Steven A. Kandarian
Executive Vice President
& Chief Investment Officer
MetLife, Inc.
Steven A. Kandarian is executive vice president and chief investment officer of MetLife, Inc. He joined the company in April 2005. As CIO, Kandarian is responsible for MetLife’s investment department and the company’s $322.5 billion general account portfolio.
Since joining MetLife, Kandarian has overseen a number of initiatives and strategies that have benefited MetLife’s investment portfolio and contributed to MetLife’s bottom line. He was instrumental in the sale of MetLife’s Peter Cooper Village and Stuyvesant Town properties in 2006, which resulted in a gain of approximately $3 billion, net of income taxes. Under his leadership, MetLife identified the housing bubble early and reduced its exposure to sub-prime mortgage-backed securities, increased the overall quality of its corporate credit portfolio, and increased its focus on low loan-to-value commercial and agricultural mortgages.
Prior to joining MetLife, Kandarian was the executive director of the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation (PBGC) from 2001 to 2004. He made the public case for comprehensive reform of the pension funding rules to put the defined benefit system and the PBGC on a sound financial footing. In addition, under Kandarian’s leadership, the PBGC adopted a new investment policy ensuring that, going forward, its assets be structured to better match liability durations.
Before joining the PBGC, Kandarian was founder and managing partner of Orion Partners, LP. From 1990 to 1993, he served as president and founder of Eagle Capital Holdings, where he formed a private merchant bank to sponsor equity investments in small and mid-sized businesses. Prior to establishing Eagle Capital Holdings, from 1984 to 1990, he was managing director of Lee Capital Holdings, a private equity firm based in Boston.
Previously, he held positions in corporate merger and acquisitions and leveraged buyouts at State Street Bank and Trust and LCB Holdings, Inc. Prior to joining LCB, Kandarian was an investment banker with Houston-based Rotan Mosle, Inc., where he had responsibility for a broad range of projects, including initial public offerings, mergers and acquisitions and private placements.
Kandarian previously served as a member of the board of trustees for MassMutual Corporate Investors, MassMutual Participation Investors and MassMutual Premier Funds. He received a B.A. from Clark University, a J.D. from Georgetown University Law Center, and a M.B.A. from Harvard Business School.
