As part of its ongoing efforts to raise its profile in the middle market, The Hartford appointed Denise Diana as vice president, retirement plans mid-market, to lead the new sales and marketing initiatives. Diana comes to The Hartford with 20 years of experience in the insurance industry, most recently from Transamerica where she was vice president of business development. She has also held key leadership positions at Prudential Retirement and CIGNA. A graduate of Bryant College where she earned a BS with a concentration in marketing, Diana holds FINRA series 26, 7 and 66 licenses, and a Connecticut Life and Health Producer license.
In her role at The Hartford, Diana will create a new team of middle market specialists to support financial advisors, Registered Investment and consultants, and identify mid-market development opportunities.
“The Hartford has been building its considerable capabilities to serve the middle market for some time, including three strategic acquisitions that expanded our scale and core competencies,” said Sharon Ritchey, executive vice president and director of The Hartford’s Retirement Plans Group, and past honoree of the Insurance Networking News’ Women in Insurance Leadership. “We’ve added new technology capabilities, new product solutions for both defined contribution and defined benefit plans, and new leadership to help us accelerate growth.”
In September, The Hartford is launching a series of forums for advisers that will unveil new research on retirement plan sponsors’ and participants’ evolving needs, and new approaches in meeting them. The forums, “A Dose of Reality: Strong, No Sugar,” will consist of practice management modules and insights into The Hartford’s new middle-market initiatives. The seminars will take place in Boston, Atlanta, Irving, Texas, and San Francisco. Diana and other executives from The Hartford’s Retirement Plans Group will be on hand.
The 401k Exchange recently ranked The Hartford among the top five providers for its "Investment Services" category as well as its "Record Keeping and Administrative Services" category for defined contribution retirement plans with $10 million to $100 million in assets under management. The “Mid-Year 2010 401k Exchange Ratings and Market Share” report based the rankings on a survey of retirement plan sponsors.
“The Hartford has a tremendous value proposition across the middle market for defined contribution and defined benefit retirement plans,” Diana said. “Few retirement plan providers can deliver the range and quality of services that we offer for financial advisers, plan sponsors and participants.”
According to Ritchey, “more plan sponsors with assets between $10 million and $100 million will come to realize that The Hartford has the expertise, experience and quality service they need to make their retirement plans as successful as possible.”
