Fricke brought focus to the company, breathing new life into its retirement services, annuities and mutual funds, while deciding to get out of re-insurance, life insurance and group health insurance. Those were tough decisions, Fricke said, but he saw the financial services market changing as people lived longer. Customers became more worried about living too long rather than dying too soon. Consequently, they wanted to make sure they had adequate investments to maintain their lifestyles into their 70s, 80s and 90s. Even though 2000 wasn't a great year for the Dow Jones industrial average and the Nasdaq, Fricke has remained bullish about the long-term prospects of his company.
Some faces are the same.
Others have changed. See whether you agree with the results. SBG captured a major contract with the National Education Association earlier this year to become the exclusive provider of retirement programs for NEA's 2.5 million members. The contract could help SBG double in size in five years. A year ago, Fricke was looking for another location for SBG's corporate headquarters because the company had agreed to sell its downtown headquarters to the state.