10:35 AM
Allstate Financial Names New COO
Anurag Chandra will join Allstate Financial (Northbrook, Ill.) as chief operating officer, effective January 31. Chandra will report to Matthew Winter, president and CEO, Allstate Financial.
Previously, Chandra was EVP and chief operating officer for HealthMarkets, Inc. (North Richland Hills, Texas), which has grown from a niche individual health insurance manufacturer into a large independent distributor of insurance and retirement products for the self-insured and small business markets. As part of the company's repositioning, Chandra helped lead the 2009 launch of Insphere Insurance Solutions, an insurance agency subsidiary that distributes small business and middle-income market insurance products.
"Anurag's significant operational experience and broad insurance industry knowledge will help drive Allstate Financial's long-term strategy and enhance our ability to deliver growth," said Winter, in a press release. "He will be responsible for product development, asset/liability management, underwriting and wholesaling in our life and annuity lines of business. Anurag's expertise in repositioning a business to align its core capabilities with marketplace demand is particularly relevant to what we're doing at Allstate Financial, as we refocus on our core business of insurance, retirement and investment products."
Before joining HealthMarkets in 2008, Chandra held senior operating and strategic development roles at Aquiline Capital Partners, Nationwide Financial Services and the Bankers Life and Casualty subsidiary of Conseco. He began his career as a consultant with McKinsey and Company's financial institution practice.
Katherine Burger is Editorial Director of Bank Systems & Technology and Insurance & Technology, members of UBM TechWeb's InformationWeek Financial Services. She assumed leadership of Bank Systems & Technology in 2003 and of Insurance & Technology in 1991. In addition to ... View Full Bio