TIAA Names a Retirement Thought Leader: Executive Changes

TIAA has hired an executive to help it increase consumer, employer and policymaker understanding of retirement savings and overall financial wellness.

Surya Kolluri will be the head of the New York-based company’s TIAA Institute.

The institute organizes research projects, involving its own researchers and outside experts, on topics such as retirement plan design, behavioral finance and income planning.

Kolluri previously was managing director, retirement research, at Bank of America. He oversaw the bank’s relationships with organizations such as the Harvard Kennedy School, the Stanford Center on Longevity and the MIT AgeLab.

Earlier, he worked as a corporate strategy consultant.

He has a bachelor’s in mechanical engineering from PSG College of Technology, India, a master’s in mechanical engineering from Drexel University and a master’s degree in business from the University of Pennsylvania.

He serves on the board of the Wharton Pension Research Council.

Alera

Alera Group Retirement Plan Services — a Deerfield, Illinois-based arm of Alera Group — has hired Christian Mango to be an executive vice president and national practice leader at its retirement plan services division.

Mango previously was president of Financial Fitness for Life, a financial wellness and education firm.

Earlier, he worked as a senior defined contribution consultant at BlackRock. He has also worked in sales at Pioneer Investments, Touchstone Investments and Natixis Global Associates.

Mango has a bachelor’s degree from Lehigh University and a master’s degree in business from Boston College.

RGA

Reinsurance Group of America — a Chesterfield, Missouri-based life reinsurer — says its board chairman, J. Cliff Eason, will retire at the end of the year.

Eason, who is a former CEO of Southwestern Bell Telephone, has been a member of the RGA board since 1993 and chairman of the RGA board since 2008.

His successor, Stephen O’Hearn, is an RGA board member and former PricewaterhouseCoopers partner.

Thrivent

Thrivent — a Minneapolis-based fraternal insurer — says David Royal will be the company’s chief financial officer as well as its chief investment officer.

Royal began working for Thrivent in 2006, and he has been the company’s chief investment officer since 2017.

He is also an adjunct law professor at the University of Minnesota’s law school and a board member of the YMCA of the North.

Before that, he was a partner at a law firm, Kirkland & Ellis.

He has a bachelor’s degree and a law degree from Yale.

Munich Re

Munich Re Automation Solutions — a Chicago-based arm of the Munich-based Munich Re — has named Grant Andrew to be vice president of customer success.

He previously was a vice president at Legal & General America.

He also has worked for insurers such as Prudential and Allstate.

He has a bachelor’s degree from the University of Delaware and a master’s degree in business from Rutgers.

Centene

Centene Corp. — a Clayton, Missouri-based health insurance giant — has hired Ashlee Knuckey to be chief ethics and compliance officer.

Knuckey has been a partner at Locke Lord, a law firm.

She has a bachelor’s degree from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and a law degree from Northwestern University.

Pictured: Surya Kolluri. (Photo: Bank of America)