Protective Life Corporation (Protective), a subsidiary of Dai-ichi Life Holdings, Inc. (Dai-ichi, TSE:8750), announced today leadership changes that will help drive transformative change, deliver greater value for customers, and establish a roadmap for building the company’s future. As part of this business transformation, the company has appointed a new transformation executive and realigned key functions among its executive team.

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Scott Adams has been named Executive Vice President, Chief Transformation and Strategy Officer for Protective (Photo: Business Wire)

Scott Adams has been named Executive Vice President, Chief Transformation and Strategy Officer. In this role, he will lead Protective’s business transformation, collaborating with teams across the organization, aligning with business strategy and ensuring results-oriented work. With over 17 years in senior leadership roles at Protective, Adams has overseen strategy, innovation, human resources, and communications, and throughout his career, he has been involved in large scale change integration efforts in the financial services industry. Adams will report to President & CEO Rich Bielen.

"At Protective, we have high expectations for ourselves and are committed to delivering outstanding performance for our stakeholders. To build on our strong foundation and meet future demands, continuous and transformative change is essential. We are fortunate to have a proven, innovative leader within Protective to drive our transformation," said Bielen. "Scott Adams is a trusted colleague and leader with relevant experience and excellent understanding of Protective. He is well positioned to build solutions, navigate change and deliver results."

Through its transformation, the company will invest in new business opportunities, enhance foundational capabilities, and advance a more efficient and effective company. This work will lead to improved operating processes to compete in the markets of today and the future. Under Adams’ leadership, the company will also identify and implement additional initiatives to meet these goals.

Aligned with Protective’s commitment to transformation, the following leadership changes have also been announced.

• Wade Harrison, Executive Vice President, Chief Retail Officer, will continue overseeing the retail businesses and his role will expand to include operations and technology. Aligning these core functions more closely with the retail businesses creates a streamlined structure to enable stronger collaboration and effective execution of the company’s growth plans. Matthew Kohler, Senior Vice President, Chief Information Officer, will report to Harrison. Kenneth Byrd, who most recently led operations for the Protection Division, has been promoted to Senior Vice President, Operations, and will also report to Harrison.
• Paul Wells, Executive Vice President, Chief Financial Officer, now has an expanded role to include the treasury, asset liability management, and stable value products functions. Aligning these functions brings together similar capabilities and critical pieces of the company’s business strategy, creating synergies across the finance organization. Deep Banerjee, Senior Vice President, Treasurer will report to Wells.
• Wendy Evesque, Executive Vice President, Chief Human Resources Officer, now has expanded responsibility to include the Protective Life Foundation, community engagement and sustainability. The Foundation, community engagement and sustainability teams help shape the culture that Protective employees experience and by bringing these teams together, the company will build greater alignment and create a holistic approach to its culture and in the communities it serves.
• Steve Walker, Vice Chairman Finance and Risk, will continue as acting Chief Risk Officer. Protective has a strong risk team in place and an experienced leader in Walker.

"Together, these changes streamline our executive operations and will position our company for continued growth and success," added Bielen. "Each of these executives is uniquely qualified to help advance transformative change."

All changes are effective immediately.

About Protective

Protective has helped people achieve protection and security in their lives for 116 years. Through its subsidiaries, Protective offers life insurance, annuity and asset protection solutions and is helping more than 14 million people protect what matters most. Protective’s more than 3,700 employees put people first and deliver the company’s promises to customers, partners, teammates and communities - because we’re all protectors. With a long-term focus, financial stability and commitment to doing the right thing, Protective Life Corporation, a subsidiary of Dai-ichi Life Holdings, Inc. (TSE:8750), has $113 billion in assets, as of Dec. 31, 2022. Protective is headquartered in Birmingham, Alabama, and supported by a robust virtual workforce and core sites in the greater Cincinnati area and St. Louis. For more information about Protective, visit www.protective.com.

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"Together, these changes streamline our executive operations and will position our company for continued growth and success," said Protective's President & CEO Rich Bielen.