North Carolina Department of Insurance.

She was previously a director and chief financial analyst at the department.

She started with the department as a financial examiner in 1996.

She has a bachelor’s degree in accounting from East Carolina University and holds the certified public accountant professional designation.