LGRA - Key Persons
Carl Groth - Chief Risk Officer
Carl Groth is Chief Risk Officer for Legal & General Retirement America. In that role, he oversees and maintains risk governance, analytics, compliance and control frameworks across the US Retirement business. Additionally, he provides appropriate independent advice, oversight, challenge and supports the broader Legal & General global risk management team.
Prior to joining Legal & General Retirement America, Carl served in senior risk management roles at Principal Financial Group. He joined as Chief Risk Officer for Principal International and later served as head of Financial Risk Management where he was responsible for overseeing the Group's investment risk management, ALM, derivatives, stress testing, economic capital modeling and US ORSA. Previous to Principal, Carl served as KPMG's Insurance Industry Risk Management Advisory Practice leader.
Carl has an MBA in Finance and Investments with honors from The George Washington University and a BA in Economics from the University of Washington.
George L. Palms, Jr. is President of Legal & General Retirement America and a member of the Banner Life Board of Directors. Under his leadership, the firm has written over $6 billion in pension risk transfer business, executed both buy-ins and buy-outs, and raised the bar on service delivery to both plan sponsors and pensioners. He is responsible for driving the growth and development of the business with a focus on delivering innovative, customized risk management solutions to pension plans.
Previously, George was a Senior VP with Prudential Retirement where he oversaw the organization's retirement consulting capabilities, including investments and actuarial services. He also built and launched the firm's manager of managers investment platform, growing it to over $25 billion in assets under management. Prior to joining Prudential, he held corporate strategy roles with CIGNA and NAC Reinsurance Corporation. George is a CFA® Charterholder.
George has an MBA from the University of Michigan's Ross School of Business and an A.B. in Honors Economics from the University of Michigan.
Job Titles:
- Head of Legal
- in 2019 As VP, Head of Legal
Justin Kitchens joined Legal & General Retirement America in 2019 as VP, Head of Legal. In this role he provides legal support and guidance for the pension risk transfer business.
Prior to joining Legal & General Retirement America, Justin served as outside counsel in the insurance regulatory and transaction practices of Eversheds Sutherland and Dewey & LeBoeuf where he advised multinational insurance industry clients on a variety of matters, spending time in both New York and London offices.
Justin holds a JD from New York University School of Law and a BA from the University of Florida. He is a member of the New York State Bar and is admitted as a solicitor in England & Wales.
Job Titles:
- VP, Strategic Initiatives
Sandra Simpson joined Legal & General Retirement America in September 2019 as HR Director, and was promoted in March 2021 as VP, Head of HR. In this role, she provides vision and leadership in developing and executing strategies for the Human Resources function that supports the overall business plan and strategic direction of the organization.
Prior to joining Legal & General Retirement America, Sandra worked for Swiss Re for 16 years. Most recently, she held the position of HR Advisor for Reinsurance Life & Health and iptiQ Americas.
Sandra has both an MBA and a Bachelor in Business Administration with a concentration in Human Resource Management from Southern New Hampshire University. She is a certified Professional in Human Resources (PHR).
Job Titles:
- VP, Head of IT Operations and Transition
Steven Maskell is VP, Head of IT Operations and Transition for LGRA and LGRI, and has been leading the IT Services for LGRA since 2022. He is responsible for implementing a new IT operating model to support the growing organization and transforming its administration platforms.
Steven has been with Legal & General for five years and was previously the Head of Technology Services for LGRI. In this role he was focused on the end-to-end delivery of secure, reliable, and scalable technology and digital services and ensuring these were in line with the needs of the Pension Risk Transfer business.
Prior to L&G he has had 25 years' experience in IT Delivery managing enterprise technologies in a variety of different sectors including publishing, government and investment banking. Steven holds an MBA from Open University Business School.