Transamerica Appoints Jamie Ohl to Lead Retirement and Insurance Solutions

Jamie Ohl

Transamerica has promoted Jamie Ohl to divisional president overseeing the company’s retirement and employee benefits businesses.

CEO Will Fuller made the announcement Tuesday that Ohl, who had been president of life insurance and annuity products as well as mutual funds, will now also oversee sales, product development, operations and customer service.

Phil Eckman, who joined Transamerica in 1996 and held the position of president for the company’s retirement and employee benefits sectors, has departed from the firm, according to the announcement.

“I’m honored to be given this opportunity and am excited about Transamerica’s future,” Ohl said via emailed response. “We plan to leverage the collective experience, insights and incredible talent across these teams to deliver the best solutions and experience to our customers. I am proud to lead our dedicated insurance, retirement and investment professionals in providing solutions to help people make the most of what’s important to them.”

Before her tenure at Transamerica, Ohl led retirement operations at The Hartford, Voya Financial Inc., and Lincoln Financial Group. Additionally, she directed the funds management division at Wilshire, a global financial services company.

“I am excited that Jamie will now also lead the advancement of Transamerica’s retirement and employee benefits solutions, which serve more than $235 billion in assets and 25,000 organizations,” Fuller said in a statement.

He added in the release that Transamerica has also restructured its associated insurance distribution network, World Financial Group, establishing it as an autonomous division reporting directly to the CEO. Todd Buchanan, with over 25 years of expertise in insurance distribution, digital transformation, and wealth management, heads WFG. Buchanan will now directly report to Fuller.

“WFG’s nearly 76,000 independent insurance agents are reaching the fastest-growing middle income consumer segment in North America,” Fuller said. “Todd will continue to drive strong growth in our agent network to increase access to financial protection products for all Americans.” 

Transamerica also disclosed that Rob Carney has assumed the role of chief distribution officer for its life insurance, annuity products, and mutual funds, with Jamie Ohl as his reporting authority.

Bond Named to M&A Head for World

Ken Bond

On Wednesday, World Insurance Associates LLC, an insurance brokerage in the U.S., named Ken Bond as chief corporate development officer. As a member of World’s executive leadership team, Bond will oversee corporate development for three World businesses: retail insurance, retirement plan as well as wealth management services and wholesale insurance.

World owns Pensionmark Financial Group, which has been growing out its retirement plan and wealth management division in part via acquisitions under CEO Troy Hammond.

“I am thrilled to have an industry leader like Ken join our talented team,” Rich Eknoian, CEO of World, said in a statement. “His expertise in building and leading strategic corporate development initiatives, in addition to sourcing and closing high-quality deals, will drive our acquisition growth strategy to new heights.”

Bond’s most recent role was as the SVP head of corporate development at Cetera Financial Group, which operates under the Genstar Capital portfolio. Before this position, he had a long-standing career at Aon plc as the SVP of corporate development, overseeing mergers and acquisitions.

“It is extremely exciting to join World during this time of explosive growth across all of its businesses,” Bong said in a statement. “I look forward to ramping up and partnering with the broader World team to deliver on the M&A strategic plan.”