JAMES T. MORRIS
Chairman, Chief Executive
Pacific Life Insurance Co.
Newport Beach
Born in Bryn Mawr, Pa.
Age: 59
Lives in San Juan Capistrano
WHY: Chief executive of biggest private company in Orange County, one of the nation’s most prominent insurance firms (recall whales jumping out of water).
HOW: Math degree from University of California-Los Angeles. Joined PacLife in 1982; rose corporate ladder to become CEO in 2007, only 14th in company’s 151-year history.
RECENT: 2018 operating revenue grew 13% to $10.7 billion while operating profit climbed at a faster pace, 35% to $1.04 billion. Also chairman of foundation, which gave $2 million, its largest gift this year, to a UCI financial literacy program for teenagers.
QUOTABLE: On why AIG had to be bailed out during the 2008 financial crisis and PacLife didn’t: “We’re privately owned and looking for the long term. Public companies sometimes reach for growth when it’s not there. Second, AIG’s trouble came about through a lightly regulated, non-insurance part of its business, credit default swaps.”
PERSONAL: Wife, Ann; two children.
