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The views expressed herein do not constitute research, investment advice or trade recommendations and do not necessarily represent the views of all AB portfolio-management teams. Views are subject to revision over time.
The Road Ahead: 2025 North America Insurance Outlook
06 January 2025
2 min read
Authors
Geoff Cornell, CFA| Chief Investment Officer—Insurance
Gary Zhu, CFA| Deputy Chief Investment Officer—Insurance
Deanna Leighton, CFA| Lead Portfolio Manager—Insurance Portfolio Management
About the Authors
Geoff Cornell is a Senior Vice President, Chief Investment Officer (CIO) of Insurance and a member of AB’s Operating Committee. He oversees AB’s Insurance Investment Management team, as well as insurance sales, solutions, relationship management and client-service efforts, and shares accountability for insurance marketing, accounting and operations with our centralized Marketing and Operations teams. Cornell partners with broader investment teams and the firm’s Business Development and Product Strategy & Development teams to deliver new insurance solutions and pursue inorganic opportunities. He provides investment oversight for the general account portfolio of AB's biggest insurance client, Equitable. Cornell joined AB in 2024 as the firm’s first CIO of Insurance. Prior to joining AB, he spent 30 years at AIG, where he held roles focused across asset classes and insurance portfolio management, most recently as the CIO of AIG’s life and retirement business (now known as Corebridge Financial) and the deputy CIO of AIG. Cornell holds a BS in business administration from Bryant University and an MBA from Fordham University. He is a CFA charterholder. Location: New York
Gary Zhu is a Senior Vice President and Deputy Chief Investment Officer of Insurance, where he is responsible for portfolio performance, strategic positioning and customized investment solutions for AB’s Insurance platform. Zhu joined AB in 2020 as the global head of Multi-Sector Insurance on the Fixed Income team, primarily focusing on developing and implementing multi-sector income portfolio strategies. In 2021, he was named director of Insurance Portfolio Management, where he led AB Fixed Income’s insurance business. Under Zhu’s leadership, the Multi-Sector Insurance team was named Investment Team of the Year in 2022 and 2023 by Insurance Asset Risk. He is also a portfolio manager in the US Investment Grade Credit and Sustainable Thematic Credit teams. Prior to AB, Zhu was a senior publishing research analyst and the head of cross-sector research at Wells Fargo Securities. He ranked first for cross-asset strategy in the 2019 Institutional Investor survey and earned the title of Best Cross-Asset Analyst in Global Fixed Income Strategy. Before joining Wells Fargo, Zhu was a senior securitized assets trader and portfolio manager at Genworth, where he managed ~$10 billion of fixed-income investments. Prior to his portfolio-management role, Zhu helped manage Genworth’s $70 billion general account, with a focus on US and European banking exposures during the 2008 financial crisis, and held various roles across the company. He holds a BS (summa cum laude) in finance and economics from Virginia Commonwealth University and an executive MBA (with Dean’s Honors) from Columbia Business School. Zhu is a CFA charterholder and holds the Fellow, Life Management Institute designation. Location: New York
Deanna Leighton is a Vice President and Lead Portfolio Manager on the Multi-Sector Insurance Portfolio Management team, where she is responsible for formulating insurance portfolio allocation strategies, overseeing daily portfolio-management activities and leading insurance-specific cross-sector, relative-value discussions. Leighton leads the Macro Allocation and Strategy team that interfaces with AB Insurance’s strategic clients in building tailored liability-driven and asset-focused solutions. She uses her deep understanding of both cross-asset investments and insurance company needs to construct tactical and dynamic investment portfolios and co-leads AB’s biggest insurance client’s spread-lending strategies. Leighton is a frequent speaker at industry conferences, and she moderated the inaugural Private Credit panel at ABS East in 2023. Prior to joining AB in 2022, Leighton was a fixed-income portfolio manager at AIG Asset Management, where she oversaw around US$5 billion of high-yield bond investments and helped build AIG’s third-party asset-management business, contributing to its strong commercial success. Before this role, she was an associate portfolio manager for AIG Asset Management’s high-yield bond portfolio. Leighton holds a BA with a concentration in economics from the University of Michigan and is a CFA charterholder. Location: New York
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