CNO Names President, CFO

Gary Bhojwani will serve as CNO's president beginning April 18.

Carmel-based CNO Financial Group Inc. (NYSE: CNO) has appointed two new top executives. Gary Bhojwani will assume the role of president on April 18 and Erik Helding has been appointed executive vice president and chief financial officer, effective immediately.

Bhojwani will be in charge of CNO’s three business segments: Bankers Life, Colonial Penn and Washington National. He will also oversee marketing, communications, underwriting and new business.

Helding has previously served as senior vice president of treasury and investor relations at CNO. In his new role, Helding will be responsible for the company’s financial operations, including accounting, controls and reporting, financial planning and analysis, investor relations, treasury, and tax.

"Gary’s expertise and proven leadership will be invaluable in profitably growing our businesses and supporting the implementation of our strategy. I look forward to working closely with him over the coming years to continue to improve our execution, grow our Company, and achieve our strategic objectives," said CEO Ed Bonach. "Erik is an outstanding executive with significant business experience and a proven track record of successfully leading the financial operations of our evolving businesses. During his tenure at CNO, Erik has made valuable contributions to our finance functions, and we are confident that his strong leadership, financial acumen, and broad expertise will help us continue to scale our growing businesses and drive shareholder value."

The company added Chief Business Officer Scott Perry has left the company to "pursue other opportunities."

"We thank Scott for his contributions to CNO over the course of his career here and wish him well in his new endeavors," said Bonach.