President of Nationwide’s Annuity Business Announces Retirement

Eric Henderson, president of Nationwide’s annuity business, announced Tuesday he will retire at the end of the year after a nearly four-decade career at the firm. 

Leading Nationwide’s annuity team since 2007 and serving as president of Nationwide Annuity since 2019, Henderson is ending his career by leading the annuity business to three consecutive record sales years, according to a press release from the company, making it the company’s most profitable business line despite facing volatile market and interest-rate environments.

Henderson began his career at Nationwide as an actuarial assistant and 1985. He held positions of increasing responsibility until assuming leadership of the annuity team in 2007. 

Under his leadership, Nationwide’s annuity business grew to produce $150 billion in sales for the company between 2007 and 2023.  

Henderson also oversaw all aspects of the company’s individual annuity segment, including product innovation, sales and distribution.

“Throughout his career, Eric has displayed tremendous resiliency and courage to successfully manage risk and lead teams through challenging economic conditions and turbulent markets,” said John Carter, president and COO of Nationwide Financial, in a press release. “When headwinds began to impact the variable annuity business during the pandemic, Eric and his leadership team quickly pivoted focus to our portfolio of fixed products. That shift paid off, with nearly $10 billion in fixed annuity sales in 2023, at a time when others in the industry were forced to exit business lines.” 

Nationwide will begin an internal and external search for Henderson’s replacement, the company said. In the meantime, Henderson will continue to lead the annuity team until his retirement and “help ensure a smooth leadership transition when his successor is named.” 

“A hallmark of admired leaders is their ability to recruit and develop high-performing leadership teams and organizations,” Carter stated. “Eric has built a high-performing and inclusive leadership team that is well positioned to lead our annuity business for years to come.” 

Henderson also serves as a board member on the Insured Retirement Institute and the LIMRA Annuity Executive Advisory Board.