REPORTER. Program: MetLife.Here to Stay. March 25, 2014

Transcription

1 REPORTER March 25, 2014 Eric Steigerwalt Program: MetLife.Here to Stay Eric Steigerwalt, Executive Vice President of MetLife with responsibility for the company s US retail business, began his talk by stating how pleased he was to be establishing a large presence in North Carolina, with 1,300 jobs in Cary and an additional 1,300 jobs in Charlotte, the new headquarters for MetLife s US retail operations. Eric graduated cum laude from Drew University in New Jersey with a BA in Economics, and started his career as a trader and options specialist with the Fawcett Company. He

2 moved on to become Vice President of investor relations for The Equitable before joining MetLife in He held positions of increasing responsibility in the Company and took over the US retail business in In concluding his introduction, Ron Kimble noted that Eric and his family have already immersed themselves in this community and are doing outstanding philanthropic and civic work in a number of areas; and that this week would be a particularly busy one, with the ribbon cutting at the new headquarters building in Ballantyne. Eric and his family arrived here last June, and he describes his experience in Charlotte as being nothing short of spectacular. He expressed thanks to all of the community for being so welcoming and helpful, not only to he and his family, but to all of the other MetLife employees coming here, and their families. He pointed out that while some 25% of the new jobs being created here are current employees relocating to Charlotte, the remaining 75% will be hired locally. They have processed some 77,000 applications for employment here. He then gave us some basic facts about MetLife: Established in 1868; Currently number 40 on the Fortune 500 List; A $454 billion general account, with over $800 billion in total assets; Operating in 47 countries with some 65,000 global employees; and a leading global provider of insurance, annuities, and employee benefit programs serving over 60,000 group customers, including 90 of the Fortune 100 companies. Eric is proud that MetLife came through the financial crisis with flying colors, leaving them in position to acquire a significant portion of AIG s global business. He briefly walked us through some of the Company s history, noting that they were there to welcome the survivors of the Titanic and that they promptly paid death claims resulting from the 9-11 terrorist attack even without the normally required paperwork. He is proud to work for a company that goes to great lengths for their customers, and is also proud of what they are doing here in Charlotte. The US retail business is thirty-six percent of the total Company, and is the original line of business that started in Over time, the business had become too focused on the top line as opposed to the bottom line, and his job over the past couple of years has been to change this. While moving to Charlotte provides some substantial benefits in terms of expense reduction that was not the primary driver for the move. The primary driver was the need to change the culture of the organization, and coming to a totally new place that itself has a different culture was a large part of that. His choice of Charlotte was influenced by the helpful and welcoming people here, notably Walter Price of Moore & Van Allen (in the audience) among many others; and by the growth and willingness to spend money on infrastructure development, especially transportation, allowing more progress and growth going forward. MetLife is here to stay, and is working to become part of the fabric of this community. To date, they are involved with Junior Achievement, Second Harvest, The Relatives, the Ballantyne YMCA Readers program, the Charlotte Symphony, and the Mint Museum. In a recent meeting to discuss ways for their associates to get involved in the community,

3 400 attended with suggestions and ideas about how to give their time and talents. Eric closed by saying that it was their pleasure to be here and to get involved in the Charlotte community. Written by Rick Handford Meeting Participants: Brian Huber, Jesse Hite, John Tabor, Ron Kimble, John Phillips, Julie Haack; Invocation: Henry Bostic; Visitors & Guests: John Nicolay; Health, Happiness & History: Mac McCarley; AV: Jessica Dupree; Photos: Sandy Osborne Last Week: Matching Funds for Alto Cayma Our delegation is in Alto Cayma, but there is still this week to make a contribution and have it tripled with matching funds from Herb Harriss and the Charlotte Club. Bequest Society Join and we will give you the points to make someone a Paul Harris Fellow

4 CNN Article on India beating Polio Go to the Conference We ll pay Registration The Club will pay your registration if you attend the District Conference. This is Governor Luther s prominent event. Ramesh Ferris will be our keynote speaker Friday night, followed by Casino Night. We will be doing a service project Saturday afternoon, and you will find there is plenty of fun, fellowship, and education. See Sandy if you are interested.

5 Rotary Presents $15,000 to TreesCharlotte Charlotte Rotary, along with District 7680 and 17 other clubs presented a check for $15,000 to Dave Cable with TreesCharlotte for the tree planting efforts last month Club Growth Please bring a guest to our luncheons, hopefully someone that wants to change the world. See Tony Zeiss or President John if you have someone that you would like to recommend to the club.

6 Photos from our luncheons and other events can be found on Flickr Click here and bookmark in your browser.

7 POSTED FOR MEMBERSHIP Comments to the Rotary Office by April 1, 2014 Paula Broadwell Equipe Broadwell, LLC (Classification: Veteran Services, Business Development) Sponsor: Hank Donaghy Endorsed: Marilynn Bowler and Natalie English Patricia Shafer Mothering Across Continents (Classification: Consulting, International Issues) Sponsor: Luther Moore Endorsed: John Tabor and Eric Davis Jeff Jackson Gaston County District Attorney s Office (Classification: Law, Assistant District Attorney) Sponsor: Pender McElroy Endorsed: Dumont Clarke and Luther Moore Randall Bozard Office Properties (Classification: Real Estate, Commercial) Sponsor: Wells Van Pelt Endorsed: Tod Thorne and George Cochran Other Club News Biff Virkler is on the mend and back at Rotary; Bill Browning (Catherine Browning) had hip replacement surgery week and Nurse Catherine reports he s doing well. Very nice article on the Trail of History and the critical involvement of many, including Chase Saunders, Tony Zeiss and Meg McElwain. UPCOMING BIRTHDAYS 04/05 Vinny Satchit 04/07 David Anderson UPCOMING ANNIVERSARIES 04/02 Natasha and L.J. Stambuk 04/02 Michaela and Greg Sizemore 04/04 Debbie and Bill Constangy 04/06 Lisa and Kelly Mirt 04/07 Brenda Lea and Jim Simpson ATTENDANCE Visitors & Guests 15 Club Members 155 Total Attendance 170 Percentage 54.8%

8 MEMBERSHIP 03/25/ /01/ Net Increase New Members: Marie Jaffe Resignations: UPCOMING LUNCHEONS April 1, 2014 Dan Rajkowski, Charlotte Knights Location: Charlotte Plaza Uptown April 8, 2014 Youth Exchange Program with Chrissy and Oce Location: Charlotte Plaza Uptown charlotterotary.org Baxter Street Suite 118 Charlotte, NC USA The Rotary Club of Charlotte 2014