FLEXSHIELD ANNUITY - Key Persons
Job Titles:
- Director
- Member of the Audit and Risk Committee
- Member of the Nominating and Corporate Governance Committee
- Audit and Risk Committee
Alan D. Matula has served as a director since December, 2015. He has served as the Chief Information Officer of Weber-Stephen Products LLC, a privately owned company which manufactures charcoal, gas and electric outdoor grills and accessories, since December 2015. Mr. Matula worked for the Royal Dutch Shell plc organization for over 30 years. During that time, he served in various information technology capacities for the parent company and several of its subsidiaries, including chief information officer for Royal Dutch Shell plc from 2006 to 2015.
Job Titles:
- Chief Executive Officer
- Member of the Executive Officers Team
- President
- Chief Executive Officer & President, American Equity Investment Life Holding Company
Anant Bhalla was appointed President of the Company on January 27, 2020 and Chief Executive Officer on March 1, 2020.
Prior to joining American Equity, Mr. Bhalla was a partner of Bhalla Capital Partners, from March 2019 to January 2020. From 2016 until 2019, he served as Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer of Brighthouse Financial, Inc. From 2014 until 2016, he served as Chief Financial Officer of Retail business for MetLife. Prior to MetLife, Mr. Bhalla served in numerous senior roles including Chief Risk Officer, Treasurer and other management roles at Fortune 500 companies, including American International Group, Lincoln National Corporation, and Ameriprise Financial.
Job Titles:
- Chief Financial Officer
- Executive Vice President
- Member of the Executive Officers Team
Axel André was appointed Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer of the Company on September 7, 2021.
Previous to American Equity, André was Executive Vice President and CFO for Jackson National. Prior to that he spent nearly 7 years at AIG. André joined AIG initially as Chief Risk Officer for Individual Retirement, Group Retirement, and Institutional Markets. He was promoted to Chief Financial Officer of Individual Retirement at AIG, where he was responsible for overseeing all aspects of the finance and actuarial value chain for the Individual Retirement business, including asset-liability management, hedging, reporting and capital management. Prior to his time at AIG, André served as a Managing Director on the Global Insurance Strategies team at Goldman Sachs.
Job Titles:
- Chairman of the Audit and Risk Committee
- Director
- Audit and Risk Committee
- Independent Insurance Consultant
Brenda J. Cushing has served as a director since March 2017. Ms. Cushing has been an independent insurance consultant since August 2015. From August 2014 to August 2015, Ms. Cushing served as Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer of Athene Holding Ltd., a retirement services company, and from October 2013 to August 2014, Ms. Cushing served as Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer of Athene USA Corp., a subsidiary of Athene Holding Ltd. From 2008 until its acquisition by Athene Holding Ltd. in 2013, Ms. Cushing served as Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer of Aviva USA Corp., a diversified financial company that offered long-term savings, insurance and retirement income products. Ms. Cushing is a certified public accountant and has been involved in the insurance industry for over 20 years.
Job Titles:
- Chairman of the Nominating and Corporate Governance Committee
- Member of the Audit and Risk Committee
- Non - Executive Chairman of the Board
- Non - Executive Chairman of the Board, American Equity Investment Life Holding Company
David S. Mulcahy serves as our Non-Executive Chairman of the Board. He has served as a director since 2011. Mr. Mulcahy previously served as a member of the Company's Board of Directors from 1996 to 2006. Mr. Mulcahy currently serves as Chairman of the Board of Directors of Monarch Materials Group, Inc., a privately-owned company which manufactures residential, basement window systems, and as President of MABSCO Capital, Inc., a privately-owned company which provides a selection of services including portfolio management, financial consulting and private placement, private equity and joint venture transactions. Mr. Mulcahy was appointed Lead Independent Director of the Board of Workiva Inc. in April 2023 and has served as director since its initial public offering in 2014. Mr. Mulcahy is a certified public accountant and was a partner in the Des Moines office of Ernst & Young LLP, where he was employed from 1976 through 1994.
Job Titles:
- Chartered Financial Analyst
- Member of the Audit and Risk Committee
- Senior Advisor
- Audit and Risk Committee
Douglas T. Healy was elected to the board of directors in August 2020. Mr. Healy currently serves as a senior advisor to a number of companies in the financial, technology and non-profit sectors. Prior to his current activities, Mr. Healy had more than 30 years of senior leadership experience at major financial and asset management firms including Credit Suisse, AXA Investment Managers and CS First Boston and has a deep knowledge of the insurance industry, investment strategy and asset allocation.
Mr. Healy is a Chartered Financial Analyst and also serves as Director and Treasurer of The Eagle Academy Foundation.
Job Titles:
- Director
- Member of the Audit and Risk Committee
- Member of the Investment Committee
- Member of the Nominating and Corporate Governance Committee
- Compensation and Talent Management Committee
Gerard D. Neugent has served as a director since 2010. He has served as Co-Chairman of Knapp Properties, L.C. since 2017 and served as Chief Executive Officer of Knapp Properties, Inc. from 2014 until 2020 and President from 2014 to 2017 and served as President and Chief Operating Officer of Knapp Properties from 1993 until 2014. His primary duties include real estate transactions, development and management. Mr. Neugent received his law degree from Drake University.
Job Titles:
- Chief Risk Officer
- Executive Vice President
- Member of the Executive Officers Team
Jeffrey D. Lorenzen, CFA, is Executive Vice President and Chief Risk Officer of American Equity Investment Life Holding Company and American Equity Investment Life Insurance Company.
