Gwenn L. Carr
Executive Vice President
MetLife, Inc.
Gwenn L. Carr is an executive vice president of MetLife, Inc. In addition to serving as chief of staff for MetLife’s chairman & CEO, C. Robert Henrikson, Carr oversees the corporate secretary’s office as well as the shareholder services, corporate communications, executive services and corporate contributions departments. She also is chairman of the board of MetLife Foundation.
In addition to providing counsel to MetLife’s CEO, Carr has worked closely with MetLife’s board of directors and chairs MetLife’s communications forum, which consists of senior representatives from the company’s public relations, internal communications, brand management, government relations and investor relations functions to assure alignment and consistency of the company’s communications. Carr joined MetLife as corporate secretary in 1999, a position she held until 2009 when she became a member of MetLife’s executive group and assumed additional responsibilities. She was named chief of staff in 2007.
Carr joined MetLife after having served as vice president, secretary and associate general counsel of ITT Corporation. She joined ITT in 1988 as senior counsel, corporate development, providing legal advice with respect to ITT’s corporate acquisitions, divestures and mergers before being elected vice president and secretary of ITT in 1990.
Before joining ITT, Carr had been a member of the law departments of AT&T and American Natural Resources Company. At both companies, in addition to providing legal advice with respect to corporate governance matters, Carr was responsible for providing legal advice on corporate finance transactions, acquisitions, divestitures and strategic alliances, as well as compliance with federal securities laws. She also served as vice president and secretary of American Natural. Earlier in her career, she served as an assistant United States attorney for the Eastern District of Michigan.
Carr is a former director of the Lawyers Alliance for New York, a member of the Advisory Board of the Corporate Governance Institute at the University of Delaware and a former member of the IRRC Advisory Board. Since 1990, Carr has spoken frequently about corporate governance issues at seminars and conferences. She also has been a guest lecturer at Pace University Law School.
Carr is a former chairman of the American Society of Corporate Secretaries, a former chairman of the Investor Responsibility Research Center and a former president of the Stockholder Relations Society of New York. She also previously was a director of the YWCA of the City of New York and the United Way of New York City. Carr is a graduate of Michigan State University and the MSU College of Law.
