Executive Team

James R. Belardi is our co-founder and has served as our Chairman, Chief Executive Officer and Chief Investment Officer since May 2009. In addition, Mr. Belardi is a member of the board of directors, member of the executive committee and an executive officer of Apollo Global Management, Inc. and is the founder, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Apollo Insurance Solutions Group, L.P. (AISG), our investment manager. He is a member of our executive committee and AISG’s executive committee. Mr. Belardi is responsible for our overall strategic direction and the day-to-day management of our investment portfolio. Prior to founding our Company and AISG, Mr. Belardi was President of SunAmerica Life Insurance Company and was also Executive Vice President and Chief Investment Officer of AIG Retirement Services, Inc., where he had responsibility for an invested-asset portfolio of $250 billion. Mr. Belardi has a Bachelor of Arts degree in economics from Stanford University and a Master of Business Administration from the University of California, Los Angeles. He currently serves on the board of directors of AISG, Paulist Productions, where he chairs the investment committee, and Southern California Aquatics. Mr. Belardi swam in the 1976 and 1980 Olympic Swimming Trials and is a nine-time Masters Swimming World Record Holder.

Grant Kvalheim serves as Chief Executive Officer & President of Athene USA and President of Athene Holding Ltd. He previously served as the President of Athene Holding Ltd. from January 2011 until September 2015 before resuming the role in April 2022, served as the Chief Financial Officer from January 2011 until April 2013 and served as a director from January 2012 until February 2014. Mr. Kvalheim is responsible for leading the US operating companies with a focus on growth initiatives. Mr. Kvalheim became a Partner at Apollo with the merger of Athene and Apollo in January 2022 and serves as an observer on the Apollo Executive Committee.

Prior to joining Athene, Mr. Kvalheim was a senior executive of Barclays Capital (“Barclays”) from early 2001 to the end of 2007, becoming Co-President in September 2005. During his time at Barclays, he converted a European investment grade credit business into a leading global credit franchise across both securitized and non-securitized credit products, and significantly expanded Barclays’ investment banking platform.

Prior to joining Barclays, Mr. Kvalheim held senior executive positions in the investment banks of Deutsche Bank and Merrill Lynch.

Mr. Kvalheim received his Bachelor of Arts degree in economics from Claremont McKenna College and his Master of Business Administration in finance from the University of Chicago. He currently serves on the board of directors of Great Outdoors Foundation, SolHealth and Mottahedeh & Co., Inc. He served on the board of directors of the Permal Silk Road Fund from June 2008 to November 2012, LL Global (LIMRA/LOMA) from 2019 to 2021, and The Greater Des Moines Partnership in 2021 and the United Way of Central Iowa from 2017-2023.

Martin P. Klein has served as our Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer since November 2015. Mr. Klein is responsible for overseeing our financial management, including our enterprise finance, reporting, tax, actuarial, internal audit, and risk functions. He also helps develop and execute strategic operating decisions across our Company. Prior to joining our Company, Mr. Klein was employed by Genworth Financial, Inc. (Genworth), joining in 2011 as Executive Vice President & Chief Financial Officer, and also served as Genworth 's Acting President & Chief Executive Officer during most of 2012. Prior to Genworth, Mr. Klein served as a Managing Director at Barclays, after its acquisition of the US operations of Lehman Brothers Holdings, Inc., where he served as a Managing Director and head of the Insurance & Pension Solutions Group. Previously, Mr. Klein had been with Zurich Insurance Group from 1994 to 1998 as Managing Director of Zurich Investment Management, and worked in finance and actuarial roles in other insurance organizations earlier in his career. Mr. Klein is a director of several of our insurance subsidiaries, as well as Athora. He also serves on the board of Caritas, a non-profit organization in Richmond, Virginia.

Mr. Klein is a Fellow of the Society of Actuaries and a Chartered Financial Analyst. He received his Bachelor of Arts in mathematics and business administration from Hope College and a Master of Science in statistics and actuarial science from the University of Iowa where he now serves on the College of Liberal Arts & Science's Dean's Advisory Council.

