Senior Management

Rodney O. Martin, Jr., is chairman and chief executive officer (CEO) of Voya Financial, Inc. (NYSE: VOYA), which helps Americans become well planned, well invested and well protected.

Martin is a veteran of the retirement, insurance and financial services industries with more than 40 years of high-profile experience. He joined Voya as CEO in 2011 and, since then, has advanced a significant financial, operational and cultural transformation as he has evolved the business portfolio to one focused on delivering health, wealth and investment solutions that enable Voya’s approximately 14.8 million individual, workplace and institutional clients to achieve their financial wellness goals with confidence. 

Under Martin’s leadership, Voya successfully completed the necessary preparations for an initial public offering (IPO) on the New York Stock Exchange in May 2013 — one of the top performing IPOs of that year. He has led Voya in the achievement of several notable financial and operational accomplishments, including generating strong organic growth across all of its businesses; taking Voya from bottom-quartile to top-quartile financial performance, including strong adjusted operating earnings per share growth; executing an enterprise transformation that has exceeded its goals in terms of savings — more than $300 million — and organizational health; and returning more than $7.5 billion in excess capital to shareholders.

Martin has also advanced Voya’s culture while defining the character of the Voya brand. Under his leadership, Voya has earned recognition as a leader in important areas such as corporate responsibility; diversity, equity and inclusion; environmental, social and governance; and purpose – earning numerous accolades, including: Fortune’s World’s Most Admired Companies in its first year eligible; World’s Most Ethical Companies each year eligible; and Bloomberg’s Gender Equality Index each year since its creation.

Prior to joining Voya, Martin held several leadership roles of increasing responsibility during a 10-year tenure at AIG. He served as COO of AIG Worldwide Life Insurance; chairman and CEO of American Life Insurance Company (Alico); chairman of American International Assurance (AIA); and chairman of AIG’s international life and retirement services businesses. Martin previously was president and CEO of American General Life Companies prior to its acquisition by AIG in 2001. He began his career in 1975 as an agent with Connecticut Mutual Life Insurance Company, where he served more than 20 years, ultimately becoming president of Connecticut Mutual Insurance Services.

Martin earned his bachelor’s degree in business administration from Alfred University. He is a recognized thought leader on a range of business topics, including board diversity and inclusivity for people with disabilities and special needs. Martin is a fellow, Life Underwriter Training Council. He serves on the board of Junior Achievement USA and is a founding partner of the National Down Syndrome Society CEO Commission for Disability Employment. Martin previously served on the boards of the American Council of Life Insurers (ACLI) and the Life Insurance Marketing and Research Association (LIMRA).

Rob Grubka is chief executive officer (CEO) of Health Solutions for Voya Financial, Inc. (NYSE: VOYA), which helps Americans become well planned, well invested and well protected.

In this role, Grubka is responsible for driving Voya’s customer experience and profitable growth — delivering planning, investing and protection solutions to and through the workplace to help individuals and employers from “hire through retire.” As part of the company’s focus on health and wealth solutions, Grubka leads product development and management, as well as the end-to-end customer experience. Grubka also serves on Voya’s Executive Committee.

Grubka brings nearly 30 years of actuarial, product management and leadership experience to the role. Most recently, he served as president, Employee Benefits for Voya — and prior to that was the chief risk officer (CRO) for Voya’s Retirement and Annuity businesses. In the latter role, he partnered with Voya’s businesses in developing strategies that balanced risk with opportunities to achieve their goals.

Prior to joining Voya, Grubka led the Group Protection business at Lincoln Financial and held leadership roles in the retirement and annuity businesses. Previously, he held a variety of actuarial roles at Nationwide Financial. 

Grubka earned a bachelor’s degree in actuarial science from The Ohio State University. He holds FINRA Series 6 and 26 licenses, and is a fellow in the Society of Actuaries. Grubka also serves on the board of Junior Achievement North and is one of the Executive Sponsors of Voya’s Volunteerism Council.

Christine Hurtsellers is chief executive officer (CEO) of Voya Investment Management, the asset management business of Voya Financial, which helps Americans become well planned, well invested and well protected. In this leadership role, Hurtsellers drives the strategic direction and operational performance of Voya Investment Management, which manages more than $250 billion in assets as of March 31, 2022, for both affiliated and external institutions as well as individual investors. The firm, which has a more than 40-year history, is a top-25 manager of U.S. institutional and defined contribution assets across Equities, Fixed Income and Multi-Asset Strategies and Solutions. Hurtsellers also serves on Voya Financial’s Executive Committee.

Voya Investment Management’s mission is to help investors meet their long-term goals with confidence. Hurtsellers and her team adhere to the guiding principles of stewardship and service in delivering a value proposition of being a reliable partner committed to reliable investing. This commitment to reliability positions the organization to deliver consistent performance over a long period, which is critical for retirement planning, pension investors and long-term savers.

