Jones & Babson announced today that
Larry Armel, 57, its chief executive officer and president since 1985 will retire at the end of January, 2000. His duties will be assumed by
Stephen Sodel, 54, chairman since 1993.
Armel told the MFWire that his retirement from Jones & Babson had been planned for awhile, as he had agreed to stay with the company for "five to seven" years after he and others had sold J&B to
Business Men's Assurance Company of America (BMA) in 1993. But he says that those plans had been vague and he had simply made his decision to step down recently.
"Five or six weeks ago, I sat down with my wife, and we decided to do something different for the next year or two," said Armel. "In the longer term, I may look for other opportunities, but I'm not looking for any other full-time work or to work for a competitor."
"It's a nice opportunity for someone my age -- I know everyone sees the same plans in press releases when an executive retires, but in my case it's true," he added, planning to spend "more time with my family, to travel and to work on civic matters."
Soden has been with BMA since 1985 and has held several different positions with BMA and BMA subsidiaries including president of BMA Financial Services and senior vice president of BMA.
"I'm excited and challenged and lucky to have such a great staff," said Sodel. "I've had a great opportunity to be tied in to Jones & Babson since 1993 and to be a conduit between BMA and Jones & Babson -- there's always been a lot of mutual respect."
"Stephen was the logical choice to succeed me as CEO," added Armel. "He's been chairman since 1993, he knows the people involved and he knows the company."
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