CEO Mehran Assadi announced a transition at Equity Services, Inc.
It is with mixed emotion that I announce the retirement of ESI President & CEO Lance Reihl at the end of July.
It is hard for me to imagine our broker dealer without Lance at the helm. In 2008, he began his journey with me here at National Life. Over the past 12 years Lance has stabilized and reinvented ESI, turning it into a top-notch broker dealer. Lance has been much more than my head of the broker dealer; he has been my teammate, my dear special friend and close adviser. He will be missed.
Lance looks forward to spending more time with his family — especially with his son Alexander — after many years of commuting to Vermont from New Jersey. Please join me in congratulating Lance on a distinguished career and wishing him all the best in his well-deserved retirement. His National Life legacy will live on.
I did not have to look far to find a worthy successor. I have asked Ata Azarshahi to take on the additional role of ESI President and CEO. As part of our continued focus on creating a complete and seamless experience for our distribution, ESI will become part of our Distribution organization reporting into Matt Frazee. By uniting ESI with Distribution we will be able to capitalize on Ata’s knowledge of distribution and his familiarity of our field organization.
Ata is a seasoned professional with a proven track record in distribution and registered products—a veteran of our industry with over 30 years of experience. Prior to joining National Life, Ata was CEO of ING Variable Annuities Europe in The Netherlands, where he was tasked with expansion of ING’s insurance footprint in continental Europe, and later in Eurasia.
Ata has built a skilled and capable team in L&A Solutions and will continue his role as their leader reporting to Achim Schwetlick. I am excited to have Ata lead both ESI and L&A Solutions, creating the synergies that will benefit our buying and selling customers, as well as our colleagues on both campuses.
Ata has built a skilled and capable team in L&A Solutions and will continue his role as their leader reporting to Achim Schwetlick. I am excited to have Ata lead both ESI and L&A Solutions, creating the synergies that will benefit our buying and selling customers, as well as our colleagues on both campuses.
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