Principal® names Deanna Strable next president and CEO

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Principal® names Deanna Strable next president and CEO

2024-11-12 21:32 Last Updated At：21:41

DES MOINES, Iowa--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Nov 12, 2024--

Principal Financial Group® (Nasdaq: PFG) today announced the Board of Directors has appointed president and chief operating officer Deanna Strable as the company’s next president and chief executive officer, effective January 7, 2025. Strable succeeds Dan Houston, who will continue to serve as executive chair of the Board.

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“I’m incredibly proud of the company we have built, the culture of care and expertise developed, and our unwavering commitment to clients. It has been an honor to serve as president and CEO and work with so many talented employees around the world,” said Houston. “Deanna has been a trusted partner and a co-architect in the company’s growth strategy. I have the utmost confidence in her leadership and business acumen and look forward to working with her to ensure a smooth transition.”

Strable will also join the Principal Board of Directors in January 2025. Before being appointed president and COO in August 2024, she served as the company’s CFO from 2017 to 2024, and before that, as president of its workplace benefits and insurance business.

“Deanna brings strategic vision, strong leadership experience, and a deep understanding of the company's interconnected business units and great culture,” said Scott M. Mills, lead independent director of the Principal Board of Directors. “She has cultivated a breadth and depth of experience during her 35 years with Principal and held key leadership roles in shaping its strategy and portfolio of businesses. We look forward to her continued leadership driving Principal into the next phase of growth.”

Strable has been instrumental in leading business strategy and operations as Principal ® has gone through significant growth while continually strengthening its market position. She helped build the company’s Benefits and Protection business – as the first leader of its Specialty Benefits division and leading the integration with its life insurance business – before stepping into the role of business unit president in 2015.

“I am honored to be appointed as the company’s next president and CEO and build upon the strong foundation we’ve established under Dan’s leadership,” said Strable. “Throughout my career, I’ve seen Principal strengthen its position as a leading global financial services company dedicated to helping customers build strong financial futures. Alongside our committed and passionate colleagues around the world, I look forward to continuing our culture of innovation, inclusion, and service, with a focus on meeting customer needs to drive growth and create shareholder value.”

Strable succeeds Houston in the role. Houston has served as president and CEO for Principal since 2015 and has held several leadership positions during his 40 years with the company. During that time, he has navigated highly complex business issues—from the financial crisis to industry reform and through the global pandemic. During Houston’s tenure as president and CEO, Principal’s market capitalization grew from $13 billion to more than $20 billion as he’s focused the company’s strategy on the highest value opportunities and growth drivers to serve customers and shareholders around the world.

“Dan has been the driving force behind Principal’s evolution over the last 10 years,” said Mills. “He set the company’s growth agenda and led the company through significant transformation. Principal is in a position of strength today and is well positioned for continued growth thanks to his leadership.”

About Principal Financial Group ®

Principal Financial Group ® (Nasdaq: PFG) is a global financial company with nearly 19,000 employees [1] passionate about improving the wealth and well-being of people and businesses. In business for 145 years, we’re helping approximately 68 million customers [2] plan, protect, invest, and retire, while working to support the communities where we do business, and build a diverse, inclusive workforce. Principal ® is proud to be recognized as one of the 2024 World’s Most Ethical Companies ® by Ethisphere [3], a member of the Bloomberg Gender Equality Index, and a “Best Place to Work in Money Management [4].” Learn more about Principal and our commitment to building a better future at principal.com.

© 2024 Principal Financial Services, Inc. Principal ®, Principal Financial Group ®, and Principal and the logomark design are registered trademarks of Principal Financial Services, Inc., a Principal Financial Group company, in the United States and are trademarks and services marks of Principal Financial Services, Inc., in various countries around the world.

Trump makes a victor's return to Washington and pledges a 'smooth' transition of power from Biden

2024-11-14 01:46 Last Updated At：01:51

WASHINGTON (AP) — Donald Trump made a victor’s return to Washington on Wednesday, visiting the White House for a lengthy meeting with President Joe Biden and committing to a straightforward transition of power as the president-elect moves quickly to build out his new administration.

Sitting in front of a crackling fire in the Oval Office, the former rivals shook hands as reporters looked on. Biden called Trump "Mr. President-elect and former president” before settling on “Donald.”

“Congratulations,” the Democrat told the Republican. “I look forward to having, like they said, a smooth transition,” Biden said. “Welcome. Welcome back.”

Trump replied, “Thank you very much," saying that “politics is tough. And it’s, in many cases, not a very nice world. But it is a nice world today, and I appreciate it very much.”

