Newport Beach-based Pacific Life Insurance Co., the county’s largest privately held company, is reworking the support network for one of its largest division to focus more on sales and generating business.
Pacific Life, which sells life insurance, annuities and other investments, created six new segments, dubbed divisional sales organizations.
The back-office hubs serve 27 regional offices that cater to investment managers, advisers and brokers who sell Pacific Life policies.
The hubs are in Newport Beach, Seattle, Minneapolis, Atlanta, greater New York and Chicago.
Pacific Life officials hope the realignment frees up more time for regional office executives to work with insurance brokers who sell Pacific Life policies to individuals, small businesses and corporations.
“This process realigns how we are managing territories,” said Dick Miller, vice president of the life insurance division’s independent producer channel. “Our expectation is that this will result in even more consistent sales growth for us.”
The divisional offices employ 10 to 15 people and are led by an executive vice president who oversees the area. There’s also an operations manager who handles daily activities.
The new model was piloted last year in Chicago and Minneapolis. It was adopted nationwide on Jan. 1.
“This has been a two-year process,” Miller said.
Pacific Life, which has more than $5 billion in yearly revenue, works with more than 900 regional and national brokerages, and financial institutions that receive a commission for selling its insurance policies and investments.
Policy Sales
Pacific Life ranked as the top seller of indexed universal life insurance—policies with an investment component—in the third quarter, according to Life Insurance and Market Research Association International of Connecticut and AnnuitySpecs.com of Iowa.
The company employs 800 people in its life insurance division, which is based in an Aliso Viejo building completed in 2008.
In all, Pacific Life employs 1,900 in the county at its various entities.
Pacific Life and its sister companies offer life insurance policies, investments and jet leases.
Pacific Mutual Holding Co., Pacific Life’s parent, ended 2009 with $110 billion in assets, up from $96.9 billion a year earlier.
2010 results are due in March.
Rivals
In life insurance, Pacific Life’s rivals include New York’s MetLife Inc., Newark-based Prudential Financial Inc. and American Family Life Assurance Co. of Columbus, Ga.
Pacific Life has been offering life insurance since 1868, when it got its start in Sacramento. Former California governor, U.S. senator and Stanford University founder Leland Stanford was the company’s first president.
The insurer moved to Southern California in 1906 after the San Francisco earthquake demolished its headquarters.
In the 1970s, Pacific Life created Pacific Investment Management Co., which now manages more than $1 trillion in bond funds and other investments. Pimco split off from Pacific Life in 1994.
