Deals & People December 22, 2011

MassMutual Makes Leadership Appointments

MassMutual promoted three executives to senior vice president.  
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Michael R. McKenzie, Retirement Services Operations, is responsible for all recordkeeping processes and delivery of services for MassMutual’s Retirement Services division. He has oversight of the division’s new business implementation, ongoing account management, plan change processing, ERISA consulting services and its Participant Information Center (PIC). McKenzie joined MassMutual in 2007.

Scott Reed, U.S. Insurance Group Business and Technology Solutions, is responsible for the business and technology solutions team in the company’s U.S. Insurance Group, which provides and operates all technology and systems for MassMutual’s suite of protection and accumulation products. Reed joined MassMutual in 2000.

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Heather Smiley is head of Strategic Marketing for MassMutual’s Retirement Services division, which includes plan sponsor communication consulting services, advertising and public relations, web portals and tools, market research, competitive intelligence and employee communications. Smiley joined MassMutual in 2009.   

Diversions December 22, 2011

Most Say Bosses Are Like George from "It's a Wonderful Life"

Perhaps it's a good sign for the economy that Ebenezer Scrooge didn't make it in a top ten list of holiday movie characters reminiscent of bosses.  
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A CareerBuilder survey asked employees which holiday movie character most reminds them of their boss; 15 choices were given, and Ebenezer Scrooge was not among the top ten answers given.

George Bailey from “It’s a Wonderful Life” received 19% of the votes, with CareerBuilder describing the character as “well-liked, always willing to help others”.

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The nine other characters rounding out the top ten include: 

  • Rudolph from “Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer” (14%) – Can navigate successfully through tough situations; 
  • Willie, the main character from “Bad Santa” (10%) – Rough around the edges, but not a bad person deep down; 
  • Ralphie from “A Christmas Story” (8%) – Stays focused on one goal and thinks about nothing else; 
  • Kevin from “Home Alone” (8%) – Very resourceful and independent; 
  • Ralphie’s father from “A Christmas Story” (8%) – Old school, swears a lot when things don’t go as planned; 
  • The Grinch from “How the Grinch Stole Christmas” (7%) – Keeps a distance from others, but longs to be a part of the group; 
  • Clark Griswald from “National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation” (7%) – Likeable, but nothing seems to go right for him or her; 
  • Santa from “Miracle on 34th Street” (6%) – Jolly no matter the circumstance; and 
  • Buddy from “Elf” (5%) – Naive and easily awed. 

The survey was conducted online within the U.S. by Harris Interactive on behalf of CareerBuilder among 4,721 U.S. workers (employed full-time, not self-employed, government and non-government) between August 16 and September 8, 2011.  

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