Before becoming CEO in September 2016, Hurtsellers was chief investment officer of Fixed Income at Voya Investment Management. In this role, Hurtsellers led a team of more than 100 investment professionals with over $134 billion in fixed income assets under management as of June 30, 2016. Prior to that, Hurtsellers was head of Structured Finance and also served on a mortgage-backed securities team that was responsible for the highly successful track record of the company’s proprietary mortgage derivatives portfolios. As a member of the Voya Financial Operating Committee, Hurtsellers collaborated on overall business strategy and key corporate-wide initiatives. She is a board member of Pomona Capital and a member of the U.S. Treasury Borrowing Advisory Committee and serves on the ICI’s Board of Governors. In 2014 and 2018, Hurtsellers was named one of Money Management Executive’s top women in asset management.

Before joining Voya in 2004 as a senior portfolio manager, Hurtsellers developed extensive mortgage portfolio-management experience, most notably at the Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corporation (“Freddie Mac”), where she led the agency guaranteed retained portfolio team with $650 billion in assets under management. Prior to that role, Hurtsellers managed mortgage derivatives, adjustable-rate mortgages and collateralized mortgage obligations (CMOs). Prior to Freddie Mac, she was a portfolio manager responsible for securitized assets at Alliance Capital Management, and securitized and municipal securities at Banc One, and was a client consultant at Pentalpha Capital group.

Hurtsellers earned a Bachelor of Arts in finance with high honors from Indiana University Kelley School of Business and holds the Chartered Financial Analyst® designation.

Heather Lavallee is chief executive officer (CEO) of Wealth Solutions for Voya Financial, Inc. (NYSE: VOYA), which helps Americans become well planned, well invested and well protected.

In this role, Lavallee is responsible for driving Voya’s customer experience and profitable growth — delivering planning, investing and protection solutions to and through the workplace to help individuals and employers from “hire through retire.” As part of the company’s focus on health and wealth solutions, Lavallee oversees all aspects of Voya’s Retirement business, including Tax-Exempt and Corporate Markets, which comprise the company’s workplace and individual retirement businesses, including 401(k), 403(b) and 457 plans. She also oversees Operations Services, which supports Voya’s Health and Wealth Solutions. Lavallee serves on Voya’s Executive Committee.

Lavallee has more than 25 years of experience in the financial services industry and is a collaborative leader who excels in building high-performing businesses. Most recently, she served as the president of Tax-Exempt Markets at Voya Financial, and was responsible for all aspects of the Tax-Exempt Markets business, including product, distribution, financial management, strategy and operational performance. Under her leadership, Voya’s Tax-Exempt Markets business achieved significant client growth, including Voya becoming the largest retirement plan provider in the government market in 2020. Previously at Voya, she was president of Employee Benefits, where she oversaw all aspects of the group and voluntary insurance business — including strategy, product development, underwriting, actuarial, distribution and marketing.

Before joining the company, Lavallee worked at Mutual of Omaha as a regional vice president of the Group Insurance Division for their Western Region, and at Sun Life New York Insurance and Annuity Company, where she was responsible for marketing group life, short-term and long-term disability, and medical stop-loss insurance through insurance brokers and third-party administrators.

Lavallee’s achievements have been recognized through her receipt of a 2012 Women in Insurance Leadership award by Insurance Networking News. In addition, she serves on the boards of the National Down Syndrome Society and Junior Achievement of Southwest New England, Inc. Lavallee holds a bachelor’s degree in psychology from Colby College and a Master of Business Administration from Pepperdine University’s Graziadio School of Business. She serves as one of the Executive Sponsors for Voya’s Environmental Stewardship Council — and participates in Menttium’s Momentum cross-company mentoring program, which matches diverse, high-performing professionals with executives from other organizations.

Charles Nelson is vice chairman and chief growth officer of Voya Financial, Inc. (NYSE: VOYA), which helps Americans become well planned, well invested and well protected.

In this role, Nelson is responsible for shaping Voya’s growth strategy, including customer segmentation — with an enterprise focus on better integrating our customer segments to expand our reach in the workplace, as well as targeting new customer segments and solutions. He also oversees Voya’s enterprise revenue-growth activities, including sales and distribution, relationship management, Health and Wealth marketing and customer solutions. Nelson serves on Voya’s Executive Committee.

Previously at Voya, Nelson was chief executive officer of Retirement and Employee Benefits, overseeing Tax-Exempt and Corporate Markets and Retail Wealth Management, which comprises the company’s workplace and individual retirement businesses, including 401(k), 403(b) and 457 plans, as well as its Employee Benefits business. Prior to joining Voya, Nelson served as president of Retirement Services for Great-West Financial through September 2014, and led the legacy Great-West retirement business of Empower Retirement, a business unit of Great-West Life & Annuity Insurance Company.

