Deals & People August 21, 2024

Principal Promotes Strable to President, COO

The former CFO will take the president role from CEO and chairman of the board Dan Houston, who will maintain those positions.

Reported by

Alex Ortolani

Deanna Strable

Principal Financial Group announced Wednesday that Deanna Strable has been promoted to the role of president and chief operating officer from her prior role as executive vice president and chief financial officer. Dan Houston will drop the president title from his role, while continuing to serve as CEO and Chairman of the Board.

With the move, Strable will oversee Principal’s three business lines: retirement and income solutions, benefits and protection, and asset management, according to the announcement. Joel Pitz, senior vice president and controller, will be interim chief financial officer.

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“Deanna has been instrumental in driving strategy, financial results, and operations to enable Principal to grow and continue to create value for our customers, shareholders, and employees,” Houston said in a statement. “Her appointment as president and COO reflects her extensive experience and proven leadership within the organization, and I am excited to continue our strong partnership.”

Strable has been with Principal since 1990, where she started as an actuarial assistant and has held various management roles, being named CFO in 2017.

“In my nearly 35 years at Principal, I’m more confident than ever in our ability to deliver value and grow sustainably to continue to serve our customers and meet the expectations of our shareholders,” Strable said in a statement. “I look forward to the opportunity to further contribute to our ongoing success in this new role.”

Principal’s recordkeeping division ranked as the fourth-largest in the country by participants and seventh by total employer-sponsored defined contribution assets among the recordkeepers that participated in PLANSPONSOR’s 2024 Recordkeeping Survey.

Principal has been leaning into its asset management division in recent years, including a rebranding in 2022 and naming Kamal Bhatia the division’s president and CEO in January 2024. Houston called the division the company’s “jet fuel” in a 2023 interview with PLANADVISER.