Allianz Life Insurance Company of North America (Allianz), a leading provider of annuities and life insurance, has hired top local creative talent to expand its marketing team. Beth Miller has joined the company as Director of Brand Management, Rick Gibson, as Creative Director, and Chris DuBois as Senior Director, Web Strategy and Operations, reporting to Vice President of Brand and Creative Services Amanda Brinkman.

"These three new leaders bring extensive industry and agency experience, which will be instrumental in taking our vision of a full service internal agency to the next level," said Allianz Chief Marketing Officer Nancy Jones.

Beth Miller
Miller comes to Allianz from United Health Group''s internal creative agency, Carrot, where she helped build that group and its brand from the ground up and held the position of senior director of Agency Innovation and Operations.

She has worked at agencies, including Fallon and corporations, including Disney, on brands that range from BMW to The Islands of the Bahamas. Her passion is building brands and growing teams of people.

Miller has never shied away from a challenge, including when she was given the role of creative director for the Bancroft-Arnesen Antarctic Expedition--before she graduated college. Or when she and a friend decided to develop and produce the Twin Cities Chocolate Extravaganza (a 4,000-person event that ran for five years and was eventually sold for a profit). Miller earned her BS in Graphic Design from the University of Minnesota.

Rick Gibson
For the last year, Gibson has headed his own creative advertising resource, GibsonGlobal. Prior to starting his own business, Gibson built a 16-year career as an executive creative director at Campbell Mithun Advertising in Minneapolis.

Running the largest creative group there, he helped build and grow a wide range of national packaged goods, retail, and service brands, including Burger King Kids, The Hartford, Land O Lakes, H&R Block, Kmart, and Breyers Ice Cream.

A winner of multiple industry creative awards, Gibson takes equal pride in the many Effie awards won on behalf of clients like Alberto Culver, Klondike Bar, and MoneyGram. Gibson honed his copywriting craft at the Bates and Dancer Fitzgerald & Sample agencies in New York City.

Chris DuBois
DuBois has spent the past 10 years helping build Ameriprise Financial''s client acquisition and interactive strategies, most recently as vice president of Interactive Marketing. In that role, DuBois was responsible for managing Ameriprise''s product and individual advisor websites to promote brand awareness, improve customer experience, support global business strategy and drive bottom line results.

Other roles that DuBois served at Ameriprise include senior director of Seminar, Event & Referral Marketing, director of Interactive Strategy & Metrics, and manager of Online Product Strategy & Development.

Prior to Ameriprise, DuBois worked for a variety of financial services organizations including Prudential Select Brokerage, Oppenheimer & Co., Inc., and MetLife Brokerage. DuBois earned a BA from Dickinson College in Carlisle, Pa. and holds Series 7 and Series 24 licenses.

About Allianz Life
Founded in 1896, Allianz Life provides an array of annuities and life insurance products in the U.S. through a nationwide network of independent distribution. The company is part of Allianz SE, a global financial services organization that is the 20th largest company in the world based on revenues (Fortune Global 500, August 2009), employing nearly 155,000 people worldwide.

Contacts:

Allianz Life Insurance Company of North America
Laurie Bauer, 763-765-6174
laurie.bauer@allianzlife.com