Leston Welsh has been promoted to head of products for Prudential Group Insurance, a unit of Prudential Financial, Inc.
In a statement, Prudential Group said that Mr. Welsh, in his new role, will be responsible for Prudential's group life, servicemembers' group life insurance (“SGLI”), disability, and voluntary products.
Mr. Welsh joined Prudential in May 2018 as vice president and head of disability and absence management. He previously was at Unum where most recently he served as senior vice president and chief operating officer of Starmount Insurance Company, accountable for IT, claims, call centers, enrollment, billing, implementation, account management, and compliance across the individual life and dental/vision business segments.
“It is my great pleasure to promote Leston into this new role,” Jamie Kalamarides, the president of Prudential Group Insurance, said. “Over the past 14 months, he has successfully led the strategic direction for disability and absence management products, services, and capabilities. I look forward to his leadership in this new role, which will bring us one step closer to achieving Prudential Group Insurance's financial wellness strategy.”
Prudential's Alice Cotti will succeed Mr. Welsh and become vice president and head of disability product.
“I'm thrilled Alice will be taking over disability product,” Mr. Welsh said. “In this role, she will retain her leadership over our disability strategic initiative, aligning the transformation of the platform with the overall management of it.”
Prudential Group added that, as part of these leadership changes, Jim Gemus will take on a new role: head of financial wellness and business segments, including Prudential benefit funding and associations.
According to the company, the creation of this new role will help Prudential Group's insurance operations continue to unlock the value of financial wellness for employers and employees.
The new roles are effective August 5, 2019. In her new role, Ms. Cotti will report to Mr. Welsh. Mr. Welsh and Mr. Gemus will report to Mr. Kalamarides.
“These moves are part of Prudential Group Insurance's long-term succession planning efforts. Having Jim take on this new responsibility for coordinating across Prudential to bring our leading financial wellness thinking and capabilities to our customers and their beneficiaries reinforces the key role financial wellness plays not only in our group insurance strategy, but enterprise-wide across Prudential,” Mr. Kalamarides concluded. “The key drivers of our group insurance strategy remain unchanged.”
Victoria Spears
Victoria Prussen Spears is senior vice president of Meyerowitz Communications Inc., a law firm marketing communications consulting company. A graduate of Sarah Lawrence College and Brooklyn Law School, Ms. Spears was an attorney at a leading New York City law firm before joining Meyerowitz Communications. She may be contacted at [email protected].