IFNY Honors Kandarian, Nigro
275 Gather at New York’s Historic Union League Club to Honor MetLife Leader and NYC’s Fire Commissioner
More than 250 insurance leaders joined in the Insurance Federation of New York’s (IFNY) 102nd Annual Award Luncheon honoring Steven A. Kandarian, Chairman, President and CEO, MetLife, Inc., as he received the Federation’s 2016 Free Enterprise Award. New York City Fire Commissioner Daniel A. Nigro was presented with IFNY’s inaugural Public Service Award. New York Superintendent of the Department of Financial Services, the Hon. Maria T. Vullo, addressed the insurance, reinsurance and financial services leaders present for the event, long considered one of New York’s premier industry gatherings.
During the ceremonies, held at the Union League Club in Manhattan, the Federation renewed its support for the IFNY Summer Intern Program. Working with Boys Hope Girls Hope and Mary Lanning, insurance consultant and head of the charity, Yes!Solutions, IFNY arranges for inner city high school students to visit top corporate offices where they learn the business of insurance and its many segments. Over thirty high achieving students have already “graduated” from the program.
The Free Enterprise Award’s distinguished recipients are business leaders who have advanced their industry, espousing the principles of free enterprise for which IFNY has stood for since 1913. Recent past recipients of this prestigious award include Evan Greenberg, Chairman and CEO of Chubb Group, Robert Benmosche, former President and CEO of AIG, J. Hyatt Brown, Chairman and CEO of Brown & Brown Insurance and Donald Kramer, Chairman of ILS Capital LLC.
In his introduction of Mr. Kandarian, IFNY Board Member Thomas Workman, Immediate past president of LICONY, noted that Mr. Kandarian’s direction contributed to MetLife’s global expansion and led to significant cost savings. Mr. Workman underlined the fact that Mr. Kandarian enhanced his company’s focus on effective risk management and diversified MetLife’s investment portfolio, in part through the $5.4 billion sale of Peter Cooper Village/Stuyvesant Town in 2006. “Under Mr. Kandarian’s leadership, MetLife identified the housing bubble early and reduced its exposure to sub-prime mortgage-backed securities, raised the overall quality of its corporate credit portfolio, and increased its focus on low loan-to-value commercial and agricultural mortgages. His efforts helped MetLife emerge from the 2008 credit crisis with the financial strength to complete the company’s $16.4 billion purchase of Alico,” he stated.
In presenting the award to Mr. Kandarian, Nick Pearson, IFNY President, noted that “Mr. Kandarian’s achievements in leading one of the world’s largest insurers exemplifies the spirit of entrepreneurship that has advanced American business and the insurance sector in particular. In accepting the award, Mr. Kandarian recounted his experiences as head of the company during the mortgage crisis and in its ongoing court battle over whether it should be regulated by the federal government as a “Systemically Important Financial Institution.”
Steven A. Kandarian is chairman of the board, president and chief executive officer of MetLife, Inc. (NYSE: MET), a leading provider of insurance, annuities and employee benefit programs to approximately 100 million customers in nearly 50 markets around the world. He became president and CEO on May 1, 2011 and chairman of the board of directors on January 1, 2012. For 2015, MetLife had nearly $70 billion in revenue. The company ranked 40th on the most recent FORTUNE 500®. Mr. Kandarian joined MetLife in April 2005 as executive vice president and chief investment officer (CIO). From 2007 to 2012, he also led MetLife’s enterprise-wide strategy, which identified key areas of focus for the company.
Previously, Mr. Kandarian was founder and managing partner of Orion Partners, LP, a private equity firm. Mr. Kandarian is a board member of the Damon Runyon Cancer Research Foundation, the Institute of International Finance, the Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts, Neuberger Berman and the Partnership for New York City. He is a member of the Business Council and the Business Roundtable. Mr. Kandarian earned his B.A. from Clark University, J.D. from Georgetown University Law Center, and M.B.A. from Harvard Business School.
IFNY’s newly created Public Service award honors an individual who has contributed meaningfully to the public good, either in the public or private sectors. IFNY, whose members distinguish themselves through community service, determined it is only fitting to honor outstanding leaders who have served New Yorkers selflessly and extraordinarily, in keeping with the ethos of the insurance industry in serving societal needs and offering security to families and businesses.
In presenting the IFNY Public Service Award to NYC Fire Commissioner, Daniel Nigro, IFNY President Pearson outlined his many years of service and leadership of what is widely considered the premier firefighting and rescue company in the world. Fire Commissioner Nigro is the civilian administrator and head of the Department. The 33rd Fire Commissioner in the Department’s history, Commissioner Nigro is only the sixth individual to hold every rank in the Department in the agency’s history. Commissioner Nigro was appointed as a Firefighter on November 29, 1969, rising through the ranks to the top uniformed position as Chief of Department on September 12, 2001.
