Radian Group, which offers private mortgage insurance, risk management products and real estate services to financial institutions, will soon be looking for a new chief executive officer, as the company’s current CEO, S.A. Ibrahim, announced that he plans to retire next year.
Ibrahim has served as Radian’s CEO since May 2005 and told the company that he plans to fulfill the term of his contract and retire in December 2017.
According to the company, Radian plans to use the last 18 months of Ibrahim’s term to find a replacement.
Radian said that it will utilize its succession planning process, which will see the company’s board of governors appoint a special committee to search for Ibrahim’s successor.
According to Radian, the committee is engaged with Spencer Stuart, an executive recruitment firm, to assist with the search, and will consider internal and external candidates for the role.
Ibrahim joined Radian from GreenPoint Financial Corp., where he served as the company’s chief executive officer for six years.
Earlier in his career, Ibrahim spent nine years at Chemical Bank, where he rose to the position of CEO of the mortgage unit.
Ibrahim also served as an international trouble shooter for American Express' travel-related services company, where he headed re-engineering on four continents.
According to Radian, in Ibrahim’s time with the company, the company wrote more than $200 billion of new mortgage insurance business, simplified and strengthened its capital structure, eliminated its exposure to financial guaranty credit risk with the sale of Radian Asset Assurance, and expanded its reach within the broader mortgage finance market.
"With S.A. at the helm over the past 11 years, Radian has emerged from one of our country's deepest financial crises newly invigorated and focused, while achieving a leadership position in the private mortgage insurance industry," said Herb Wender, Radian’s chairman of the board. "S.A. has been an inspirational leader to Radian's employees while always staying focused on creating value for our stockholders. His leadership skills will be difficult to replace."
Ibrahim said he’s looking forward to making the most of his remaining tenure with Radian.
"My time here has been among the most rewarding of my career, and I believe the company is better positioned today to drive long-term value than ever before," Ibrahim said.
"I remain focused on realizing the benefits of our strategies for growing our core mortgage insurance business and on diversifying our revenues through mortgage and real estate services,” Ibrahim added. “The deliberate and thoughtful process that we are applying to succession planning will ensure that we maintain our current momentum, while allowing for a seamless transition for our executive team and my successor."
