Outstanding Directors 2024: Beth Simermeyer

For board service to Securian Financial (2019-present)

By Gene Rebeck

| August 30, 2024

A strong board always asks: What’s next? What are the opportunities for the company? What might disrupt the company’s operations?

Those are the types of questions that Beth Simermeyer asks and explores as a director for St. Paul-based insurer Securian Financial, a position she has held since June 2019. A member of Securian’s audit and nominating/governance committees, Simermeyer calls herself “a dedicated student of governance and good practices on boards.”

Simermeyer joined the Securian board while serving as executive vice president and global group president for St. Paul-based Ecolab’s health care and life sciences businesses. (She retired in 2022.) When a seat on the Securian board opened up, Doug Baker, Ecolab’s then-CEO, recommended Simermeyer.

Though in different industries, the two companies have many similarities. Both have long been headquartered in downtown St. Paul, and both are Fortune 500s (in 2024, Ecolab ranked 269, Securian 462). There also were similar challenges in terms of marketing, assessing competition, and the possibilities of what Simermeyer terms “potential disruption.”

Simermeyer had experience with growth strategies and M&A that could benefit Securian management. At Ecolab, she launched the Life Sciences division in 2015, which realized 14% growth annually to over $800 million and integrated a $4 billion strategic acquisition. Simultaneously, as leader of Ecolab’s health care business, she introduced technology solutions that increased customer efficiency and profitability.

Having joined Securian’s board while still in Ecolab’s C-suite, Simermeyer “brought that practical experience dealing with many of the issues that [Securian’s] senior management continues to deal with,” says Chris Hilger, Securian president, chairman, and CEO. “She’s been one of the leading voices on our board when it comes to strengthening our governance practices.” Hilger says this includes board recruiting, assessment, succession planning, and vetting candidates to “make sure they bring the diverse perspective we need—and making sure the board is engaged in that process.”

Part of this governance work requires board members to keep track of “the big trends and changes going on in the world,” Simermeyer says. As people exit the board when their terms expire over the next few years, the board needs to consider what skill sets it might lose. “We have to make sure we’re strong in those areas based on the business that we’re in,” such as audit and investment, Simermeyer says. A board also needs to “discuss the potential disrupters to the industry, and how we stay ahead of them,” she adds. Technology knowledge is another essential board asset. “Not that we necessarily need a board member who’s deep in AI, but we are looking for people on the board who can advise on the future of digital and other solutions,” she says.

Simermeyer attends numerous governance events. Her activities include involvement with the National Association of Corporate Directors (NACD) and the local chapter of Women Corporate Directors, where she has been helping develop a program to help women ready themselves for board service. Praising Simermeyer’s work on governance, Hilger says that while Securian “had done a good job on this, Beth helped us really formalize our approach.”

The Securian board also continually examines the company’s product portfolio, an area where Simermeyer had plenty of experience. “We wanted to focus on businesses where we felt like we could win long-term, where we had the scale, the expertise, and the market presence,” Hilger says. As a result, Securian divested its 401(k) record-keeping and its retail wealth management units and instead invested in building its core businesses, including employee benefits, individual life insurance and annuities, and institutional retirement solutions.

Another area where Hilger says Securian benefited from Simermeyer’s expertise was the additional investments in financial institution and association business. But Simermeyer doesn’t just rely on her experience, he says. “She always comes to the board prepared and ready to contribute. Not just by reading the material that management provides—that’s easy. She also does the extra stuff. She’ll do extra research and bring a broad, thoughtful perspective to our dialogue.”

Simermeyer views board service as a collaboration with other directors in developing initiatives and providing direction to management. It’s “a great way to take what I’ve learned in my 34-year corporate career and reapply it for the benefit of another business,” she says.