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Congratulations to all of you!

LIMRA is pleased to present the winners of the 2019 Rising Stars in Retirement. These young professionals represent talent across many areas of financial services, supporting retirement and are passionate about making a difference. Learn more about the individual winners below.

Nick Cummings

Director of Financial Analysis, Retirement Services

OneAmerica Financial Partners, Inc.

“Nick strives to ensure that project-based initiatives to solve real business challenges are thoughtfully planned and executed and desired business outcomes are achieved. He has a successful track record of engaging with leaders, providing solutions and driving successful execution of projects, which help drive top and bottom line results.” – excerpt from nomination

Patrick Ferris

Divisional Vice President

AXA Equitable Life

“Throughout Pat’s tenure at AXA Equitable Life, he has helped develop unique strategies for countless financial professionals and their clients to enable them to retire with dignity, protect their families and prepare for their financial futures with confidence.” – excerpt from nomination

Yarmon Kennedy

Vice President of Strategic Planning & Analysis and Customer Officer

AIG Retirement Services

“Yarmon has quietly pioneered numerous innovations at AIG, with immediate impact and commercial relevance. For example, he expanded the concept of “data-driven engagement” with AIG’s clients to include diagnostics that help them target hotspots of retirement planning need.” – excerpt from nomination

John McCarthy

2nd Vice President, Client Services - Retirement Plans

Ameritas

“John is an inspirational leader who knows how to engage with others when considering new ideas. He uses his passion for leadership and service to create an infrastructure and culture at Ameritas, which enabled us to seamlessly integrate an acquisition, doubling our client base. Specifically, he instituted a loyalty survey, which provided the feedback necessary to modify our service model.  – excerpt from nomination

Eric Miller

Director - Agency Services

Sammons Financial Group

“Eric has a passion for the work we do and the lives we help. He makes a point to emphasize the benefits that life insurance provides families at their worst moment or how the annuities we sell provide  income for retirees that they cannot outlive. He is able to use this passion to enlighten and engage our internal teams to help them see the incredible value we create at Sammons. He is building future advocates for our products through his words and actions.” – excerpt from nomination

Alexandria Morris

Business Strategist - Customer Care

Principal Financial Group

“Alex launched Principal’s first-ever public webinar series (principal.com/learnnow), creating content regarding financial wellness across generations and leveraging interactive tools to engage participants, resulting in multiple industry award wins over the past few years. These efforts were key to our competitive platform in the marketplace, new sales, client retention, advisor support and participant planning.” – excerpt from nomination

Seth Nailor

Associate Vice President, Customer Service & Claims

Sammons Financial Group

“Seth's strategic planning skills, combined with his strong execution, have made him a key player for our team and organization. Seth has helped to design and implement numerous organizational and operating model changes over the past few years, which have been critical to our ongoing success as a team. These changes have set up our team to deliver both improvements to the customer experience, as well as increased efficiencies.” – excerpt from nomination

Amanda Pequignot

Vice President, Strategic Business Management, Retirement Plan Services

Lincoln Financial Group

“Amanda supports Lincoln’s retirement organization by ensuring business alignment with industry practices and trends. She is instrumental in helping various units within the organization connect to the common goals of Lincoln’s overall retirement business strategy so that the organization is aligned around common goals/practices, and can more easily pivot to respond to retirement industry changes and regulatory updates.” – excerpt from nomination

Aaron Strassburger

Senior Associate, Operational Risk Management

New York Life 

“Throughout his career, Aaron has made a concerted effort to create a positive impact for producers, customers and the industry. For example, he assisted in the implementation of a governance, risk and control (GRC) program at New York Life to identify, understand, measure and manage key organizational risks to ensure the company remains strong to provide benefits to its policyholders when due, so they can have a reliable, safe and relaxing retirement.” – excerpt from nomination

Amy Wick

Advisory Solutions Development Director

Allianz Life Insurance Company of North America

“Amy takes the time to get to know her customers at a level that allows her to truly understand what they need, knowing the importance of asking the right questions to gain an understanding of their perspective. She is passionate about helping advisors find the right solution for their clients, and her ability to build relationships gives her credibility with all of her customers.” – excerpt from nomination

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