16 July 2024
Assurant Global Automotive president Martin Jenns will retire at the end of 2024. The finance and insurance product provider has tapped Jeff Strickland, senior vice president of Assurant dealer services and strategic accounts, as his replacement.
In a news release, Assurant said it hired Strickland in 2019 “with the mandate to grow and support the company’s key automotive client relationships.” Assurant praised Strickland’s work on “key account initiatives to realign the company’s regional areas, working to further integrate key acquisitions.” Before joining Assurant, Strickland spent 20 years at what is now Stellantis, including time as the automaker’s director of U.S. dealer relations and retail strategies.
“Jeff has proven himself an exceptional business leader and operator with decades of experience in the automotive industry across sales, marketing and digital enablement,” Assurant CEO Keith Demmings said in a statement July 9. “Early in his tenure at Assurant, he led the assimilation of field service teams across three acquisitions, building a one-culture environment in Global Automotive that aligns with Assurant’s long-term growth strategy and continues to advance our position as a market leader of vehicle service contracts, with 55 million protected vehicles.”
Jenns is a 15-year veteran of Assurant, rising from national sales manager to senior vice president and global head of strategy from April 2003 to April 2013, according to his LinkedIn profile. After a six-year stint as president of the F&I product provider Service Group, he returned to Assurant in 2019, becoming senior vice president of transformation at the company’s global automotive division in 2020 before being named president of Global Automotive in January 2022.
Assurant credited Jenns on July 9 for expanding its client base, buying the New Zealand auto insurer Protectra in 2022 and integrating the F&I product provider American Financial & Automotive Services and heavy equipment service contract provider EPG Insurance — both of which the company bought in 2020. Jenns was “instrumental” in creating the auto F&I product suite Assurant Vehicle Care, the company said.
“On behalf of our management committee, clients and employees, I want to thank Martin for his service to Assurant, advancing our values and culture, and for his unwavering leadership of Global Automotive,” Demmings said in a statement. “Martin has been responsible for driving transformational change within our automotive business, organically and through value-creating acquisitions, while continuously delivering exceptional service to our clients and their customers.”