Michael S. Downing serves as our Chief Operating Officer. He is responsible for the day-to-day operations of the Company, including Information Technology (IT), Operations, Product Management, Marketing, and Athene’s Bermuda operations.

Prior to assuming his current role, Mr. Downing served as Executive Vice President and Chief Actuary and was responsible for global actuarial valuation, modeling, pricing, product development, and product go-to-market.

Prior to joining Athene, Mr. Downing spent seven years at The Allstate Corporation, with increasing responsibility over time. His final role included responsibility for product, actuarial, asset liability management, marketing, and finance. Prior to Allstate, Mr. Downing was a Senior Partner at Aon Hewitt, leading the International Consulting practice following assignments in the UK and Switzerland.

He holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in mathematics from Gustavus Adolphus College in St. Peter, Minnesota. He is a Fellow of the Society of Actuaries (FSA) and serves on the board of directors for the Greater Des Moines Partnership.

John L. Golden has served as Global Head of Insurance Regulation of Apollo and Athene since February 2023. He is responsible for overseeing supervision and regulatory risk management of Apollo and Athene, developing and advancing Apollo and Athene's global insurance regulatory strategy and managing overall relationships with insurance regulators and industry associations globally. He previously served as Athene's Executive Vice President and General Counsel with responsibility for the legal and compliance functions of Athene. Prior to joining Athene, Mr. Golden was an attorney at Sidley Austin LLP.

Mr. Golden received his Juris Doctor from the University of California, Los Angeles and a Bachelor of Science in operations management and information systems from Santa Clara University.

Douglas Niemann has served as our Executive Vice President and Chief Risk Officer since May 2020. Mr. Niemann is responsible for overseeing our enterprise risk management functions, as well as providing key support in connection with strategic operating decisions across our Company. Mr. Niemann brings over 25 years of experience and expertise in risk management related to insurance. Prior to joining our Company, Mr. Niemann was the Senior Managing Director of lnvestment Management and Chief lnvestment Risk Officer for Guardian Life Insurance Company. Before joining Guardian Life Insurance Company, he was the Managing Director and Chief lnvestment Strategist of Global Insurance Solutions at JP Morgan Asset Management and served as the Managing Director and Head of Asset Liability Management at AIG Asset Management. He also held the positions of Head of lnvestment and Financial Risk and Head of Group Risk Modeling at Zurich Financial Services.

Mr. Niemann has a Master of Business Administration in risk management and insurance as well as finance, investments and banking from the University of Wisconsin Madison School of Business and a Bachelor of Arts in economics from Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois.

Sean C. Brennan has served as our Executive Vice President of Pension Group Annuity (PGA) and Flow Reinsurance since January 2020. Mr. Brennan is responsible for overseeing the strategy of our pension group annuity and flow reinsurance businesses and is responsible for expanding opportunities for development within those businesses.

Prior to assuming his current role, Mr. Brennan served as Senior Vice President and Head of Pension Group Annuity at Athene Holding. Before joining our company, he served as Global Pensions Director for Marsh & McLennan Companies, responsible for developing and implementing its global pension strategy, and oversaw $15 billion in global asset-liability management. Mr. Brennan also spent 14 years with Mercer holding several positions, including Partner in the Financial Strategy Group. In that role, he was responsible for leading Mercer’s efforts to develop its pension risk transfer (PRT) capabilities and sales strategy as well as leading several large PRT transactions. In addition, Mr. Brennan provided investment strategy and risk management advice to corporate plan sponsors regarding the PRT business.

He received his Bachelor of Arts in mathematics and political science from Emory University. He is a Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) Charterholder and an Associate of the Society of Actuaries.

Katherine Daly has served as our Executive Vice President of Corporate Development since October 2019. In her role, she has responsibility for Athene’s Corporate Development strategy and team.

Ms. Daly has extensive financial institutions corporate development and investment banking experience. Prior to Athene, she worked at Global Atlantic Financial Group in New York whereas Managing Director, Head of Strategy, she led strategic initiatives across the firm, capital markets transactions and corporate merger and aquisition activities.

