PORTLAND – Unum Group Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer Kevin McCarthy plans to retire from the company in the coming months, a Unum representative said Thursday.

McCarthy will be replaced by Michael Simonds, who was named the U.S. division CEO and Unum Group COO.

Simonds, who lives in Maine, is the current chief operating officer of Unum’s U.S. division. He has a bachelor’s degree from Bowdoin College and a master’s of business administration from Harvard Business School, according to a company news release.

McCarthy, who lives in the Portland area, also is president and CEO of Unum’s U.S. division. He plans to step down from that position July 1, according to the release.

McCarthy will retire from the company in the first quarter of 2014.

McCarthy has been U.S. division president and CEO since 2007 and Unum Group executive vice president and COO since January 2012, according to the company’s website.

Unum Group, based in Chattanooga, Tenn., provides disability, life, accident and critical-illness insurance. It has about 10,000 employees in the U.S. and the United Kingdom, including 3,000 employees in Portland, where the company has a large claims-processing operation.

McCarthy, who joined Unum as an intern in 1976, will remain involved in the company until his retirement, Unum officials said.

 

J. Craig Anderson can be contacted at 791-6390 or at:

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