Executive Bios
Dan McMillan
President and Chief Executive Officer
StanCorp Financial Group, Inc., and Standard Insurance Company
Dan McMillan is president and chief executive officer of StanCorp Financial Group, Inc., and Standard Insurance Company. He previously served as president and chief operating officer from December 2020 to June 2021, and as executive vice president of the Insurance Services Group.
McMillan joined The Standard in 1989 and has held a succession of leadership positions with increasing responsibilities, and spearheaded large-scale business, technology and efficiency initiatives for the Insurance Services Group.
He graduated from Linfield College with a Bachelor of Arts degree in English and a minor in mathematics. He holds an Associate, Life and Health Claims designation from the International Claim Association.
McMillan was previously a member of the Group Insurance Executive Council of the American Council of Life Insurers. He also served on the board of directors of the Council for Disability Awareness, Portland Children's Museum, Lines for Life and the Portland Business Alliance.
J. Greg Ness
Chair, Board of Directors
StanCorp Financial Group, Inc., and Standard Insurance Company
Greg Ness is chair of the board of StanCorp Financial Group, Inc., and Standard Insurance Company. He was chair, president and chief executive officer from December 2011 until June 2021. He served as president and chief executive officer from July 2009 until December 2011, and previously served as president and chief operating officer from September 2008 until June 2009. Ness joined The Standard in 1979.
He is a Phi Beta Kappa graduate of Washington State University and earned a Master of Business Administration from Portland State University. He also holds the LIMRA Leadership Institute Fellow designation from the Life Insurance Marketing and Research Association.
Ness chairs the board of directors of the Oregon Health & Science University Foundation. He is the former chair of the board of directors of The Standard Charitable Foundation, Oregon Business Council and the Armory Theater Fund. He is a former member of the SOLVE Founder’s Circle, Portland Center Stage and Trillium Family Services.
Sally Manafi
Vice President, Corporate Actuary and Chief Risk Officer
StanCorp Financial Group, Inc., and Standard Insurance Company
Sally Manafi is vice president, corporate actuary and chief risk officer for StanCorp Financial Group, Inc., and Standard Insurance Company. Manafi has responsibility for enterprise risk management, asset liability management and actuarial governance and oversight. She is the appointed actuary for both Standard Insurance Company and The Standard Life Insurance Company of New York. Manafi joined The Standard in 1992, and has held numerous senior positions in the company, including pricing, valuation and asset liability management and most recently served as vice president and corporate actuary.
Prior to joining The Standard, Manafi worked in various actuarial roles at other organizations including Transamerica and Acacia Mutual.
Manafi earned a Bachelor of Arts degree with honors in mathematics from University of Oxford. She is a Fellow of the Society of Actuaries and a member of American Academy of Actuaries.
Manafi is a member of the board of directors of Trillium Family Services.
Rob Erickson
Vice President, Chief Accounting Officer and Treasurer
StanCorp Financial Group, Inc., and Standard Insurance Company
Rob Erickson is vice president and chief accounting officer for StanCorp Financial Group, Inc., and Standard Insurance Company. Erickson joined The Standard in 1996 as a financial analyst and corporate accountant. Since 2000, Erickson has held leadership roles with increasing responsibility in Corporate Financial Services, most recently as vice president of corporate finance and controller. Erickson has responsibility for Corporate Treasury, Tax, Accounting, Financial Planning and Regulatory Financial Reporting functions of StanCorp.
He is a graduate of Grand Canyon University in Phoenix, Arizona, where he earned his bachelor’s degree in accounting.
Erickson is a member of the board of directors of the Oregon Zoo Foundation.
David Payne
Vice President, Employee Benefits
Standard Insurance Company
David Payne is vice president of Employee Benefits for Standard Insurance Company and The Standard Life Insurance Company of New York. Payne has executive responsibility for all aspects of the group insurance business including claims services, customer support, premium administration, Sales, Actuarial, Underwriting, producer services functions and the Contact Center.
Payne joined The Standard in 2009 as assistant vice president of Contact Center Operations. He has held a succession of leadership positions with increasing responsibilities. In 2012 he was promoted to vice president of Short Term Disability, Absence Management and Contact Center Operations. Most recently, he held the position of vice president of Employee Benefit Services.
