Symetra Makes Strategic Additions to
Financial Institutions Team
Bellevue, Wash. — (Jan. 5, 2006) — Symetra
SM Financial today announced several key additions to its financial institutions channel. The company expects the new team to shape business development efforts with banking and financial institution partners nationwide.
Symetra named Edward Van Hoorebeke national sales manager and senior vice president for the financial institutions division. Van Hoorebeke has nearly 20 years experience in financial services and was previously national sales manager and a senior vice president with MetLife Investors, the distribution company for Metropolitan Life Insurance Company.
Van Hoorebeke is joined by James Polhemus, who will also serve as a senior vice president in the financial institutions division. Most recently, Polhemus was a senior vice president at Phoenix Life Insurance Company. In addition, Polhemus was president of Strategic Financial Solutions Corporation, a financial outsourcing and services company, and served as chief operations officer at the Independent Financial Marketing Group.
Along with Roderick Halvorson, Symetra’s senior vice president who leads the division, Van Hoorebeke and Polhemus will help direct business development programs, wholesaling activities, operations, and training and education within the financial institutions channel.
To support this leadership team, Symetra has appointed a new group of regional vice presidents. They include Kelly Pappas, formerly regional marketing director with Transamerica; Patricia Regan, who was a regional vice president at MetLife Investors; and Bill Walsh, who served as senior regional vice president with AXA Equitable.
“As our business continues to grow, it is important that we have the right talent and expertise in place,” said Halvorson. “These additions reflect our commitment to building one of the best financial institution teams in our industry. I am confident this group will help us deliver even more value to our banking partners.”
About Symetra Financial
Symetra Financial is a family of companies with nearly a half-century of experience providing retirement plans, employee benefits, annuities and life insurance through independent distributors nationwide. The company has more than $20 billion in assets and is owned by an investor group led by White Mountains Insurance Group Ltd. and Berkshire Hathaway Inc. For more information, visit Symetra Financial's Website at
www.symetra.com.
1 Total GAAP assets per closing statements of December 31, 2004
Symetra® and the Symetra Financial logo are registered service marks of Symetra Life Insurance Company, 777 108th Avenue NE, Suite 1200, Bellevue, WA 98004.
