Hartford life insurer the Phoenix Cos. announced Tuesday that it is shaking up its senior management team with five significant changes including a new chief financial officer.
Phoenix’s current CFO and treasurer Peter A. Hofmann will be moving out of that position next month to take on a newly developed role of executive vice president of strategy and business development, where he will be responsible for strategic planning, business development and capital management.
Hofman is being replaced by Bonnie J. Malley, whose promotion to CFO and treasurer will give her responsibility for all financial management and oversight as well as investor relations. Malley is currently executive vice president and chief administrative officer and will retain responsibility for information technology.
Meanwhile, Philip K. Polkinghorn, Phoenix’s senior executive vice president of business development will resign from the company. Polkinghorn joined Phoenix in 2004 as an executive vice president and most recently played a significant role in developing the company’s middle market strategy and fixed indexed annuity business.
“Over the last three years, we have made significant progress in strengthening the company and redefining our business strategy,” said James D. Wehr, president and CEO of Phoenix Cos. “It is now time to realign the organization to sharpen our focus on strategic business development, better support our core priorities and improve our ability to execute”
Among other changes that will take effect next month:
- Thomas S. Buckingham is being promoted to executive vice president of product development and operations and lead all product- and service-related functions including product development, product implementation and operations. Buckingham is currently senior vice president of product implementation and operations. He joined Phoenix as an actuarial assistant in 1999 and served in increasingly senior corporate, product development and operational positions.
- Edward W. Cassidy, executive vice president and managing principal of Saybrus Partners, Inc. will take on additional responsibility for building out Phoenix’s distribution strategy in addition to managing Saybrus Partners’ third-party distribution consulting business. Cassidy joined Phoenix in 2006 as a senior vice president in charge of life insurance distribution and was named managing principal of Saybrus Partners when it was established in 2009.
- Jody A. Beresin is being promoted to senior vice president and will be responsible for human resources, corporate communications and corporate services. Beresin is currently vice president of human resources. She joined Phoenix in 1994 as a director in corporate communications and held increasingly senior positions in corporate communications and human resources, which she joined in 2004.
