Jim Belardi
Grant Kvalheim
Retirement services provider and insurer Athene Annuity and Life Co. announced Monday several senior promotions amidst a push to double the firm’s assets under management by 2029. Grant Kvalheim, who had been president and CEO of Athene USA, was named as CEO of Athene.
Kvalheim will succeed Jim Belardi, the firm’s co-founder, CEO and CIO, effective July 1. Belardi’s new title will be executive chair, and he will continue to serve as the firm’s CIO.
The new appointments are aligned with the company’s five-year growth plan, according to an Athene statement. Apollo Global Management, Athene’s parent company, laid out these plans in its 2024 investor day last October.
The plans include doubling Athene’s assets under management to about $600 billion from $302 billion by 2029 by strengthening its offerings in retirement and wealth management channels. The firm currently offers retail annuities, flow reinsurance, pension risk transfers and funding agreements.
LIMRA reported that total U.S. PRT sales came to $7.1 billion in the first quarter of 2025, according to its U.S. Group Annuity Risk Transfer Survey. That level is 51% lower than the sales during the first quarter of 2024, yet still 10% higher than the sales results in the first quarter of 2023.
Apollo warned in its 2024 investor day presentation that too many Americans are woefully unprepared for retirement, citing LIMRA and Deloitte figures that 50% of Americans are not participants in a retirement plan and more than one-third of pre-retirees are concerned about running out of money in retirement.
Apollo cited a $4 trillion retirement savings shortfall in the U.S., which the firm’s investor day report linked to a massive need for retirement income. Apollo also sized the total addressable market for retirement services at more than $45 trillion, of which Athene represents less than 1%.
“There is a massive opportunity ahead for Athene, driven by the growing retirement crisis in the U.S. and the need for guaranteed lifetime income,” Kvalheim said in a statement. “I look forward to leading Athene as our team meets this unprecedented need by expanding market share, prioritizing innovation, entering new markets and accelerating growth in the defined contribution channel.”
Sean Brennan
Mike Downing
In addition to Kvalheim and Belardi’s new titles, Athene also announced that Mike Downing, the firm’s chief operating officer, and Sean Brennan, the firm’s executive vice president of pension group annuities and new markets, will become co-presidents of Athene USA. Downing will keep his position as COO, while Brennan will also be named chief commercial officer and will continue to be in charge of new markets. Brennan’s current pension group annuities responsibilities have been transferred to another executive, according to a spokesperson for Athene.
“There is no one better positioned than Grant to lead the company through its next phase of growth,” Belardi said in a statement. “Grant, Mike and Sean have been instrumental to Athene’s tremendous success to date, and our market leadership directly reflects their efforts to grow our business by expanding distribution, creating best-in-class product offerings and establishing us as a partner of choice. My partnership with Grant has been critical to Athene’s success and I am pleased it will continue.”
Kvalheim has spent more than 14 years at Athene and previously held the titles of executive vice president, president and chief financial officer. Previously, he was the co-president of Barclays Capital the global head of credit products and investment banking at Barclays and the head of global debt, capital markets at Deutsche Bank.
He earned a bachelor of science degree in economics from Claremont McKenna College and an MBA in finance from the University of Chicago.
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Tags: Apollo, Apollo Global Management, Athene, Grant Kvalheim, Jim Belardi, Mike Downing, Sean Brennan