Mark Finkelstein will be taking on IR at Newark-headquartered Prudential Financial. The former sell-sider is joining the insurance firm as a senior vice president, and will succeed Eric Durant as head of IR following a transition period.
Durant, who has been the company’s IRO since 2000, having previously held similar positions at Bankers Trust, Bank of America and Wells Fargo, will be retiring ‘at a later date’, according to a company press release.
An accounting graduate of the University of Wisconsin-Madison, Finkelstein worked in his early career as an audit manager for PwC, later moving on to Swiss Re Capital Partners where he was a vice president, managing ‘a portfolio of public and private equity investments on the firm’s balance sheet’.
Since 2003, he has been an equity analyst covering the life insurance sector, serving as a managing director at Macquarie and most recently at Evercore Partners in Chicago.
Commenting on the hire, Prudential’s vice chairman Mark Grier says: ‘Mark brings broad experience in investor communications and analysis of insurance companies. I know we will benefit greatly from his insights and valuable perspective based on the years he has spent closely analyzing Prudential, other insurers and financial services companies in various capacities.’
Thanking Durant for his 14 years at the NYSE-listed firm’s IR helm, Grier adds: ‘Eric was instrumental in helping us prepare for demutualization and the rigorous new reporting requirements to which we adhere as a public company. He built a robust investor relations function and works closely with senior management to develop and implement an effective communications strategy to deliver accurate and meaningful information about the performance of our company to investors and financial analysts.’
The global financial services firm, which has more than $1.1 tn of assets under management, posted $1.57 bn in adjusted operating income for the first quarter of 2014, up from $1.47 bn for the same period in 2013. Prudential’s share price has gained 25 percent year-on-year, trading this week at nearly $10 below its 2007 peak of $102.