Prior to Global Atlantic, Ms. Daly spent two years at Oaktree Capital Management as Senior Vice President, Corporate Development and six years at Goldman, Sachs & Co. as Vice President in the Investment Banking Division. Earlier in her career, she spent time at RBC Capital Markets and Novantas, a strategy consulting firm.

Ms. Daly received a Bachelor of Arts in ethics, politics & economics from Yale University and a Master of Business Administration with a major in finance from The Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia.

Randall W. Epright has served as our Executive Vice President and Chief Information Officer since August 2015. In this role he is responsible for overseeing the company’s Information Technology (IT) strategy to ensure that all systems necessary to support our operations are in place and to ensure that information technology adds the maximum value to our company to facilitate the success of our business.

Mr. Epright has 34 years of insurance and financial services operations and technology experience. Prior to joining Athene, he was the Global Business Information Officer of Consumer Businesses at American International Group, Inc. ("AIG"). Mr. Epright joined AIG in 1995 where he held numerous operations and technology leadership positions, including Chief Information Officer of Life and Retirement and Divisional Vice President of Foreign General Insurance, where he led global strategic development for personal lines, commercial lines, accident and health, and claims. Throughout his various roles, he drove operations and technology modernization, innovative product delivery, and digitalization of distribution for life, individual annuities, group retirement, mutual funds, and brokerage/investment advisory businesses. Prior to AIG, Mr. Epright spent eight years delivering innovative technology solutions for Travelers Insurance.

He has a bachelor’s degree in business management from Providence College in Rhode Island and a Master of Business Administration in information systems from Denver University in Colorado. He holds a Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) Series 7 designation and previously served as a board member and audit committee Chairman of AIG Global Services enterprise group.

Kristi Kaye Burma serves as our Executive Vice President and Chief Human Resources Officer. Ms. Burma is responsible for advising the executive leadership team, overseeing execution of all HR objectives, organizational development, talent acquisition, compensation and benefits, and driving the organizational vision of our company to help best position Athene for long-term talent management. She also oversees the Athene Foundation and all corporate social responsibility initiatives.

Prior to assuming her current role, Ms. Burma served as Senior Vice President of Human Resources at Athene Holding and Vice President of Human Resources at Aviva USA, until the acquisition of the business by Athene. During her time at Aviva, she also held the title of Business Manager to Chief Executive Officer of Aviva USA, and served in the role of Vice President, Human Resources Business Partner, supporting North America. Before joining Aviva, Ms. Burma held various leadership positions in human resources.

She holds a Bachelor of Business Administration degree from the University of Iowa. She also is a member of the Greater Des Moines Habitat for Humanity Board and the Board of Directors for United Way of Central Iowa.

Joseph Cohen has served as our Executive Vice President and General Counsel since February 2023. He is responsible for overseeing the legal and compliance departments, ensuring compliance with laws and regulations and developing effective legal strategies to protect our Company's interests. Prior to joining Athene as Senior Vice President and Group Deputy General Counsel in 2019, Mr. Cohen spent over 20 years at MetLife in various legal and non-legal roles, including General Counsel of MetLife’s 20+ operations in Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA) and Senior Vice President and Associate General Counsel (General Corporate) in which he advised on and directed all aspects of corporate law encompassing, among other things, mergers & acquisitions (M&A), strategic distribution arrangements, reinsurance, capital markets transactions and public company reporting. Mr. Cohen led the spin-off of MetLife’s U.S. retail business into Brighthouse allowing MetLife to focus on protection and fee-based products and services.

Mr. Cohen received his Juris Doctor from Emory University School of Law and a Bachelor of Science in business management and marketing from Cornell University. Mr. Cohen is admitted to the State Bars of New York and New Jersey.

Michael F. Consedine has served as our Executive Vice President and Head of U.S. Government and Regulatory Relations since June 2023. He is responsible for developing and advancing Athene’s external engagement and strategic vision and managing relationships with insurance regulators and industry associations.

