Tier One Interview: Katie Comer

This month, Jay sits down with Katie Comer, Divisional Sales Manager, AVP – Specialty Life Partners, Executive Benefits and PPLI at Lincoln Financial, where she leads wholesaling for the firm's executive benefits, premium finance, and private placement distribution. Katie contends that ICOLI, or insurance company-owned life insurance, is one of the fastest-growing and least-understood categories in the institutional market, best framed as a capital management strategy delivered through a life insurance chassis. She also walks through Lincoln's deliberate entry into PPLI during the most active growth phase the product has ever seen, the carrier consistency she believes any serious PPLI carrier has to bring, and what Lincoln's dedicated Client Experience team does to fill a service vacuum that has opened across the institutional market through retirement and attrition. Plus, the infamous restaurant question, with a steakhouse confession Jay swears nobody else has been brave enough to make. Read on to learn more!

JAY: Katie, you have responsibility for so many interesting product distributions that give you unique insight into the high-net-worth and institutional life insurance markets. Given this unique perspective, I am glad you agreed to participate in the Tier One Interview Series because there is no shortage of topics we can cover. Let’s get started by hearing more about Lincoln Financial and your role there.

KATIE: Thanks Jay, I am a big fan of the Tier One Interview Series, so I was excited about the invitation to participate!

To share a little bit about Lincoln Financial, we are a long-established financial services company, founded in 1905, with a mission focused on helping individuals, employers, and institutions plan, protect, and retire with confidence. We operate across life insurance, annuities, retirement plan services, and workplace benefits and are widely recognized for our financial strength and long-term focus on prioritizing our customers’ financial goals and our partners’ success.

Within Lincoln, specifically the life insurance arm, we approach the market in three distinct ways with our Specialty Life Partners Channel, our Direct Channel, and our Brokerage Channel. I have held several different roles with Lincoln over my 20-year career, but specific to my current role, I am part of our Specialty Life Partners Channel, which brings great diversification to our distribution. We operate across a wide spectrum that ranges from the upper middle-market to the high-net-worth market, where we work with producers and brokers focused on Executive Benefits, Private Placement, and Premium Finance.

Within this channel, I lead a wholesaling team dedicated to the distribution of retail life insurance solutions, and I also lead a specialized wholesaling team focused on institutionally-oriented life insurance solutions, including corporate-owned life insurance (COLI), bank-owned life insurance (BOLI), private placement, and private placement life insurance (PPLI). I spend a lot of time guiding strategy, developing wholesalers, and partnering with sophisticated advisors and institutions on complex, balance sheet driven solutions. I take a lot of pride in developing a team culture built on trust, transparency and empowerment and am incredibly fortunate to work with and lead great individuals who I can also have some fun with and call friends.

JAY: Rarely do I hear from anyone who chose life insurance as a career, and you are no different. You had different plans after college, didn’t you? Can you talk about your upbringing and your path to the industry? As I understand it, you were not the person in your family who initially pursued a life insurance role.

KATIE: You are spot on with that comment. I did not choose life insurance as a career right out of college. In fact, my first job out of college was with the Department of Defense (DOD) as a Contract Specialist. My father is a retired Navy Rear Admiral (Seabee) so the connection at the time to the DOD made a lot of sense as an avenue to find a job. The job was great, but circumstances had me ultimately move to Greensboro, NC, because my now husband got a job working at Mass Mutual. It made the most sense for him to be in his hometown where he had good connections and could start his “career” in the insurance industry. I air quote career because ironically, I am the one who ended up with the career in the insurance industry while his path changed and moved him into the landscape and irrigation sector.

Fast forward, when I moved to Greensboro, I took a job as a headhunter at an executive search firm, which let’s just say was not the job for me! I switched gears entirely and decided I was going to get my master’s in education and become a middle-school math teacher. With that plan, I took the GMAT, enrolled and got accepted into the master’s program at UNC Greensboro. I was taking a few courses while substitute teaching until the master’s program started.

Then one day, while substitute teaching, I ran into the wife of someone who worked at Jefferson Pilot, which is now Lincoln Financial. After a conversation with her, I discovered there was an open position for an Internal Wholesaler role on the Fixed Annuity desk. I applied for the role, got the job, and the rest is history! And yes, I began my career on the annuity side of the house and how I got over to life insurance is a story for another time.