He said the transition between the outgoing and incoming administrations "will be as smooth as it can get and I very much appreciate that, Joe.” Trump, who has long disputed his 2020 election loss to Biden, did not invite Biden to the White House during the transition four years ago.

The scene put in stark relief the remarkable political rebound for Trump, who departed Washington in January 2021 as a diminished, politically defeated leader after helping incite a mob of his supporters to attack the Capitol. Today, he is preparing to come back to power with what he and his GOP allies see as a mandate for governance.

Neither he nor Biden answered questions shouted by the media after their brief remarks. At one point, Biden looked at Trump, who moved his head to the side and gave a small shrug but did not respond.

Each was joined by his chief of staff for the private meeting that is a traditional part of the peaceful handoff of power, but a ritual that Trump declined to participate in four years ago after losing to Biden.

First lady Jill Biden greeted Trump upon his arrival at the White House and gave him a handwritten letter of congratulations for his wife, Melania Trump, who did not make the trip to Washington. The letter also expressed the first lady's team’s readiness to assist with the transition.

As Trump met with Biden, Trump sent out a fundraising email to supporters saying that he "is inside the White House right now conducting a very important meeting.”

Trump had flown from Florida in the morning, joining up with billionaire Elon Musk for a morning session with House Republicans. That discussion came as Trump prepares for a potentially unified Republican government and sweep of power.

Back in Washington for the first time since his election victory, Trump told the GOP lawmakers, “It’s nice to win.”

He received a standing ovation from House GOP members, many of whom took cellphone videos of Trump as ran through their party's victories up and down the ballot, in what would be, under the constitutional limits, his final presidential election.

“I suspect I won’t be running again unless you say he’s good we got to figure something else,” Trump said to laughter from the lawmakers.

The Constitution's 22nd Amendment prevents presidents from running for a third term.

House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., said of Trump's arrival, “He is the comeback king.”

“We owe him a great debt of gratitude," Johnson said.

Trump's reemergence comes amid Republican congressional leadership elections — with the potential for the president-elect to place his imprint on the outcome. He endorsed Johnson's return to the speaker's office with the president-elect saying he is with Johnson all the way, according to a person familiar with the remarks but not authorized to publicly discuss the private meeting.

Musk joining Trump on the return to Washington comes after the Tesla and SpaceX CEO has been spending much of his time at Mar-a-Lago, Trump's Florida estate, and participating in discussions as the incoming Trump administration prepares to transition from Biden's.

Trump has named Musk to a government efficiency advisory role in his incoming administration. Some close to Trump and his team now see Musk as the second most influential figure in Trump’s immediate orbit, after Susie Wiles, the campaign manager who is Trump's incoming chief of staff.

After his election win in 2016, Trump met with President Barack Obama in the Oval Office and called it “a great honor." But he soon was back to heaping insults on his predecessor.

Biden has continued to lie about widespread voter fraud that did not occur. In addition to not inviting then-president-elect Biden to the White House, Trump left Washington without attending the inauguration. It was the first time that had happened since Andrew Johnson skipped Ulysses S. Grant's swearing-in 155 years ago.

Biden insists that he'll do everything he can to make the transition to the next Trump administration go smoothly. That's despite having spent more than a year campaigning for reelection and decrying Trump as a threat to democracy and the nation’s core values. Biden then bowed out of the race in July and endorsed Vice President Kamala Harris to succeed him.

Traditionally, as the outgoing and incoming presidents meet in the West Wing, the first lady hosts her successor upstairs in the residence, But her office said Melania Trump wasn't attending, saying in a statement that “her husband’s return to the Oval Office to commence the transition process is encouraging, and she wishes him great success.”

When Trump left Washington in 2021, even some top Republicans had begun to decry his role in helping incite the mob that overrand the Capitol mere weeks earlier. But his win in last week's election completes a political comeback that has seen Trump once again become the unchallenged head of the GOP.

Wednesday's trip was not the first time Trump has returned to the Capitol area since the end of his first term, though. Congressional Republicans hosted Trump over the summer, as Trump was again solidifying his dominance over the party.

In last week's election, Republicans wrested the Senate majority from Democrats and are on the cusp of keeping control of the House, are in the midst of their own leadership elections happening behind closed doors Wednesday. Johnson has pulled ever-closer to Trump as he worked to keep his majority — and his own job with the gavel.

It's unclear whether Trump will also visit the Senate, where Republicans chose Sen. John Thune of South Dakota in a three-way race to replace outgoing GOP leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky. Trump's allies were pushing GOP senators to vote for Sen. Rick Scott of Florida.

Associated Press writers Jill Colvin in New York and Farnoush Amiri, Darlene Superville and Kevin Freking contributed to this report.