MetLife CFO John Hele To Retire; Names John McCallion CFO

(RTTNews) - MetLife, Inc. (MET) announced that John C.R. Hele is retiring as Chief Financial Officer and will be succeeded by Executive Vice President John McCallion, currently the company's Treasurer. McCallion will join the company's Executive Group and report to Chairman, President and Cheif Executive officer Steven Kandarian.

John McCallion's first day as Chief Financial Officer is May 1. MetLife expects that John Hele will stay on at MetLife as a senior adviser until September 2018.

McCallion joined MetLife in July 2006. In addition to serving as Chief Financial Officer for Investments, he has been head of Investor Relations, Chief Financial Officer for Europe, the Middle East, and Africa (EMEA), and EVP and Treasurer. Prior to joining MetLife, McCallion spent nearly 10 years at PwC in the firm's insurance audit practice, where he worked with multinational and U.S. clients in the life and property/casualty insurance industries.

MetLife also announced that it has named Stephen Gauster as Executive Vice President and General Counsel. He will continue to report to Kandarian and become a member of the company's Executive Group. Most recently, Gauster served as Senior Vice President and Interim General Counsel. He joined MetLife in January 2016 as Senior Vice President and Chief Counsel - General Corporate.

Previously, Gauster was Senior Vice President, Chief Corporate Counsel and Assistant Secretary for Assurant, Inc. Before that, he was Vice President, Corporate Counsel and Assistant Secretary for Prudential Financial, Inc. He began his legal career as an associate at Cleary, Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton LLP.

MetLife also announced that Executive Vice President and Head of Latin America Oscar Schmidt is being elevated to the company's Executive Group. Schmidt joined MetLife in 1994 and has been running the company's Latin America region since 2006.

Prior to joining MetLife, Schmidt was general manager for the life and pensions business of Sud America Seguros. He started his career as an auditor and consultant for Arthur Andersen specializing in insurance, and then became a Chief Financial Officer in the insurance sector before moving into business leadership roles.