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Oct 26, 2017

Ex-regulator to be next Guardian general counsel

Eric Dinallo joining the life insurer from Debevoise & Plimpton

Eric Dinallo, a former New York State superintendent of insurance, will join the Guardian Life Insurance Company of America in December as executive vice president and general counsel.

In doing so, he will succeed Tracy Rich, who has served in that role since 2009 and will be retiring, according to the company. Rich will become ‘of counsel’ at Guardian. ‘We have been very honored to have someone of Tracy’s stature as both a leader and mentor across the industry as Guardian’s general counsel all these years,’ Mulligan says in a statement.

Dinallo will be responsible for leading Guardian's legal, regulatory, compliance and government relations functions in addition to all corporate governance activities. He will serve on the company’s executive leadership team and report directly to Deanna Mulligan, Guardian's president and CEO.

Dinallo is joining Guardian from Debevoise & Plimpton, where he most recently served as co-head of the law firm’s insurance group representing financial services firms on regulatory, compliance, litigation and transactional matters.

He served as the top New York State insurance regulator from 2007 to 2009, and worked with the US Department of Treasury, Federal Reserve Bank of New York and others in restructuring AIG. Before his term as superintendent, Dinallo was the general counsel of Willis Group Holdings.

Earlier in his career he was the managing director, global head of regulatory affairs of Morgan Stanley and served as chief of the Investment Protection Bureau in the office of New York attorney general Eliot Spitzer.

A Debevoise spokesperson says: ‘Eric has been a highly valued member of our market-leading financial services practice. He enhanced our team’s deep regulatory capability and was a valued resource for clients on complex regulatory and compliance issues. We wish him all the best and are very glad he will remain a member of the extended Debevoise family.’

‘I’m honored to be joining Guardian, a company I’ve enjoyed working closely with for many years, and one with values and standards that I truly admire,’ Dinallo says in a statement.

Ben Maiden

Ben Maiden is the editor-at-large of Governance Intelligence, an IR Media publication, having joined the company in December 2016. He is based in New York. Ben was previously managing editor of Compliance Reporter, covering regulatory and compliance...