American Equity Investment Life Holding Company, on January 9, 2020, announced the appointment of Anant Bhalla to the position of President, effective as of January 27, 2020 and Chief Executive Officer, effective as of March 1, 2020. Mr. Bhalla is a seasoned industry executive with nearly two decades of experience in publicly traded companies across insurance, asset management and wealth management sectors. Most recently, Mr. Bhalla has been a partner of Bhalla Capital Partners, focused on bringing together private capital and asset management capabilities to serve core unmet needs in the global life insurance sector.

From 2016 – 2019, he served as Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer of Brighthouse Financial Inc. He joined MetLife in 2014 as its Chief Financial Officer of Retail business. He played a broad role in MetLife's strategic direction of that business and co-led the creation of Brighthouse Financial in 2016. At multiple insurers he has led the creation and execution of U.S. business strategy, covering products, distribution and asset management.

This included entering new markets and product categories. During his tenure at Brighthouse Financial, Mr. Bhalla guided its migration from legacy variable annuity products into newer fixed index and structured annuity products and market segments. Prior to MetLife, Mr. Bhalla served in numerous senior roles including Chief Risk Officer, Treasurer and other management roles at Fortune 500 companies, including American International Group, Lincoln National Corporation, and Ameriprise Financial.

On January 8, 2020, the Board of Directors increased the size of the Board from eleven (11) to twelve (12) directors effective January 27, 2020. Mr. Bhalla has been appointed by the Board to fill the vacancy created by the increase in the number of directors. Mr. Bhalla will serve as a Class I director and his initial term will expire on the date of the company's next annual meeting of shareholders.

Mr. Bhalla has been appointed to the Executive and Investment Committees of the Board. On January 9, 2020, the Company also announced that John M. Matovina, the Chairman of the Board, resigned as President, effective as of January 27, 2020, and Chief Executive Officer, effective as of March 1, 2020. Mr. Matovina's resignation is not the result of any disagreement with the company and is not related to the company's operational performance or financial condition.

Mr. Matovina will remain on the Board as non-executive Chairman.