Deanna Leighton, CFA
3 Years at AB|14 Years of Experience
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
Published Work
A holistic approach may help insurance investors navigate an expansive opportunity set.
We explore key themes for 2025 that we think will help shape the landscape and strategy for insurance investors.
The NAIC’s principles-based bonddefinition guidance goes into effect January 1, 2025, so time is running short for insurers and asset managers to adapt. We’ve collaborated to develop a classification framework that leads our investment process, enabling investors to make timely decisions in an increasingly dynamic marketplace.
We assess the investment landscape for insurers with half of 2024 in the books.
As US insurance investors turn their eyes toward 2024, they’ll face a macroeconomic backdrop in transition. With this in mind, their efforts should include maintaining duration positioning, diversifying risks, emphasizing quality as credit conditions begin to soften, identifying relative value opportunities and balancing private allocations with liquidity considerations.
US insurance investors enter 2023 facing a less- than-stellar macro environment as well as looming regulatory change. There are opportunities, but it will take selectivity and flexibility to capitalize on them.