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 serves on the board of Oregon Business Council. 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 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.
He is the former chair of the board of directors of The Standard Charitable Foundation, Oregon Business Council, Oregon Health & Science University Foundation and the Armory Theater Fund. He is a former member of the SOLVE Founder’s Circle, Portland Center Stage and Trillium Family Services.
Lauren Canfield
Vice President, Corporate Actuary and Chief Risk Officer
StanCorp Financial Group, Inc., and Standard Insurance Company
Lauren Canfield is vice president, corporate actuary and chief risk officer for StanCorp Financial Group, Inc., Standard Insurance Company and The Standard Life Insurance Company of New York. Canfield is responsible for enterprise risk management, asset liability management and economic capital management.
Canfield joined The Standard in 2006, holding various actuarial roles including senior actuarial associate in StanCorp Mortgage Investors, LLC. She subsequently held leadership roles of increasing responsibility in Employee Benefits and Corporate Actuarial, including oversight of asset liability management, economic capital and forecasting. Most recently, she was assistant vice president and actuary in Actuarial Transformation.
Canfield graduated from the University of Portland with a Bachelor of Arts with highest honors in mathematics and music and a minor in French. She is a Fellow of the Society of Actuaries and a member of the American Academy of Actuaries.
Canfield serves on the board of directors for Portland Piano International.
Rob Erickson
Vice President, Chief Accounting Officer and Treasurer
StanCorp Financial Group, Inc., and Standard Insurance Company
Rob Erickson is vice president, chief accounting officer and treasurer for StanCorp Financial Group, Inc., and Standard Insurance Company. Erickson has responsibility for Corporate Treasury, Tax, Accounting, Financial Planning and Regulatory Financial Reporting functions of StanCorp.
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 and most recently was vice president of corporate finance and controller.
He is a graduate of Grand Canyon University in Phoenix, Arizona, where he earned his bachelor’s degree in accounting.
Erickson is president of the board of the Columbia Premier Soccer Club, board treasurer for Elizabeth Ann Seton Catholic College Prep and a trustee emeritus 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 serves as vice chair of the LIMRA Workplace Benefits Advisory Board, a board member of the Oregon Health and Science University Foundation and is a member of LIMRA’s annual conference planning committee. Payne is a former board member of Ronald McDonald House Charities of Oregon and SW Washington.
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.
Jeremy Horner
Vice President, Individual Disability Insurance and Corporate Development
Standard Insurance Company
Jeremy Horner is vice president for Individual Disability Insurance and Corporate Development for Standard Insurance Company. Horner has responsibility for the Individual Disability Insurance Business as well as Investor Relations and mergers and acquisitions.
Horner joined The Standard in 2009 and has held various leadership roles in Corporate Accounting, Investor Relations and the Business Transformation Office. He has led the Individual Disability Insurance business since 2018.
Prior to joining The Standard, Horner worked at Deloitte & Touche LLP in their Portland, Oregon, audit practice.
Horner is a Certified Public Accountant and has a Bachelor of Accountancy and a Master of Accountancy from Brigham Young University.
Horner serves on the board of directors of the Oregon Zoo Foundation.
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.
Beaulieu serves on the board of directors of Albertina Kerr.
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 strategies to enable the company's business goals. His responsibilities include technology solutions development, enterprise architecture, customer and user experience, enterprise data and analytics, artificial intelligence, information and cyber security, cloud and data center infrastructure, enterprise procurement and supplier management and business process sourcing.
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.
Chandler serves on the board of directors of Boys & Girls Clubs of Portland Metropolitan Area and OnPoint Community Credit Union.