MetLife has appointed senior vice president, associate general counsel and COO for legal affairs Tim Ring to the newly created role of chief sustainability officer. He reports to executive vice president and head of corporate affairs Mike Zarcone.
Ring served as MetLife’s corporate secretary from 2013 to 2017. In that role, he worked with institutional shareholders on a range of issues and with the board’s governance and corporate responsibility committee to help it oversee MetLife’s performance on ESG efforts.
In his new position, Ring oversees MetLife’s corporate responsibility initiatives, and a new sustainability function at the company will report to him. The new function includes MetLife Foundation, headed by vice president Dennis White, and the company’s reputation-management team, which is led by vice president Jon Richter. The reputation-management team produces MetLife’s annual corporate responsibility report and oversees the company’s policy-focused thought-leadership efforts.
According to MetLife, the company in 2017 made almost $5 billion in ‘impact investments’ in the US and overseas to create social and environmental benefits while generating economic returns.
‘We recognize that the field of corporate responsibility is evolving rapidly and drawing increased attention from all stakeholders,’ says MetLife chair, president and CEO Steve Kandarian in a statement. ‘This new structure will ensure our efforts are properly targeted and guided by a strong strategic focus so we can continue to build on MetLife’s long history of leadership in this area.’
Ring has previously held senior positions in government relations at MetLife. He began his career with the company in 1990 handling media relations.
Ben Maiden
Ben Maiden is the editor-at-large of Governance Intelligence, an IR Media publication, having joined the company in December 2016. He is based in New York. Ben was previously managing editor of Compliance Reporter, covering regulatory and compliance...
