AmeriLife announces restructuring, organizational changes

Following three years of record-breaking growth and expansion, AmeriLife Group announced a strategic, organizational restructuring with the creation of two new, distinct distribution groups – Wealth and Health – an evolved structure designed to deliver more focused growth along with the resources needed to continue to grow AmeriLife’s industry-leading partners, the company said in a news release.

Wealth will be led by AmeriLife’s Chief Distribution Officer Mike Vietri, reporting to AmeriLife Chairman and CEO Scott R. Perry. Health will be led by newly appointed Chief Distribution Officer and former president of AmeriLife’s Life & Health Brokerage Distribution Scotty Elliott, reporting to AmeriLife’s Chief Operating Officer Tim Calvert.

“This reorganization represents a natural evolution of our strategy. Five years ago, AmeriLife embarked on a journey to build the capabilities that we would need to deliver on our mission of offering a full suite of insurance and retirement solutions to provide people peace of mind, enabling them to live longer, healthier lives,” said Perry. “Through execution of our organic and inorganic growth plans, we are now at a stage where we’ve assembled comprehensive capabilities across the spectrum of Health and Wealth to deliver a platform of products and technology that agents and advisors can utilize to effectively deliver holistic solutions to the market, engaging with consumers through their channels of choice.

“We are fortunate to have a talented and experienced group of senior leaders at the helm of this new structure to optimize this platform. Additionally, the new structure provides a laser focus on our two core areas of business, affording even greater growth and profitability opportunities within Wealth and Health.”

Wealth Distribution

Over the past seven years, Vietri has grown AmeriLife’s distribution organization to over $9 billion in overall premium, $7.2 billion in assets under management, and more than 120 affiliates and agencies nationwide. Given his depth of knowledge and experience in the wealth management and financial services industries, and considering the growing demands of the organization, Vietri’s focus, going forward, will be on AmeriLife’s annuities, underwritten life, and wealth and retirement advisory verticals.

Saybrus, TruChoice Financial Group, ICON and Brookstone will remain key to AmeriLife’s overall Wealth strategy. Vietri will continue to report to Perry, while AmeriLife Benefits and AmeriLife’s Career Agency will continue to report to Vietri under their current leadership.

Additionally, AmeriLife’s Distribution Centers of Excellence, including Distribution Analytics, Distribution Operations, and its Business Revenue Group (BRG), will continue to report to Vietri and maintain their enterprise focus. AmeriLife’s Wealth-focused affiliates will continue to report to Denny Southern.

“Over the last few years, AmeriLife’s efforts to add to its wealth-focused services and solutions has set us up for continued growth in the space at exactly the right time,” said Vietri. “I’m incredibly excited for the realignment of our organization. In particular, I’m thrilled to lead AmeriLife’s Wealth Distribution at time when our offerings align perfectly with consumers’ needs and our holistic approach to wealth management and retirement planning ensures customers never outgrow our advisors.”

Health Distribution

Elliott joined AmeriLife in 2019 with a focus on distribution business development, and was elevated soon thereafter to lead AmeriLife’s Life & Health Brokerage Distribution, overseeing field distribution initiatives, carrier partnerships, and IMO and FMO relationships. Reporting to Calvert, Elliott will take on AmeriLife largest and fastest-growing business.

Their stewardship of Health will allow AmeriLife to deliver even greater strategic efficiencies – at scale – to ensure sustainable growth for its partners. In his new role, Elliott will continue lead AmeriLife’s Medicare and Simplified Issue Life verticals, as well as assume accountability of AmeriLife’s Direct-to-Consumer distribution arm, which will continue to be led by Jim Palmer.

“I’m humbled by the opportunity to lead AmeriLife’s Health Distribution,” said Elliott. “I’m forever indebted to Scott and Mike for their support and leadership, and hope to make them proud with this new venture. I also want to commend the talented group of affiliates that comprise AmeriLife. They are the reason we are experiencing so much success, and I’m eager to serve them for years to come.”

Since 2020, AmeriLife has added 65 affiliates serving more than 350,000 agents and advisors nationwide. While its Life & Health business has more than doubled in size during the same time period, the company remains equally focused on growth opportunities and synergies within its wealth-focused lines of businesses, strengthened by the recent addition of TruChoice Financial Group, its joint venture ICON with AIMCOR Group, and evidenced by more than $8 billion in annuities premiums and more than $7 billion in assets under management as of the end of 2022.

Added Perry: “I couldn’t be happier for Mike and Scotty as they assume their new leadership roles and pursue more ways to serve and support our trusted and talented affiliate partners, which will allow them to achieve new levels of growth and success.”