Prior to joining The Standard, Payne held professional roles at the Limited Brands Companies and GE Financial Assurance.
Payne earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in management and finance from Lynchburg College. He received a Master of Business Administration from Averett University in Danville, Virginia.
Payne is active in a variety of volunteer and charitable organizations and has served on the Board of Trustees for Ronald McDonald House Charities Oregon and Southwest Washington since 2009.
Susan Bruechner
Vice President and Chief Human Resources Officer
Standard Insurance Company
Susan Bruechner is vice president and chief human resources officer for Standard Insurance Company. Bruechner leads The Standard’s Human Resources department and is responsible for aligning The Standard’s talent strategy with the company’s long-term strategic, operational and financial objectives. Bruechner oversees all aspects of human resources including talent management, talent acquisition, compensation, benefits and diversity, equity and inclusion.
Prior to joining The Standard in 2019, she was senior vice president and chief human resources officer at PeaceHealth. In addition to advancing PeaceHealth’s workforce planning initiatives, she co-led its diversity and inclusion strategy and initiatives and worked with the executive team to expand its succession planning. Prior to her time at PeaceHealth, Bruechner held various human resources leadership roles at Goldman Sachs.
Bruechner received her Bachelor of Arts at Texas A&M University and earned her Master of Business Administration at Marylhurst University in Oregon.
Bruechner serves on the board of directors for DoveLewis Veterinary Emergency & Specialty Hospital.
AJ Ijaz
Vice President, Asset Management Group
Standard Insurance Company
AJ Ijaz is vice president of the Asset Management Group for Standard Insurance Company. Ijaz has responsibility for Retirement Plans, Institutional products and Individual Annuities.
Ijaz joined The Standard in 2017 as vice president of Retirement Plan Services and successfully led a transformation of the service organization. In 2020, he was promoted to vice president of Retirement Plans and assumed leadership and accountability for the entire RP business line.
Ijaz’s career includes nearly 30 years of leadership experience in financial services at Allstate where he was vice president of Life and Retirement Agency Operations. Prior to that, he was vice president of National Sales and assistant vice president of Allstate Financial Customer Service.
Ijaz earned a bachelor's degree in finance and insurance from Radford University in Virginia and a Master of Business Administration with honors from Case Western Reserve University in Ohio.
Ijaz is president of the board of directors of Raphael House in Portland, Oregon.
Chris Beaulieu
Vice President and Chief Investment Officer
Standard Insurance Company
Chris Beaulieu is vice president and chief investment officer for Standard Insurance Company. Beaulieu has responsibility for enterprise investment management, Fixed Income and the Commercial Mortgage loan and Real Estate businesses.
Beaulieu joined The Standard in 2015 as assistant vice president of Investments In 2020, he was promoted to vice president and assumed responsibility for the Individual Annuities product line.
Beaulieu has more than 20 years of corporate investment portfolio management experience. Before joining The Standard, Beaulieu served as head of portfolio management for Penn Mutual Life Insurance Company. In that capacity, Beaulieu was a primary driver of an asset allocation strategy aligned with organizational total return and asset/liability matching objectives.
Beaulieu earned a Bachelor of Science degree in finance and international business from Northeastern University and holds the Certified Financial Analyst® designation.
Greg Chandler
Vice President, Information Technology
Standard Insurance Company
Greg Chandler is vice president of Information Technology for Standard Insurance Company. He is responsible for developing and leading the company's information technology strategy to enable the company's business goals. His responsibilities include business systems development and maintenance, program and project management, enterprise supplier management, Lean Center of Excellence, enterprise architecture and infrastructure.
Since 2008, Chandler has held leadership roles with increasing responsibility in Information Technology including assistant vice president of IT Infrastructure and vice president of IT Enterprise Services. Most recently, he was vice president of IT Solutions Delivery.
Prior to joining The Standard, Chandler held technical positions at IBM, Cabletron Systems and Novell in Silicon Valley before joining Intel in Oregon. At Intel, his responsibilities included network and server engineering, global IT construction and global infrastructure and operations management with responsibility for data centers worldwide.
Chandler earned a Bachelor of Arts in economics and computer science from the University of California, Santa Cruz.