Aviva Plans To Shift Sales Jobs To Iowa

The parent company of Aviva announced Friday that 24 sales jobs will move from Topeka to West Des Moines, Iowa.

Steve Carlson, public relations manager for Athene USA, confirmed the Topeka sales operations would be relocated. Most of the Topeka sales employees will have the option to relocate to Iowa, he said. Aviva has an office at 515 S. Kansas Ave.

The decision to consolidate sales operations was part of the process of combining Athene Holding Ltd. and Aviva USA, Carlson said. Athene, a Bermuda-based insurance holding company, purchased the U.S. branch of Aviva PLC, a British insurance company, for $1.8 billion in December 2012. A holding company owns stock in other companies, but doesn't typically produce goods or provide services itself.

About 200 Aviva employees, including those in insurance operations and information technology, will still work in Topeka after sales operations move, Carlson said.

Aviva USA's sales staff in Wilmington, Del., also will be consolidated into Athene's Iowa headquarters, Carlson said. The process will take several months, he said.

"We believe bringing our sales team together under one roof will only increase the productivity and collaboration of our teams and, ultimately, allow us to better serve our distribution partners, agents and clients," he said.