Around three months after the president of its annuity business announced plans to retire at the end of the year, Nationwide has found a suitable successor to the role.
The firm announced Monday that it has appointed Craig Hawley as the new leader of Nationwide Annuity.
A 25-year veteran of the industry, Hawley will take over the role from Eric Henderson, the former head of the annuity business, starting August 5.
Henderson, who announced his plans to step down in April, has been a steady hand at the retirement industry giant’s annuity business. After joining in 2007, he assumed leadership of the unit as president in 2019, and subsequently led it through periods of seismic change and growth.
John Carter, president and COO of Nationwide Financial, announced the appointment and highlighted Hawley's extensive experience in the financial services industry.
"Craig Hawley is known as an innovator who leverages data and digital tools to drive results and an admired leader committed to recruiting and developing high-performing teams," Carter said in a statement.
The past three years have seen a period of record growth for the annuities team, said Carter, who expressed confidence that the unit “will continue to build on its strong performance under Craig’s leadership."
Hawley joined Nationwide in 2017 following the acquisition of Nationwide Advisory Solutions, previously known as Jefferson National. At the time, he served as general counsel, overseeing legal, compliance, government relations, internal audit, and operations at Jefferson.
In his role as head of Nationwide Advisory Solutions, he managed the firm’s fee-based annuity distribution channel, catering to over 6,000 registered investment advisors and fee-based advisors. He successfully integrated this team into Nationwide over the course of two years, all the while maintaining a strong culture.
In 2019, Hawley was promoted to senior vice president of annuity distribution for Nationwide. With a commitment to collaboration, he was instrumental in optimizing territory coverage, reducing acquisition costs and putting the team in good stead to increase their share of the market.
By 2022, he became senior vice president of Nationwide Retirement Solutions Distribution. Under his watch, the team achieved record sales in 2023 while maintaining historically high rates of plan retention across different markets.
Eric Stevenson, president of Nationwide Retirement Solutions, will lead the search for Hawley's successor, the firm said. In the meantime, the Nationwide Retirement Solutions Distribution team will report to Stevenson.
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