Commissioner Nigro’s long career with the Department started in Manhattan at Engine 21 where he served as Firefighter. He served as a Lieutenant at Engine 35 in East Harlem; in Division 14 in Queens and Engine 8 in Manhattan as a Captain; and in Battalion 19 in the Bronx as a Battalion Chief. Beginning in 1988, while in the rank of Battalion Chief, he served in several administrative positions at Headquarters- the Chief of Personnel and the Chief of the Bureau of Health Services.
Upon his promotion to Deputy Chief in 1993, he returned to the field and served in Division 3 in Manhattan. A year later, he was appointed Deputy Assistant Chief and was instrumental in merging the Emergency Medical Service into the FDNY. Following the merger, he became the Chief in Charge of EMS. In 1997, he was promoted to Chief of Operations, overseeing all operations and training for more than 14,000 uniformed Fire and EMS personnel.
Following the September 11, 2001, attacks on the World Trade Center, he was appointed Chief of Department with the death of Chief Peter J. Ganci, Jr. Commissioner Nigro was responsible for overseeing all rescue and recovery operations at the World Trade Center site and the beginning of the unprecedented rebuilding of the Department. As Chief of Department, Commissioner Nigro held the highest uniformed rank, overseeing all major uniformed FDNY Bureaus: Operations, Training, EMS, Communications and Fire Prevention. Commissioner Nigro is the son of FDNY Captain Daniel Nigro. A native New Yorker, he resides in Queens with his wife, Lynn.
Hon. Maria Vullo, Superintendent of New York’s Department of Financial Services, discussed her office’s recent activities aimed at the health insurance sector and the provision of services to women and minorities as the health landscape changes. She discussed the industry’s federal vs state regulatory approaches, emphasizing viability of the state system. The Superintendent heads one of the leading regulatory bodies in the financial services sector in the world and has begun to focus, she reported to the attendees, on the strengthening of the Department and its focus on consumer protections.
The Insurance Federation of New York
Since 1913, the Insurance Federation of New York has been a force for communicating ideas among all sectors of the insurance industry, bringing public and private interests together for the benefit of all. The Insurance Federation of New York’s prestigious Free Enterprise Award—presented to some of history’s legendary entrepreneurs—continues to salute risk takers and leaders whose creativity and initiative has enabled the expansion of business throughout New York, across the country and around the world. In the insurance industry, it is the commitment and vision of these leaders that has created and refined the risk transfer mechanism to spur economic growth and contribute to personal financial security for countless millions.
Today, the Insurance Federation of New York’s annual calendar of events brings together the “best and brightest” to ensure that industry intelligence is shared and that support for best practices in insurance business, law and regulation earns the understanding of leaders across the spectrum. This shared goal draws business executives, legislators and regulators to our Annual Luncheon, our “Breakfast with…” programs, professional seminars, and other events. We also note the establishment of the IFNY Intern Summer Program. Federation members have given most generously of their time and finances to support this program that reaches out into the community and gives highly motivated teens, from challenging backgrounds, an in-depth opportunity to learn about the insurance industry in all its facets and to consider a career in insurance.
The Insurance Federation of New York is a not-for-profit New York corporation that does not engage in lobbying activities and is open to all.
The IFNY Board of Directors includes the following distinguished professionals: President Nick Pearson, Insurance Consultant; Chairman Lance J. Albright, QBE North America; Financial Vice President, Stephen Boon, Jr., Harold L. Lee & Sons, Inc.; Vice President Michael Fusco, Consultant, FCAS, MAAA, CERA; Vice President Douglas Hayden, Wright Public Entity; Vice President Manfred Ohrenstein, Ohrenstein & Brown, LLP; Vice President David J. Walsh, Amalgamated Life Insurance Company; Vice President & Managing Director Steve Acunto, CINN. DIRECTORS: Kermitt Brooks, AXA U.S.; Michael Catina, Zurich North America; Huhnsik Chung, Baker & McKenzie LLP; Maura T. Clancy, Clancy & Clancy, Brokerage, Ltd.; James Corcoran, James P. Corcoran, Esq.; Eric R. Dinallo, Debevoise & Plimpton; Amy L. Feller, CHUBB; Donald D. Gabay; Anthony Grippa; John T. Hill, II, Magna Carta Companies; James W. March, Insurance Consultant; Howard Mills, Deloitte Services LP; Roger M. Moak, Arbitrator; Kevin Rampe, CHUBB; Raul Rivera, National Benefit Life Insurance Company; William M. Savino, Esq., Rivkin Radler, LLP; Francine L. Semaya, Esq., Legal and Insurance Regulatory Consultant; Wendy R. Shapss, FTI Consulting; Richard White, ShelterPoint Insurance Company; Thomas E. Workman, Immediate Past President & CEO, Life Insurance Council of New York, Inc.
* * * * * For more photos from the event, please see our printed edition!
