Council Members

Principal Financial

Ken McCullum is senior vice president and chief risk officer of Principal Financial Group. He is responsible for helping the company identify and successfully manage risk across the company to deliver the best value to our customers, employees, shareholders, and communities where we do business.

 

McCullum joined Principal in April 2015 as vice president and chief actuary. He was promoted to his current position in September 2020. Prior to joining the company, he served as executive vice president responsible for business development and in-force management in Delaware Life Insurance Company. Before Delaware Life, McCullum was a senior vice president responsible for managing the life and annuity businesses at Sun Life. He helped lead the transaction which created Delaware Life when Sun Life sold its closed life and annuity blocks to a group of private investors arranged by Guggenheim Partners. Earlier in his career, McCullum spent 15 years with The Hartford where he held several positions including leading their institutional investment products division and chief actuary of their legacy holdings division.

 

McCullum earned his bachelor's degree from Ball State University in Muncie, Indiana. He is a fellow of the Society of Actuaries and a Member of the American Academy of Actuaries. He is Vice Chairman on the board of directors for By Degrees, a Des Moines-based charity that partners with entire schools to increase high school graduation and postsecondary readiness rates while engaging community partnerships to uplift students, families, and whole neighborhoods.