Sixth Street’s Talcott, an international life insurance group, has announced the appointment of Michael Smith as Executive Chairman, effective immediately.
Smith brings 38 years of experience in the insurance industry. He joins after an almost 14 years tenure at Voya Financial, where he most recently served as Vice Chair and Chief Financial Officer.
Commenting on Smith’s appointment, A. Michael Muscolino, Co-Founder and Partner at Sixth Street, said: “We are pleased to welcome Mike as the newest addition to Talcott’s already deep leadership team as we continue to provide flexible solutions at scale for the world’s leading insurance companies.
“Mike is a seasoned industry operator with extensive knowledge of the insurance landscape, and we look forward to utilising his experience as we evaluate partnerships across the international life insurance sector.”
During his time at Voya, Smith held a number of roles, including Chief Risk Officer and head of the Insurance Solutions and Annuity Manufacturing businesses.
Prior to this, he spent over 20 years at Lincoln Financial, where he held multiple senior executive roles in Actuarial, Finance, Operations and Risk Management.
“I am thrilled to be joining Talcott Financial Group and look forward to working with Talcott’s leadership team as well as the broader Sixth Street Insurance platform,” said Smith.
Adding: “We are well-positioned to accelerate Talcott’s growth with the foundation of a strong financial position, talented team, award-winning culture, focus on policyholder protection, and a proven track record of executing value-add transactions.”
“I am excited to partner with Mike in leading Talcott as we build on our culture of collaboration and risk management across the enterprise. We will continue to execute on our focused growth strategy as a premier life insurance and annuities platform,” said Imran Siddiqui, Interim President at Talcott Financial Group.
In 2021, Sixth Street agreed to acquire Talcott Resolution Life Insurance Company from a consortium of investors. Since then, the global investment firm has committed significant capital into the life/annuity insurance space. This includes the recently created Talcott Life Re, a Bermuda-based reinsurer.