Prior to joining Athene, Mr. Consedine was Chief Executive Officer of the National Association of Insurance Commissioners (NAIC.) As CEO of NAIC from 2017 until 2023, he focused on strategic planning, policy development, and implementation in the areas of state, federal, and international affairs and relations. He was named to the Executive Committee of the International Association of Insurance Supervisors in 2019. Prior to the NAIC, Mike served as the Global Head of Government and Policy Affairs at Aegon and prior to that as the Insurance Commissioner for the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania from 2011 to 2015.

Mr. Consedine received his Juris Doctor from Widener University Commonwealth Law School and a Bachelor of Arts in political science and journalism from James Madison University.

Christopher Grady has served as our Executive Vice President and Head of Retail since March 2011. In his role, he is responsible for overseeing Athene’s retail annuity business, driving continued growth through the development of strong partnerships. Mr. Grady was instrumental in building Athene into a market-leading provider of consumer retirement solutions under the Athene brand. Mr. Grady brings more than 35 years of field sales and home office leadership experience to Athene.

Before joining our company, Mr. Grady was President of Distribution and Marketing for the Genworth Financial life insurance companies. He oversaw a diverse, multi-channel sales and marketing organization that produced nearly $4.7 billion in annuity sales and more than $550 million in premiums in life and long-term care insurance products in the U.S. market. Mr. Grady spent 13 years in senior leadership roles at Merrill Lynch, ultimately serving as Managing Director and National Sales Manager for Merrill's Consumer Finance Group. He spent 16 years at Mass Mutual and held various sales management positions, including Director of Advanced Sales. Amongst numerous company accolades and industry awards, Mr. Grady qualified for life membership in the Million Dollar Round Table.

He received a Bachelor of Science degree from the State University of New York College at Cortland.

Rebecca H. Tadikonda serves as our Executive Vice President of Strategy and Innovation. Ms. Tadikonda is responsible for driving strategic growth and innovation to accelerate Athene’s growth even further.

Prior to assuming her current role, Ms. Tadikonda served as MetLife’s Head of Strategic Growth Markets in Asia, leading businesses in China, India and Southeast Asia, and Chief Strategy Officer. She has also held positions at Bain & Company, DHL Worldwide and Verisign, driving growth through various consumer transformation, customer strategy and customer acquisition programs.

She has a Master of Business Administration from Stanford University Graduate School of Business and a Bachelor of Arts in economics from Dartmouth College.

Christopher R. Welp has served as our Executive Vice President of Insurance Operations since October 2013. He is responsible for all of Athene USA’s insurance operations, including annuity new business, annuity post issue processing and claims, the contact centers, agency services, inbound and outbound mail services and operational shared services. Mr. Welp also oversees facilities management and procurement for Athene USA.

Prior to assuming his current role, Mr. Welp served as the Executive Vice President of Insurance Operations for Aviva USA. Before joining our company, Mr. Welp held progressive roles in tax, finance and operations at ING (now known as Voya Financial), culminating as Chief Operating Officer of ING’s Retail Annuity business. Prior to that, Mr. Welp spent seven years with Ernst & Young.

Mr. Welp has a bachelor’s degree in business administration and accounting from the University of Iowa and is a certified public accountant and member of the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants.

William J. Wheeler has served as our Vice Chairman since April 2022. Prior to assuming his current role, Mr. Wheeler served as our President beginning in 2015. Mr. Wheeler provides strategic advice to the Company’s senior management as the Company executes its plan for future growth. Prior to joining our Company, Mr. Wheeler was President of the Americas group for MetLife Inc. (“MetLife”) where he oversaw the insurance and retirement business in the United States and Latin America. Previously, Mr. Wheeler had been Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer at MetLife. Prior to joining MetLife, Mr. Wheeler was an investment banker at Donaldson, Lufkin & Jenrette.

Mr. Wheeler has a Bachelor of Arts degree from Wabash College, where he is now a member of the board of trustees, and a Master of Business Administration from Harvard Business School. He currently serves on the boards of Evercore Inc., Athora Holding Ltd. and VA Capital Company LLC.