Board of directors

Chair, Board of Directors
Chair, Nominating and Governance Committee
Member, Compensation Committee
Jackson Financial Inc.

Steve Kandarian assumed the role of non-executive chair of the Board of Directors for Jackson Financial Inc. in February 2021 and is chair of the Nominating and Governance Committee and a member of the Compensation Committee. From 2012 to April 2019, Steve served as chairman of the board, president and chief executive officer of MetLife, Inc., a leading financial services company providing insurance, annuities, and asset management. He was named president and chief executive officer in 2011 and served as executive vice president and chief investment officer from 2005 to 2011.

Steve currently serves as a director of ExxonMobil Corporation, Neuberger Berman Group LLC and the Damon Runyon Cancer Research Foundation. He is a member of the Business Council. He also served as a director of AECOM from 2019 to 2021.

Steve received a B.A. from Clark University, a J.D. from Georgetown University Law Center and an M.B.A. from Harvard Business School.

Independent Director, Board of Directors
Member, Nominating and Governance Committee
Finance and Risk Committee
Jackson Financial Inc.

Lily Fu Claffee serves as an independent director on the Jackson Financial Inc. Board of Directors and as a member of the Nominating and Governance and the Finance and Risk committees. Lily, who brings significant experience in law, regulation and public policy to the board, currently serves as chief legal officer at OneMain Financial. She previously served as executive vice president, general counsel and head of compliance at Fox News Network, LLC, and as senior vice president, chief legal officer and corporate secretary at Chamber of Commerce of the United States of America.

Lily received a B.A. from the University of Wisconsin-Madison with distinction and a J.D. cum laude from the University of Minnesota Law School. She is a licensed attorney with the D.C. Bar and registered as an in-house counsel with the New York State Office of Court Administration.

Independent Director, Board of Directors
Chair, Audit Committee
Member, Compensation Committee
Jackson Financial Inc.

Gregory Durant serves as an independent director on the Jackson Financial Inc. Board of Directors and as chair of the Audit Committee and a member of the Compensation Committee. He recently served as vice chairman of Deloitte LLP, where, in addition to his major client responsibilities, he oversaw Deloitte’s public policy and government relations organization.

Greg has over 35 years of experience in public accounting and prior to his most recent roles, he was the deputy CEO of Deloitte and served on Deloitte’s board of directors for 6 years. He currently serves as a trustee of Carnegie Hall and previously served as a director of A Better Chance and the dean’s advisory council at the University of Chicago’s Booth School of Business.

Gregory earned a B.B.A. from Western Michigan University and received an M.B.A. from the University of Chicago. He is also a member of the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants.

Independent Director, Board of Directors
Member, Audit Committee
Member, Finance and Risk Committee
Jackson Financial Inc.

Derek Kirkland serves as an independent director on the Jackson Financial Inc. Board of Directors and as a member of the Audit and Finance and Risk committees. He is a former managing director and co-head of the Global Financial Institutions Group within the Investment Banking Division of Morgan Stanley. During his 35-year tenure at Morgan Stanley, Derek served at various times as head or co-head of the US insurance practice and the global insurance practice, working from New York, London and San Francisco.

Derek has advised many notable companies on M&A and capital-raising. He currently serves on the Board of Directors of The Third Way, a national think tank. He previously served on the Board of The Hughes Foundation and the Deans Council of Harvard Kennedy School. He holds an M.P.P. from the Harvard Kennedy School of Government, and a B.A. from Princeton University.

Independent Director, Board of Directors
Member, Compensation Committee
Member, Finance and Risk Committee
Jackson Financial Inc.

Drew Lawton serves as an independent director on the Jackson Financial Inc. Board of Directors and a member of the Compensation and Finance and Risk committees. Drew brings significant investment and insurance industry experience to the board, including expertise in investment and product management as well as distribution. He was previously employed by New York Life Insurance Company, where he held several roles, the most recent as senior managing director and CEO of New York Life Investment Management. Previously, Drew served as a director at Principal Mutual Funds and a director at Make-a-Wish Foundation of America.

Drew serves as an adjunct professor at the University of North Texas and is a member of the Board of Trustees of the Blackrock iShares Trust. He is also a special advisor to Vestwell and to FinTech Collective Inc.

