Jay Wintrob resigns as CEO of AIG Life and Retirement

After failing to ascend to the top of American International Group Inc., Jay Wintrob is stepping down as chief executive of AIG Life and Retirement. Among his various responsibilities, Mr. Wintrob supervised Erica McGinnis, who a year ago become the CEO of the AIG Advisor Group network of broker-dealers after Larry Roth resigned to work for Nicholas Schorsch at RCS Capital Corp. Mr. Roth is now in charge of RCS Capital's broker-dealer network, Cetera Financial Group. Mr. Wintrob was widely considered to be in the running to succeed Robert Benmosche as CEO of AIG. Mr. Benmosche said he was resigning earlier this year, and Peter Hancock replaced him this month. “I have great confidence that the company's leadership team has the experience and commitment to continue to meet the goal of making AIG the most valued insurance company in the world,” Mr. Wintrob said in a statement Thursday. He had been with the company for more than 25 years and will pursue other unidentified opportunities, according to the statement. Two executives will handle Mr. Wintrob's responsibilities. Kevin Hogan, who runs AIG's consumer business, will also run life insurance, retirement income solutions — including variable, fixed, and indexed annuities — group benefits and retirement, along with retail mutual funds, according to a company memo. Ms. McGinnis will report up the ladder ultimately to Rob Schimek, president and CEO of AIG Americas, who also oversees distribution. “I've known Jay for a very long time,” said Jeffrey Vahanian, an adviser with Royal Alliance Associates Inc., one of the AIG Advisor Group broker-dealers. “He's been a real friend to people in the broker-dealer community and to me.” Mr. Vahanian added: “He respects the autonomy of the independent adviser and has consistently promoted that. He certainly will be missed and I wish him the best.” The AIG Advisor Group network of four broker-dealers is one of the largest in the industry and has a combined 5,600 registered reps and advisers who controlled $148.7 billion in total assets as of Dec. 31.