JAY: (chuckling) I often remind myself that annuities are also a form of life insurance. Right off the bat, I want to discuss insurance company-owned life insurance, or ICOLI. This is a rapidly growing business segment, and I am certain most of our audience has heard the acronym but does not understand what ICOLI is and how Lincoln approaches the market. Earlier this year, I hosted a panel where Cameron Vail from SALI Funds Services said that of the last $10 billion in AUA that SALI had received, $5.5 billion was from ICOLI transactions. What is ICOLI?

KATIE: You are always in good company with Cameron Vail on your panel, and a great and timely question especially for Lincoln as we have been focused on building out our capabilities for mid- and large- market opportunities in the ICOLI space.

At its core, insurance company-owned life insurance, or ICOLI, is a form of institutionally priced corporate-owned life insurance (COLI) that insurance companies purchase on the lives of their own employees — typically senior or highly compensated individuals. The insurance company is both the owner and the beneficiary of the policies.

Structurally, ICOLI is very similar to COLI and BOLI. Where it differs is that it is specifically designed for insurance companies and their balance sheet and capital needs. These deals are most often used to informally fund employee benefit obligations, while also serving as a long-term, tax-advantaged asset on the insurer’s balance sheet.

Said a different way, ICOLI can be a very efficient way for insurers to deploy capital. It allows access to a broad range of institutional investment strategies inside an insurance chassis, which comes with favorable accounting and capital treatment compared to holding the same assets outside of life insurance

Ultimately, ICOLI is really a capital management and investment strategy that happens to be delivered through a life insurance platform.

JAY: I would be remiss if I didn’t ask you about Lincoln’s emerging PPLI business. The 2026 PPLI Market Report revealed that as much domestic PPLI premium had been written in the four years ending December 31, 2025, as had been written in the 30 years prior. Yet, there are very few reputable carriers offering PPLI. It was huge news when a name brand as significant as Lincoln Financial announced they were entering the market. How is Lincoln distinguishing itself from other PPLI carriers?

KATIE: I appreciate the question because we are very bullish in this market but in that same context we have been very methodical in approaching the market. We recognize this market has a lot of scrutiny with respect to the regulatory and legislative lens on it and that the focus on the ultra-wealthy purchaser is not going away.

We have tried to build and market in a way that is for the long haul, which is why it has taken Lincoln a couple of years to evolve into this market. One of the things that is very important and vital in the PPLI market is carrier consistency. We have seen carriers get in and out of this market, and that is not a position Lincoln wants to be in with PPLI.

Since entering the market, we have had year-over-year growth and success, and thanks to a lot of great VOC, this year we launched a refreshed product. Our refreshed product expanded our investment capabilities to now include separately managed accounts (SMAs), plus insurance dedicated funds (IDFs), and a menu of registered funds. We’ve also streamlined our pricing and contract structures to bring added transparencies and efficiencies during client engagement. And as always, we remain steadfast in leveraging our large-case underwriting expertise and reinsurance relationships. These enhancements put Lincoln in a really good position to help brokers serve the unique needs of their affluent clients.

What I believe is Lincoln’s strength is how we go to market and the dedicated private placement team that supports it. What I mean by that is Lincoln was purposeful in having a dedicated wholesaling team focused solely on PPLI as well as being very targeted in working with brokers who are doing the business, brokers who understand the nuances of the sale, and have the infrastructure to support beyond the sale. Our dedicated private placement team provides actuarial consultation, underwriting and operational expertise, with technology and superior customer service to support this business.

All in all, this is a market my leadership team has been scoping since 2019, so it was a very exciting time when we officially launched into it a little over 2 years ago, and it’s even better to say that we’ve experienced a very nice reception.

JAY: When we last spoke, you talked with a great deal of pride about your coworkers involved with your business unit’s Client Experience team. It seems many life insurance companies are losing institutional service knowledge through retirements and attrition. That makes it very frustrating for clients and producers who work with technical products like executive benefits to obtain the level of service they should. You told me you feel very lucky with this regard. Why is that?

KATIE: I do feel very lucky when it comes to how we support the Executive Benefits and PPLI businesses at Lincoln. Anyone involved in an executive benefits and PPLI case, from underwriting, to product, to actuaries, to our Client Experience team are all specialized and dedicated only to this business. Specific to our Client Experience team, they deliver a concierge-level service model that ensures every case is handled with precision and care from enrollment through post-issue servicing.

We have an experienced and dedicated team with tenure that averages 17 to 21 years. Our team takes pride in end-to-end ownership where cases are managed throughout their entire life cycle from case management, issuance, post-issue, and ultimately death claims. Our brokers have direct access to the teams inclusive of leadership for any escalations or strategic conversations, and ultimately, this team aims for white-glove service that includes a very personalized, high-touch approach for every case.

