Casale Appointed CIO at MassMutual

On Monday, MassMutual announced the appointment of Robert J. Casale to chief information officer. Casale will replace Michael Foley, who retires January 1, 2009.

In his new role, Casale will be responsible for the oversight of information technology at the MassMutual Financial Group, including the company's enterprise technology organization, which is accountable for enterprise-wide data, information security management and overall governance of the information technology development process. He will report to MassMutual COO Roger W. Crandall.

"Throughout his career at MassMutual, Bob has demonstrated how strong, thoughtful collaboration between the systems and business areas can help drive successful execution of the company's strategy and excellent value for our clients and policyholders," Crandall said in a press release. "Bob's exceptional leadership skills, superior technical knowledge, and long track record of success will to serve him well in his new leadership role as we continue to utilize technology to make it easy for customers and financial professionals to do business with us."

Casale has served as the Springfield, Mass.-based carrier's deputy CIO since January 2008 and was named a senior vice president in June. He has been a part of MassMutual's enterprise technology organization for 13 years, during which time he was responsible for establishing the organization's enterprise-wide reference architecture.

Foley has served as CIO at MassMutual since 2005. Prior to that he was CIO at MassMutual subsidiary Babson Capital Management, a company he joined in 1994. "Mike's leadership has been instrumental to our strategic effort to enhance our technology and processes and in developing a talented systems organization that will continue to position MassMutual for success," Crandall said. "We wish him the best in his retirement."