ING U.S. Hires Dave Swanson to Lead Employee Benefits Product and Pricing Team

MINNEAPOLIS, Feb. 5, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- ING U.S. announced today the appointment of Dave Swanson as senior vice president and head of Employee Benefits Product and Pricing.  In this new position, Swanson will help drive the growth of ING U.S.'s Employee Benefits business through innovative product design and disciplined pricing.

In this role, Swanson will be responsible for all actuarial aspects of product development across all ING U.S. Employee Benefits product lines, including group life, group disability, stop loss and voluntary benefits.  He will also serve as a member of the ING U.S. Insurance Solutions executive team, ensuring that market needs are met and there is disciplined growth of the employee benefits business.

Swanson brings over 25 years of group benefits and financial management experience to ING U.S.  Most recently, Swanson was vice president of group protection products for Lincoln Financial Group, where he led that firm's entrance into the worksite market.  Prior to that, he served as vice president of finance where he played a key role in the company's acquisition of Canada Life's U.S. business.  Swanson began his career at CIGNA in actuarial and financial management positions supporting a variety of businesses including group and healthcare benefits, reinsurance and individual life.

Swanson, who will be based in ING U.S.'s Minneapolis office, will report to Butch Britton, chief executive officer of ING U.S. Insurance Solutions.  His appointment is effective February 4, 2013. 

"Employee Benefits is an integral part of our ING U.S. strategy and Dave's role and expertise will help us meet the current and future needs of our customers," noted Britton.  "Insurance coverage accessed through the workplace is the predominant, and in many cases the only, source of insurance protection individuals have for themselves and their families. As we look to grow this very important business segment, delivering innovative products with client value is crucial to our long-term growth and we're excited that Dave is joining us to lead this effort."

"There is tremendous opportunity for a strong player like ING U.S. to thrive in the evolving employee benefits landscape," said Swanson.  "I'm excited to join an organization with leadership positions in the retirement, investment and insurance markets.  ING U.S. clearly has a strong commitment to growing employee benefits and has tremendous experience and capabilities to draw upon in pursuing this goal."

Swanson, a Fellow of the Society of Actuaries, earned a B.S. in actuarial science from the University of Nebraska. He currently serves as a member of the board for Inclusive Communities and as an advisory board member for the University of Nebraska Actuarial Science Program. 

ING U.S.'s Insurance Solutions business, which comprises its Retail Life and Employee Benefits segments, is a leading provider of life insurance and medical stop loss in the U.S.  The Retail Life business is focused on wealth protection and transfer opportunities to meet the needs of a broad range of customers from the middle-market through affluent market segments.  The Employee Benefits segment provides stop loss, group life, voluntary and disability products to mid-sized and large businesses and has more than 90 years of experience in the design, implementation and administration of employee benefits plans.  ING U.S. Employee Benefits launched the Compass Accident and Critical Illness Insurance product suite late last year.

About ING U.S.

ING U.S. constitutes the U.S.-based retirement, investment and insurance businesses of Netherlands-based ING Groep N.V. (NYSE: ING).  Through the ING U.S. family of companies, we serve the financial needs of approximately 13 million individual and institutional customers with a comprehensive array of products and services, including retirement plans, IRA rollovers and transfers, stable value, institutional investment management, mutual funds, alternative investments, life insurance, employee benefits, fixed and indexed annuities and financial planning.  Our dedicated workforce of more than 7,000 employees is focused on ING U.S.'s mission to make a secure financial future possible—one person, one family and one institution at a time. For more information, visit http://ing.us.

SOURCE ING U.S.