Prior to joining American Equity as Senior Vice President and Chief Investment Officer in February 2009, he was the President and Chief Investment Officer of WB Capital Management Inc., a wholly-owned subsidiary of West Bancorporation, Inc. He also served on the board of directors for WB Capital Management, Inc., and was a member of the management committee of West Bancorporation (Nasdaq; WTBA). Prior to 2006, Mr. Lorenzen was President and Chief Investment Officer of Investors Management Group, where he spent 14 years in a variety of investment leadership positions. He started his career at Statesman as a high-yield credit analyst in 1989.
Mr. Lorenzen received his B.B.A. in finance from the University of Iowa and and M.B.A. from Drake University. He earned his Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) designation in 1993. Mr. Lorenzen has more than 25 years of experience in the investment and life insurance industries.
Jim Hamalainen - Chief Investment Officer, EVP
Job Titles:
- Chief Investment Officer
- Executive Vice President
- Member of the Executive Officers Team
Jim Hamalainen is Executive Vice President, Chief Investment Officer
Prior to joining American Equity, he was EVP, Chief Risk Officer, at Brighthouse Financial, where he built a risk function focused on implementing proactive processes to manage risk. Prior to his time at Brighthouse, Mr. Hamalainen served as SVP, Treasury and Investment Management at Ameriprise Financial from 2010 to 2016. Before that he served in a number of finance, risk management and investment roles at Ameriprise and American Express Financial Advisors.
He started his career at IDS Financial Services after earning degrees from the University of North Dakota and the University of Minnesota.
Job Titles:
- Director
- Member of the Audit and Risk Committee
- Member of the Nominating and Corporate Governance Committee
- Compensation and Talent Management Committee
Joyce A. Chapman has served as a director since 2008. She worked for over 35 years with West Bank, West Des Moines, Iowa until her retirement in 2006. While at West Bank, Ms. Chapman served in various capacities related to bank administration and operations. From 1975 until her retirement from the board in 2018, Ms. Chapman served as a director for West Bank and West Bancorporation, Inc. Ms. Chapman has served in numerous positions of leadership in philanthropic and banking industry organizations.
Job Titles:
- Chief People Officer
- Executive Vice President
- Member of the Executive Officers Team
Kate Etinger was appointed Executive Vice President and Chief People Officer of the Company in July 2022.
Kate brings over 25 years of experience across all facets of human resources strategy and development. Prior to American Equity, Kate was the Chief Human Resources Officer at Bank Leumi USA where she was responsible for overseeing all aspects of human resources including talent development, employee engagement, and delivering a strategic people and culture agenda in line with business goals and objectives. Prior to that, Kate held a broad spectrum of progressively senior-level HR positions at global financial organizations such as Citi, HSBC, Merrill Lynch and others.
Kate completed her undergraduate studies Cum Laude at Long Island University, and received her executive master's degree in human resources leadership from Rutgers Business School.
Michael E. Hayes, 52, has served as a director since April, 2023. Mr. Hayes served in the U.S. Navy SEALs for 20 years, including two years commanding a SEAL Team. His commendations include the Bronze Star Medal for valor in combat in Iraq, the Bronze Star for his service in Afghanistan, and the Defense Superior Service Medal from the White House where he served as Director of Defense Policy and Strategy at the National Security Council and as a White House Fellow. Following his retirement from the Navy, Mr. Hayes served investment firm Bridgewater Associates in chief of staff and chief operating officer roles from July 2013 to January 2017. He served as a senior vice president and head of strategic operations at technology services firm Cognizant Technology Solutions Corp. from January 2017 to October 2020, where he had profit-and-loss responsibility for services to global financial services clients. In October 2020, Mr. Hayes became chief operating officer of software company VMware, Inc.
Job Titles:
- Chief Technology Officer
- Executive Vice President
- Member of the Executive Officers Team
Nicholas P. Volpe was appointed Executive Vice President and Chief Technology Officer of the Company in August 2022.
Prior to joining American Equity, he was the Chief Information Officer, Individual Markets, at Guardian Life Insurance Company since 2016, and held other roles with Guardian since 2010. Previously, Mr. Volpe served in various roles with AXA Group from 2001 - 2010, as well as roles with XCelerate Corporation and PricewaterhouseCoopers.
Job Titles:
- Director
- Member of the Audit and Risk Committee
- Member of the Investment Committee
- Audit and Risk Committee
Robert L. Howe has served as a director since 2005. He served the State of Iowa Insurance Division from 1964 to 2002 in various capacities. He was named Deputy Commissioner and Chief Examiner in 1985 and served in that position until his retirement in 2002. During this time, Mr. Howe was responsible for the financial oversight of 220 domestic insurance companies. Since his retirement, Mr. Howe has been a self-employed insurance consultant. Mr. Howe served as a director of EMC National Life Company from 2003 until 2007, and, from 2007 until 2018, Mr. Howe served as a director of EMC Insurance Group. He also served as the designated financial expert on the board of directors of EMC Insurance Group. Mr. Howe is a certified financial examiner, certified insurance examiner, certified government financial manager and accredited insurance receiver.
Job Titles:
- Head of Investor Relations
- Vice President - Investor Relations
- Primary Investor Relations Contact
William R. Kunkel has served as a director since June 2016. He served as General Counsel of the Archdiocese of Chicago from November 2016 until July 31, 2020. From 2012 through April 1, 2016, he served as the Company's Executive Vice President, Legal and General Counsel. Prior to joining the Company, Mr. Kunkel was a partner at the international law firm of Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP for over 25 years, where he focused his practice on mergers and acquisitions, corporate finance and other corporate governance and securities matters.