Deanna Garen Named to New York Life Participant Strategy Role

In this newly created role, Garen will oversee New York Life’s participant communications group, the rollover strategy team and also the participant service center, according to the announcement. She will report to Don Salama, senior managing director of New York Life Retirement Plan Services.

Garen previously was an independent consultant as principal of Garen Consulting LLC. Prior to that, she served at Prudential Retirement as senior vice president of strategic planning and development, responsible for the development and implementation of Prudential Retirement’s overall business strategy.

Prior to joining Prudential, Garen was head of communications and education for CIGNA’s full-service retirement business, which was acquired by Prudential in April 2004, the announcement said. She was responsible for the development and delivery of education services for retirement plan participants, including web-based solutions.

“We created this new strategic position to manage all participants’ interactions with their plan. Given Deanna’s extensive expertise and successful track-record in the industry, we look forward to her contributions in this critical function,” said Salama, in the announcement. “Additionally, we are pleased to be in a position to hire in such a difficult market environment. I believe it underlines our strong commitment to the retirement business.”