Steven A. Kandarian was the president, chairman, and

chief executive officer A chief executive officer (CEO), also known as a central executive officer (CEO), chief administrator officer (CAO) or just chief executive (CE), is one of a number of corporate executives charged with the management of an organization especiall ...

MetLife MetLife, Inc. is the Holding company, holding corporation for the Metropolitan Life Insurance Company (MLIC), better known as MetLife, and its affiliates. MetLife is among the largest global providers of insurance, Annuity (US financial produc ...

. He became president and CEO on May 1, 2011, and chairman in January 2012 succeeding Robert Henrikson, who retired from those roles. Kandarian retired from MetLife on April 30, 2019 and was succeeded as president and CEO by Michel Khalaf and as chairman by Glenn Hubbard.

Life and career

Kandarian grew up in West Hartford,

Connecticut Connecticut () is the southernmost state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It is bordered by Rhode Island to the east, Massachusetts to the north, New York (state), New York to the west, and Long Island Sound to the ...

, the son of Lillian and Albert Kandarian. He graduated from William H. Hall High School and held several roles in private equity, including as founder and managing partner of Orion Partners, LP and executive director of the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation. He is a board member of the

Damon Runyon Cancer Research Foundation The Damon Runyon Cancer Research Foundation (Damon Runyon) is an American not-for-profit cancer research organization focused on "discovering the talent to discover the cure". The organization states that its goals are to: "identify the best an ...

and a member of the

Financial Services Forum The Financial Services Forum is an American, non-partisan economic policy and advocacy organization whose members are the chief executive officers of the eight largest and most diversified financial institutions headquartered in the United Stat ...

and the Economic Club of New York. He received a B.A. from

Clark University Clark University is a private research university in Worcester, Massachusetts. Founded in 1887 with a large endowment from its namesake Jonas Gilman Clark, a prominent businessman, Clark was one of the first modern research universities in th ...

, a J.D. from

Georgetown University Law Center The Georgetown University Law Center (Georgetown Law) is the law school of Georgetown University, a private research university in Washington, D.C. It was established in 1870 and is the largest law school in the United States by enrollment and ...

, and a M.B.A. from

Harvard Business School Harvard Business School (HBS) is the graduate business school of Harvard University, a private research university in Boston, Massachusetts. It is consistently ranked among the top business schools in the world and offers a large full-time MBA ...

MetLife

Prior to becoming CEO, Kandarian was MetLife's

chief investment officer The chief investment officer (CIO) is a job title for the board level head of investments within an organization. The CIO's purpose is to understand, manage, and monitor their organization's portfolio of assets, devise strategies for growth, act as ...

since April 2005. As CIO, Kandarian oversaw a number of initiatives that strengthened MetLife's investment portfolio, enhanced the company's focus on effective risk management and contributed to the bottom line

He is credited with preparing MetLife's portfolio prior to the 2007 recession, partly by anticipating the housing bubble and selling

Stuyvesant Town—Peter Cooper Village Stuyvesant may refer to: People * Peter Stuyvesant (1592–1672), the last governor of New Netherland * Peter Gerard Stuyvesant (1778–1847), lawyer, landowner and philanthropist. * Rutherfurd Stuyvesant (1843–1909), socialite and land developer ...

in Manhattan in 2006. In his first three months as CEO, Kandarian expanded the company's senior leadership team with the hiring of Frans Hijkoop to head human resources and Martin Lippert to oversee global technology. He also announced MetLife's 25-year agreement to acquire the naming rights to the home of the

New York Giants The New York Giants are a professional American football team based in the New York metropolitan area. The Giants compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) East divisio ...

and

New York Jets The New York Jets are a professional American football team based in the New York metropolitan area. The Jets compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's American Football Conference (AFC) East division. The ...

, which is now known as

MetLife Stadium MetLife Stadium is a multi-purpose stadium at the Meadowlands Sports Complex in East Rutherford, New Jersey, 5 mi (8 km) west of New York City. Opened in 2010 to replace Giants Stadium, it serves as the home for the New York Giants a ...

. In addition, Kandarian has also moved the company away from retail banking. On July 21, 2011, MetLife said the company would seek to sell its deposit banking business. In announcing the move, Kandarian said it "was not appropriate for the overwhelming majority of our business to be governed by regulations written for banking institutions

Three months later, MetLife said it would look to sell its residential mortgage lending business as well, saying the marketplace and regulatory environment for the business was uncertain and that the company needed to focus its resources on its global insurance and employee benefits businesses.

Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation

Kandarian is a former

executive director Executive director is commonly the title of the chief executive officer of a non-profit organization, government agency or international organization. The title is widely used in North American and European not-for-profit organizations, though ...

of the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation

an agency of the

United States Government The federal government of the United States (U.S. federal government or U.S. government) is the national government of the United States, a federal republic located primarily in North America, composed of 50 states, a city within a feder ...

. Kandarian was appointed to head the PBGC on December 2, 2001, by Secretary of Labor Elaine L. Chao, announcing his departure on January 7, 2004 to return to his family in Boston

He left on February 13, 200

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kandarian, Steven Year of birth missing (living people) Living people Clark University alumni Georgetown University alumni Harvard Business School alumni American businesspeople in insurance American people of Armenian descent Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation MetLife people American chief executives of financial services companies American chief executives of Fortune 500 companies Chief investment officers Hall High School (Connecticut) alumni Directors of ExxonMobil