Benefits April 29, 2011

Decreased Employer Contributions to Pensions Removed from Ohio Bill

April 29, 2011 (PLANSPONSOR.com) - The proposed Ohio state budget bill no longer includes language that would set the pension contributions for public employers and their employees to 12% from each.
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The State Teachers Retirement System of Ohio said its proposed pension reform plan calls for a 3% increase in member contributions, to 13% from 10%, and no change in the current 14% employer contributions as a way to help the pension fund meet the 30-year funding requirement.  According to a press release, STRS Ohio was on record as opposing the 12-and-12 scenario, noting that the resulting decrease in revenue would require additional cuts in benefits for STRS Ohio’s active members and retirees and/or even more in contributions from members.    

The System said this recent action now enables any discussion of contributions to be held within the context of the pension reform package proposed by the five Ohio statewide public pension systems.
Deals and People April 29, 2011

Symetra Life Insurance Adds Sales Execs

April 29, 2011 (PLANSPONSOR.com) - Symetra Life Insurance Company has announced a new sales leader for its eastern division and eight additional regional vice presidents to represent the company’s portfolio of annuity and life insurance products.
Reported by

Louis Mastellone is Symetra’s eastern division sales manager of Life and Retirement Sales, with responsibility for sales planning and day-to-day management and training of 13 external wholesalers covering the eastern United States.   

According to the announcement, Mastellone joins Symetra from Genworth Financial, where he was divisional vice president for the East Coast region and accountable for retirement income and protection sales through banks, wirehouses and independent firms. He previously served as a regional vice president for GE Financial Assurance, where he drove fixed annuity, variable annuity and mutual fund sales across its bank distribution network.   

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The eight new regional VPs are: 

  • Michael Butt (Territory: Michigan) — Butt joins Symetra from MassMutual Financial, where he was a regional sales director. He also has served as regional vice president at RiverSource Life Insurance Company and at Genworth Financial, with responsibility for annuity and single premium life insurance sales through the bank and broker-dealer channels.  
  • Mark Eberhart (Territory: Indiana, Kentucky, West Virginia) — Eberhart most recently served as Midwest sales director at Great-West Life & Annuity Insurance Company. Previously, he was a regional vice president with Genworth Financial.  
  • Brock Lansdale (Territory: Arizona, Hawaii, Nevada) — Lansdale comes to Symetra from ING Financial, where he focused on variable, indexed, fixed and immediate annuity sales through independent, bank and regional wirehouse registered representatives. Lansdale previously was a divisional vice president with Aegon Financial Services Group.  
  • Marc McDaniels (Territory: Iowa, Minnesota, North Dakota, South Dakota, Wisconsin) — McDaniels most recently worked as a regional sales director for First Mercantile. He previously held external wholesaler roles at MassMutual Financial Group, Genworth Financial and Allianz Life, focusing on variable and fixed annuity sales.  
  • Ben Pintaric (Territory: Colorado, New Mexico, Utah, Wyoming) — Pintaric joins Symetra from Jackson National Life Insurance Company, where he served as an internal wholesaler. 
  • Mark Prazak (Territory: Southern California) — Prazak brings an extensive investment industry background to Symetra. Most recently, he was with Genworth Financial as regional vice president for Southern California and southern Nevada, responsible for immediate and variable annuity sales in the wirehouse channel. He also has served as divisional marketing director and senior wholesaler at AIG SunAmerica, where he led sales and marketing for the company’s variable annuity portfolio to 175 national and regional wirehouse offices across Southern California.  
  • Kevin Rooney (Territory: Arkansas, Kansas, Missouri, Nebraska) — Rooney comes to Symetra from Prudential Annuities, where he was a producing divisional vice president, responsible for variable annuity sales in Kansas, Missouri, Oklahoma and Texas. Rooney previously held regional sales and marketing roles with Lincoln Financial, U.S. Allianz Investor Services and The Hartford.  
  • Jesse Saenz (Territory: Louisiana, Southern Texas) — Saenz most recently served as national sales manager (southern U.S.) for American National Insurance Corporation, where he focused on fixed and equity-indexed annuity and life insurance product sales within the independent adviser channel. Previously, he was a regional vice president with RiverSource Distributors and a regional sales manager for Allstate Distributors, both in Houston.  

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