Jackson Makes Multiple IT and Operations Promotions

Following the Dec. 2009 parallel promotions of Mark Clark Laura Prieskorn as senior vice presidents in IT and operations, respectively, Jackson National Life (Lansing, Mich.) has promoted six executives within its IT and operations departments. The carrier has promoted Scott Klus, Jeff Borton, Dean Hosfield and Muhammad Shami to vice president positions in IT; and it has named Bob Hadju vice president and Diahn McHenry assistant vice president in operations.

As VP, policy administration systems, Scott Klus will oversee many of Jackson's major systems, including those involved in policy administration, agent compensation and corporate financials. He will also play a key role in any future acquisition-related conversion activity. Klus has advanced quickly through Jackson's management ranks since joining the company 11 years ago, according to a Jackson source.

As VP of corporate systems, Jeff Borton will be responsible for all corporate applications, including office automation systems and Jackson's corporate Web site. Borton, who has also served 11 years at Jackson, was previously AVP, office automation systems.

Muhammad Shami's role as VP, investment systems includes responsibility for all systems supporting Jackson's separately managed accounts subsidiary Curian Capital and Jackson's affiliated broker/dealer network National Planning Holdings. Shami first worked for Jackson as a consultant and joined the company in 2000 to help build the Curian platform, which led to his promotion to AVP, Curian systems.

Dean Hosfield has been promoted to VP of new business and Jackson National Life distributors systems/regional IT. Since 1996, Hosfield has been responsible for the development of Jackson's new business systems, serving most recently as AVP of new business. His new role encompasses management of Jackson's regional IT systems.

"Jeff, Scott, Muhammad and Dean have all been instrumental in developing Jackson's technology advantage in recent years," comments Mark Clark, senior vice president and CIO, Jackson. "I'm confident that their wealth of knowledge of both technology and the needs of the business will only further enhance the department and the entire Jackson organization in the future."

Bob Hadju's responsibilities with his promotion from AVP to VP of policy owner services include all processing and transactions relating to Jackson's in-force annuity contracts and life insurance policies. Hadju has nearly 15 years of experience within Jackson's operations department.

In her role as AVP of Jackson's call center, Diahn McHenry will be responsible for helping the company's service representatives to continue what the Jackson source calls the company's tradition of award-winning customer service. McHenry joined Jackson as call center director in 2009 from Choice Consulting Services. She started her career at Lincoln Financial Group and has more than 18 years of experience in financial services.

"Jackson is a five-time winner of the Service Quality Measurement Group's World Class Customer Satisfaction Award," notes Laura Prieskorn, Jackson's senior vice president and chief administrative officer. "Under Bob and Diahn's leadership, I am confident that Jackson will continue to provide award-winning customer service, while also increasing the efficiency of our internal processes and procedures.

Anthony O'Donnell has covered technology in the insurance industry since 2000, when he joined the editorial staff of Insurance & Technology. As an editor and reporter for I&T and the InformationWeek Financial Services of TechWeb he has written on all areas of information ... View Full Bio