Nationality American Name Mike Wells Occupation CEO, Prudential plc Role Businessman | Spouse(s) married Predecessor Tidjane Thiam Children 2 | |
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Full Name Michael Andrew Wells Born 9 April 1960 (age 64) ( 1960-04-09 ) Canada Salary £11,393,000 (total compensation, 2014) Alma mater San Diego State University | ||
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Michael Andrew Wells (born 9 April 1960) is an American business executive, chief executive officer (CEO) of Prudential plc, the British multinational life insurance and financial services company, since 1 June 2015.
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Early life
Wells graduated from San Diego State University with a Bachelor of Science degree.
Career
After graduating, he spent 10 years working for a variety of financial services firms in the US, including Wood Logan, Smith Barney, McGinness & Associates and Dean Witter.
Wells joined the Prudential Group in 1995 as president of Jackson National Life Distributors, part of the Group’s US arm, Jackson National Life. He spent 20 years in a variety of senior positions at Jackson. He was appointed as Jackson's CEO in January 2011, at which time he also joined the board of Prudential, Jackson's UK-based parent company.
During Wells's four-year tenure as CEO of Jackson, it became the largest seller of variable annuities in the US.
On 1 June 2015, Wells succeeded Tidjane Thiam (who left to become CEO of Credit Suisse), on a pay package worth up to £7.5 million. On 9 March 2016, he announced Prudential's first full-year results since taking over as CEO, showing that the group made operating profits of £4billion in 2015, 22 per cent higher than the year before. He sought to reassure shareholders over business in Asia, and China in particular in 2016. "I think China and Asia in general are misread by the West," he told CNBC. "The consumers have money, are spending...all of the key metrics around our average client are very resilient.".
In April 2017 Wells was voted number one insurance CEO in Institutional Investor 2017 All-Europe Executive Team rankings.
Personal life
Wells was born in Canada but has US citizenship. He is married with two adult sons. Wells owns a Tennessee cattle ranch and collects Gibson guitars.