Drew earned an M.B.A. from the University of North Texas and a B.A. from Yale University and was previously a FINRA-registered broker with NYLife Distributors LLC.

Independent Director, Board of Directors
Member, Audit Committee and Nominating and Governance Committee
Jackson Financial Inc.

Martin Lippert serves as an independent director on the Jackson Financial Inc. Board of Directors and as a member of the Audit and Nominating and Governance committees. He is the former executive vice president and head of Global Technology and Operations at MetLife and led MetLife Holdings, the former U.S. Retail segment. In this role, he also oversaw digital strategy and customer service for the company’s global operations.

Previously, Martin held executive positions at Citigroup and as vice chairman for Royal Bank of Canada. He was also a director of Trillium Health System and a special advisor to the Board of Freddie Mac amid the financial crisis.

Martin currently serves on the Board of Directors at New Leaders, an education-focused nonprofit, and he serves as an advisory board member at the University of Pittsburgh. He was awarded the Peter J. Kight Lifetime Achievement Award for Innovation in Banking, among many other accolades. Martin holds a B.S. from the University of Pittsburgh.

Independent Director, Board of Directors
Chair, Finance and Risk Committee
Member, Audit Committee
Jackson Financial Inc.

Russell Noles serves as an independent director on the Jackson Financial Inc. Board of Directors and as chair of the Finance and Risk Committee and a member of the Audit Committee. He previously served as executive vice president and chief operating officer (COO) of Nuveen, an asset management subsidiary of Teachers Insurance & Annuity Association (TIAA), where he oversaw the company’s finance, information technology, operations and risk management functions.

Prior to that, Russell served in a variety of senior-level roles at TIAA, including senior managing director and chief strategy officer, senior vice president of Trust Products, senior vice president and chief Internal Audit executive and vice president and acting chief financial officer (CFO). In these positions, he gained strategic planning, corporate development and executive oversight experience.

Russell currently serves on the Board of Directors of Consumer Reports and on the Board of Trustees for Metropolitan State University of Denver. He earned a B.S. in accounting from Metropolitan State University of Denver and an MBA from the University of Denver and is a licensed Certified Public Accountant (CPA).

Director, Board of Directors
Jackson Financial Inc.

Laura Prieskorn is president and chief executive officer of Jackson and serves as a director of the Jackson Financial Inc. Board of Directors. She is responsible for executing Jackson’s mission of helping more Americans approaching retirement achieve financial freedom for life by ensuring Jackson associates, resources and capabilities are aligned to drive financial and operational excellence and create sustainable value for all company stakeholders. In her 30 plus years at Jackson, Laura has held broad-ranging leadership roles including as a member of the company’s Executive, Investment and Product Committees. She was appointed to her current role in February 2021.

Laura previously served as Jackson’s executive vice president and chief operating officer where she led Jackson’s operations, technology and information security initiatives and was responsible for developing Jackson’s industry-leading operating platform. Under her leadership as chief operating officer, Jackson transformed into a more agile organization and was awarded as Service Quality Measurement Group, Inc.’s “Contact Center of the Year” in 2019 and 2020.

Laura holds a bachelor’s degree in business administration from Central Michigan University.

Independent Director, Board of Directors
Chair, Compensation Committee
Member, Nominating and Governance Committee
Jackson Financial Inc.

Esta Stecher serves as an independent director on the Jackson Financial Inc. Board of Directors and as chair of the Compensation Committee and member of the Nominating and Governance Committee. Esta was a partner at Goldman Sachs for more than 25 years, where she held several leadership roles including serving on the Goldman Sachs Management Committee until her retirement in December 2021. Prior to joining Goldman, Esta was a partner in the Tax Group at the law firm of Sullivan & Cromwell. 

Esta previously served as a board member to several significant banking and investment banking subsidiaries of Goldman, including serving as the chair of Goldman Sachs Bank USA and of Goldman Sachs International Bank.

Esta presently sits on the Board of Directors of the Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts, the Dana Farber Cancer Institute and the University of Minnesota Foundation. She is Chair of the Board of the Goldman Sachs Philanthropy Fund, and the Ayco Charitable Foundation, each a donor-advised fund and is a director of the Columbia Investment Management Company. Additionally, Esta is a current member of the Council on Foreign Relations.

Esta earned a bachelor’s degree from the University of Minnesota and a law degree from Columbia University School of Law.