This team knows our brokers and has developed deep relationships with them. They set a high standard for how an experience should be with Lincoln. In addition, they are an incredible extension and partner to my wholesaling team, which I believe is a great differentiator for Lincoln in this market. So again, yes, I am very lucky to be surrounded by this group because they know the business, they understand the brokers, and most importantly, they care. And thank you for the question, Jay, because I always love an opportunity to brag about them!

JAY: I already know that you have a million things going out when you are not working. I got exhausted just hearing about your non-work life. What occupies your time when you are not thinking about distributing specialty life insurance products?

KATIE: As you know Jay, I travel quite a bit for work, and believe it or not, I travel quite a bit for non-work, too! As a baseball mom, I spend a good amount of time following my lefty pitcher around, whether it’s for high school baseball or travel baseball, and I truly love watching him do what he loves.

Outside of baseball travel, I enjoy leisure travel too. Whether it’s a quick weekend trip to mark off another MLB stadium, a relaxing trip to some place sunny where a beach chair and book await me, or something more extravagant. I like exposing my son to new places, new experiences and the way of traveling.

Outside of traveling, my parents live at the beach, so I am always taking advantage of a free beach house with long weekends up there and the bonus of getting to enjoy family time. And overall, I like to stay active, whether it’s daily exercise or something more fun like snowboarding, hiking, or a nice beach walk, it’s important to me to stay active - maybe I fear if I slow down, I might stop! However, I will admit, if I have been on the road back-to-back weeks for a long stretch, you might also find me rooted in my couch enjoying a day of movies.

JAY: Katie, thank you for being so thoughtful with your responses. You are an excellent addition to our Tier One ranks. You told me that you actually like going to steakhouses, and I suspect you are not alone, but the only person courageous enough to confess this to me! Nevertheless, I know you have prepared for my restaurant question. Without naming a steakhouse or a steak dish, can you give me some recommendations of where I should eat and what I should order when I am there?

KATIE: Yes, yes, I admit that I do enjoy the good ole Capital Grille and would not want to count how many times I have dined at one, but I will absolutely share with you some non-steakhouse recommendations.

But before I do, I want to just thank you for the opportunity to be part of this, Jay. As I mentioned earlier, I am a fan of your Tier One Interviews and it has been a privilege to participate — and it’s a lot of fun.

Hard to pick just a few … but here are my restaurant recommendations.

• 1618 West (Greensboro, NC): The menu changes; however, one staple you can always count on is the Seared Tuna, which is sesame-crusted and served on wasabi mashed potatoes, and sauteed cabbage with feta and toasted almonds. You must get the Bread and Pesto Dipping Oil to start. I have never had a bad meal here!

  
  

• Bubba’s (Virginia Beach, VA): This is a nostalgic one for me because a dinner here growing up was always a special treat for my family and often included my grandparents. Located on the inlet, you want to get a table outside on the water and from there you want to start with a cup of the She Crab soup and then the Crab Cake Dinner broiled — it’s all crab and no filler — and so good!

  
  

• Buho Bar (Charlotte, NC): This one is more about the rooftop view and eclectic vibe. A go-to when you are in the mood for some appetizers and a good beverage. The Buho Seafood Tower and Herb Roasted Lamb Chops are the way to go, and I often add on the Roasted Brussel Sprouts for good measure.

  
  

• Mom’s House (Virginia Beach, VA): And last but not least, I had to throw my mom into the mix for her homemade Schnitzel and Spaetzle. This was my birthday dinner growing up. I still request it to this day and it never disappoints!

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Since its inception, Life Insurance Strategies Group has solely focused on the individual high net worth life insurance market. We do not sell products. This allows us to offer unbiased, pragmatic advice. Visit us at www.lifeinsurancestrategiesgroup.com.

Lincoln Disclosures:

Private Placement products are only offered to purchasers who are certified as an accredited investor and a qualified purchaser. Any offering must be preceded or accompanied by a Private Placement Memorandum. There can be no general solicitations or advertising with respect to these types of products.

Katie Comer is registered with Lincoln Financial Distributors, the wholesaling broker-dealer of Lincoln Financial. Lincoln Financial is the marketing name for Lincoln National Corporation and its affiliates including The Lincoln National Life Insurance Company, Fort Wayne, In., and Lincoln Financial Distributors Corp., Radnor, PA.

LCN-8937108-051926