Nelson has more than 30 years of leadership experience in the retirement and employee benefits industry. He was named the second most influential player in the 401(k) market, according to the 401(k) Wire’s 2012 Most Influential ranking list. During his career, Nelson has managed all aspects of defined contribution businesses. He has overseen government, healthcare, nonprofit, 401(k) and FASCore institutional lines of business, while also managing recordkeeping, administration, operations, sales, products, financial results and broker-dealer services. Nelson began his career at Great-West in the employee benefits business marketing retirement plans, healthcare, stop loss and various benefit offerings.

Nelson is a graduate of Whitman College with a degree in chemistry and economics, and he was a member of the Whitman College Board of Overseers from 2008 to 2017. He currently serves on the board of trustees for Whitman College. He also sits on the board of directors of the Defined Contribution Alternatives Association, a nonprofit organization that educates the community on the benefits of including alternative investments within a defined contribution framework. He also serves as one of the Executive Sponsors for Voya’s NextGen Council. Previously, Nelson served as the past president of the board of directors for The SPARK Institute, a trade institute that represents the entire spectrum of defined contribution service providers. He has also been a member of the National Association of Government Defined Contribution Administrators (NAGDCA) since 1985. As a member, Nelson has contributed articles for publication, participated on a number of committees, and spoken at numerous regional and national conferences to support and assist the organization’s efforts to further the industry.

Kevin D. Silva is chief human resources officer for Voya Financial, Inc. (NYSE: VOYA), which helps Americans become well planned, well invested and well protected.

In this role, Silva is responsible for Human Resources, Corporate Responsibility and Voya Foundation and directs a strategy aimed at building the organization’s human capital by attracting, retaining and developing world-class employees and incenting them to deliver superior performance. Silva also serves on Voya Financial’s Executive Committee.

Silva joined the company in 2012. Prior to this, he served as chief human resources officer at Argo Group International, a global, publicly traded specialty insurance company. At Argo, he was responsible for building a high-performing team and implementing compensation, succession and executive-development practices.

Prior to joining Argo, Silva spent more than 13 years at MBIA Insurance Corporation, a global, publicly traded insurance company, where he served as chief administrative officer responsible for the human resources, corporate administration, information resources, facilities and telecommunications, and records-management functions. He served as an adviser to MBIA’s business leaders on individual and financial performance improvement. He also played a significant role in driving a post-acquisition integration process and served as an important strategic partner to the CEO and to the Compensation Committee of the MBIA Board of Directors.

Silva has also served in senior human resources leadership roles as head of human resources for Merrill Lynch Capital Markets; chief human resources officer for MasterCard International; and executive director for PepsiCo Management Institute/PepsiCo.

Silva earned a bachelor’s degree in communications from St. John’s University, and a master’s degree in psychology from New York University. He serves as chairman of the Board of Directors for New York Institute of Technology, and is a member of the Institute’s Executive Committee. Silva also serves on the Advisory Board for Holy Trinity High School in Hicksville, New York, and is one of the Executive Sponsors for Voya’s Latinx Council.

Michael S. Smith is vice chairman and chief financial officer (CFO) of Voya Financial, Inc. (NYSE: VOYA), which helps Americans become well planned, well invested and well protected.

Smith — who also serves on Voya’s Executive Committee — oversees Voya’s Finance and Risk areas, which include capital management, actuarial, tax, insurance investments, controllership, financial reporting, procurement, expense management, operational risk, treasury and investor relations. Smith also has oversight of Voya’s strategy, and the company’s technology and data organizations also report to him.

In his current and prior positions at Voya, Smith has played a significant role in the strategic direction of the company as well as led several businesses to achieve both top- and bottom-line growth. Smith was a key driver of Voya’s actions to successfully simplify and de-risk its portfolio of businesses as the company exited the retail annuities and individual life businesses in 2018 and 2021, respectively. Voya has now successfully focused its strategy and growth efforts on serving the workplace and institutional clients through its Retirement, Investment Management and Employee Benefits businesses.

Prior to becoming CFO in November 2016, Smith served as chief executive officer (CEO) of Insurance Solutions since 2014. In this role, he led Voya’s Individual Life and Employee Benefits businesses to achieve higher returns on capital, introduce new technologies and generate greater value for Voya’s customers, distribution partners and shareholders. Under Smith’s leadership, both the Individual Life and Employee Benefits businesses generated higher returns on capital. He also oversaw significant in-force premium growth in Employee Benefits and successfully shifted the company’s Individual Life sales to indexed life insurance products.

