Sentinel CEO Tom Brownell plans to retire. Here is the announcement from National Life CEO Mehran Assadi.
Colleagues are special people in our lives who sometimes become best friends. I have the tremendous good fortune to call Tom Brownell my trusted friend. Tom has been a part of my professional and personal journey since arriving at National Life. He is a voice of encouragement and good judgement. Tom’s integrity is unsurpassed.
After more than 25 remarkable years, Tom has decided to retire at the end of this year.
What an impressive run! He joined National Life in 1992 as a private placement analyst and worked his way to Chief Investment Officer of National Life Group in 2005. As CIO, Tom was responsible for setting the investment strategy and asset allocation for the group’s investment portfolios. In 2013 Tom was promoted to President and CEO of Sentinel Asset Management, Inc. and Executive Vice President of National Life Group. Under Tom’s leadership assets under management grew to $31 billion. His sound advice and calm demeanor were critical to get us through the financial crisis of 2008-2009, while onboarding a newly appointed CEO—me. Most recently Tom did an incredible job leading the transaction of Sentinel’s retail mutual fund operation.
Concurrent with Tom’s announcement, I am appointing Bob Cotton to assume the added responsibilities of President & CEO of Sentinel Asset Management, Inc. He has a deep appreciation for the integral role of Sentinel and the value that our asset management team brings to the table in support of our businesses and enterprise strategy. Bob has been with us for almost 25 years and over the past 10 years has helped shape the strategic direction of the organization. In this role Bob will work closely with Jason Doiron, Lisa Muller and the rest of the Sentinel leadership team to further develop our asset management strategy with a focus on operations, talent and growth of the asset management mandate.
Please join me in thanking Tom for his invaluable contributions to National Life and wish him, Carole and Josie all the best in the next chapter of their lives. We look forward to hearing about their amazing adventures yet to come.
Photo above: Tom Brownell, far left, listens as Vermont Foodbank officials talk about one of the successful Sentinel Canstruction events that raised money for the Foodbank. Senior Vice President Achim Schwetlick is at far right.