Executive Management

Mr. Minnich has over 25 years of experience in insurance, a private investment company, technology, risk-management, and investing. He was named Executive Chairman of Midwest on April 30, 2019 and Co-Chief Executive Officer on November 16, 2020. Mr. Minnich was named President and a member of the Board of American Life in June 2018. Mr. Minnich is a Founder and has been Co-Chief Executive of Vespoint Capital LLC, along with Mr. Salem, since 2018. Since July 2010, he has been managing member of Rendezvous Capital LLC, a New York firm advising insurers on capital and investments. From February 2013 to May 2017, he was Chief Investment Officer of A-Cap, an insurance holding and investment company. Mr. Minnich graduated with a Bachelor of Science degree in Electrical Engineering in 1994 and an MBA in 1995 from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Mr. Salem has over 16 years of experience in insurance distribution, insurance investing, and technology. He was appointed Chief Executive Officer and a Director of Midwest on April 30, 2019 and Co-Chief Executive Officer on November 16, 2020. He has served as Chairman of American Life since June 2018. Mr. Salem is a Founder and has been Co-Chief Executive Officer of Vespoint Capital LLC since 2018. In addition, he has served as managing member of AMS Advisors LLC since January 2011. From July 2013 to August 2017, he was Co-Founder, Managing Principal and Co-Head of Advisory Capital at Vanbridge LLC, an investment management firm. Mr. Salem graduated with a Bachelor of Science degree in Computer Science from Brown University in 2003 and obtained a Master’s degree in Electrical Engineering from Stanford University in 2005.

Mr. Oliver serves as President of Midwest, a position he has held since 2010. Mr. Oliver is also currently the Vice President and Secretary and a member of the Board of Directors of American Life. He served as CEO since that company received its Certificate of Authority from the NDOI on September l, 2009 through June 2018. He was elected Chairman of American Life in March 2017 and served in that capacity until June 2018. He served as a member of the board of the Company from 2010 until April 2020. He served as Chairman and CEO of the Company from 2015 until June 2018. From 1984 until June 2007, Mr. Oliver was employed by Citizens, Inc., a publicly traded company listed on the New York Stock Exchange and life insurance holding company with principal offices in Austin, Texas, serving as its President and in various other executive capacities from 1997 through 2007. Mr. Oliver graduated with a B.B.A. majoring in Accounting from Baylor University in 1981.

Mr. Somaroo is our Chief Technology Officer and has over 20 years of experience across technology and quantitative finance. Prior to joining Midwest, he was the head of valuations at Barclays Africa where he oversaw valuations for all derivative positions across all African trading desks. Prior to Barclays, Mr. Somaroo was a Director at Merrill Lynch in New York overseeing valuations for the global credit derivative portfolio. Prior to that, he was a consultant at McKinsey & Co and a technology scout at Pfizer’s Discovery Technology Center in Cambridge, MA. Mr. Somaroo received his Ph.D. from Cambridge University (UK) and has held post-doctoral positions at Harvard and M.I.T.

Ms. Havranek is our Vice President, Principal Financial Officer and Treasurer and has worked for us since 2014. She has more than 25 years of experience in Corporate Reporting in the life insurance, banking, and consumer packed goods industries. Previously, she served from April 2006 to June 2014 as Manager of Finance at Conagra Brands, a large publicly traded corporation. Ms. Havranek holds a B.S.B.A. in Accounting from the University of Nebraska Omaha and is a Certified Public Accountant.

Mr. Del Monaco is our Chief Risk Officer and has over 21 years of broad financial services experience. Prior to joining Midwest, Mr. Del Monaco was Head of Global Markets for Natixis Management Services-North America, a global asset management company from January 2019 to October 2020. He has also held senior positions at Nomura where he served on Nomura Americas Global Markets executive committee from 2009 to 2015. Prior to his employment with Nomura, he ran Credit Structuring at Lehman Brothers and Barclays Capital in New York, where his specialties included credit derivatives, counterparty risk and complex repackagings. Mr. Del Monaco also spent five years as part of Citigroup’s European Structured Credit business in London from 2001 to 2006 where he focused on clients in Southern Europe, Turkey and the Middle East. He started his career in at Chase Manhattan Bank. Mr. Del Monaco holds a Bachelor of Science in Quantitative Economics from Tufts University.