From May 2012 to January 2014, Smith served as Voya’s chief risk officer (CRO), and was responsible for overseeing the enterprise-wide and business-level risk monitoring and management program for the company. He joined Voya (then ING Americas) in 2009 as CFO and CRO of Annuities, and subsequently served as CEO of Annuities. In addition to his other roles at Voya, Smith continued to oversee Voya’s legacy variable annuity business until its sale in June 2018.

Prior to joining Voya, Smith held several leadership positions at Lincoln Financial Group, where he ultimately served as head of profitability and risk management of the company’s Retirement Solutions business. He also served as CFO and CRO of Lincoln Life and Annuities, from 2004 to 2006, and as CFO for Lincoln Financial Distributors, from 2003 to 2004.

Smith holds bachelor’s degrees in economics and Russian studies from the University of Michigan and attained Fellowship in the Society of Actuaries in 1990. He is a member of the American Academy of Actuaries and has been a CFA® Charterholder since 2003. Smith serves on the boards of The Actuarial Foundation as well as People’s Light & Theatre Company.

Nan Ferrara is executive vice president of Continuous Improvement (CI) for Voya Financial, Inc. (NYSE: VOYA), which helps Americans become well planned, well invested and well protected.

Ferrara oversees the overall growth strategy and performance of the operations organization, as well as the company’s Continuous Improvement (CI) efforts, a key driver of Voya’s strategic transformation that she has led since joining the company in April 2012. Under Ferrara’s leadership, the CI management system is being integrated across the company and creating a high-performance culture that has led to dramatically improved business results. Ferrara also serves on Voya’s Executive Committee.

Previously, Ferrara held the title of senior managing director of operations for Voya, providing oversight of the operations strategy. Ferrara’s thoughtful leadership skills, expertise and results-driven approach helped build high-performing teams and greater collaboration among Voya’s ongoing business and support functions.

Ferrara’s more than 20 years of experience in the financial services industry also includes leading the divestiture separation team at AIG before joining Voya. She served as operations executive of the Financial Services Division earlier in her career, providing leadership and working directly with operations leaders to improve the customer experience and enhance efficiency by leveraging process improvement practices and technology. Ferrara also has served in a number of senior leadership roles at J.P. Morgan Chase, where she focused on customer service and engagement.

Ferrara received her Master of Business Administration degree from Hofstra University.

Mike Katz is executive vice president of Finance, Strategy, and Investor Relations for Voya Financial, Inc. (NYSE: VOYA), which helps Americans become well planned, well invested and well protected.

In this role, Katz is accountable for Voya’s corporate strategy and leads both the investor relations and financial planning and analysis teams for the enterprise. He also serves on Voya’s Executive Committee.

Katz brings nearly 25 years of financial services experience across a variety of leadership roles within Voya, most recently as the chief financial officer for Voya’s Annuities, Individual Life and Employee Benefits businesses. Katz was instrumental in Voya’s preparation of its May 2013 initial public offering (IPO) and, more recently, the sale of its annuities and life businesses. Before serving as a business unit CFO, he held a number of senior roles in product development, capital management, actuarial and business strategy at Voya.

Katz joined Voya (then ING U.S. Financial Services) in 2004. Before joining Voya, he served in a variety of financial reporting and planning roles at Aegon.

Katz is a fellow of the Society of Actuaries, a member of the American Academy of Actuaries and holds a bachelor’s degree in actuarial science from Pennsylvania State University.

Santhosh Keshavan is executive vice president (EVP) and chief information officer (CIO) for Voya Financial, Inc. (NYSE: VOYA), which helps Americans become well planned, well invested and well protected.

In this role, Keshavan is responsible for the firm’s technology systems, data and digital organization, information security and infrastructure. He also serves on Voya’s Executive Committee.

Keshavan has more than 25 years of public and private sector experience as a transformation leader, including expertise in financial services, technology and operations. He has extensive experience in complex program management, including acquisitions and divestitures.

Prior to joining Voya, Keshavan held the position of EVP and CIO for Regions Bank based in Birmingham, Alabama, from 2010 to 2017. In this role, he managed core systems, enterprise and corporate systems, and enterprise data services. Previously, Keshavan served as vice president for the pricing and cash management division at Fidelity Investments. Prior to that, he held various positions at SunGard Data Systems (now FIS), eventually being named managing director, International Operations, with a focus on the retirement services industry.

Keshavan has a bachelor’s degree in computer science from India and a master’s of business administration from University of Alabama at Birmingham with a major in information systems. He serves on the boards of the New York Institute of Technology and Connecticut Insurance and Financial Services, as well as VFI SLK Global Services Pvt. Ltd. — a joint venture between Voya and SLK Group. Keshavan also serves as one of the Executive Sponsors for Voya’s Asian Council.