The Hartford has appointed Jonathan Bennett to head group benefits, effective August 5. He succeeds Mike Concannon, who is retiring after a 24-year career with The Hartford.
Mr. Bennett will report to The Hartford's chairperson and chief executive officer, Christopher Swift.
“Jonathan is a trusted financial and strategic executive whose extensive knowledge of the company and discerning insight have made him successful in a variety of roles during his 20-plus years with The Hartford,” Mr. Swift said. “Jonathan is able to draw from a multi-faceted career that includes head of personal lines and small commercial, as well as other leadership positions in finance, data and analytics, digital commerce, and strategic ventures. We have great confidence in Jonathan and the group benefits team, and we look forward to their continued success.”
Mr. Swift added, “We thank Mike for his many significant contributions to The Hartford. Under his leadership, group benefits has consistently delivered year-over-year earnings growth. Mike led group benefits as we successfully acquired Aetna's U.S. group life and disability business, creating a combined $5.4 billion operation that achieved record core earnings last year.”
Mr. Bennett will oversee a business unit that, the Hartford said, is No. 1 in group disability and No. 4 in group life.
Most recently, Mr. Bennett served as the chief financial officer and head of strategy for both property and casualty and group benefits for the past seven years. He has held a variety of executive roles in personal lines, commercial markets, ventures, and digital commerce and customer analytics.
Prior to joining The Hartford in 1999, Mr. Bennett held roles in Cigna's retirement and individual insurance divisions. He also worked at Arthur Andersen LLP as an auditor and consultant.
Mr. Bennett earned a bachelor's degree in economics from Connecticut College and a master's degree in accounting from the University of Hartford.
Mr. Concannon joined The Hartford in 1995 and held leadership positions across the company, including personal lines and sales and distribution.
Learn more: https://www.thehartford.com.
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].