Minneapolis-based ING is expanding its marketing activities inthe U.S. employee benefits division to gain more voluntary employee benefits business.

"Voluntary benefits is an underserved segment of the market,"says Ivan Gilreath, president of ING Employee Benefits. "In thischallenging economic market, many employers want to offer theiremployees smart benefit choices that will help protect theirfamilies, no matter what their life stage."

Marc Lower was recently hired as head of voluntary benefitssales and strategy, and Brian Bly, Valerie Cyr and Terri Orem havejoined ING as the newest regional directors. Colorado, Utah,Wyoming, Montana and New Mexico make up Bly's territory, and Cyr'sterritory includes New England, New York and New Jersey. Orem'sterritory is comprised of Ohio, Indiana, Kentucky, West Virginia,Michigan and western Pennsylvania.

With more than 25 years of experience in employee benefits,including 12 years in the voluntary market, Lower was recently thevice president of sales for the Western Region for Colonial Lifeand has also held senior voluntary benefits positions withJefferson Pilot and Mutual of Omaha.

Bly, who has more than 19 years of voluntary insuranceexperience, was previously the owner of Colorado-based BridgeBenefits Inc. He has also been in leadership roles with ConsecoInsurance Group and American Fidelity Assurance Company and is amember of the National Association of Health Underwriters andChamber of Commerce in Broomfield, Colo., and Arvada, Colo.

Holding more than 20 years of insurance sales experience, Cyrwas the former regional sales director for Texas Life InsuranceCompany. She is a Workplace Benefits Association Advisory Councilmember and was recently elected president. Previously, Cyr was thepresident of the voluntary benefits forum as well as a member ofthe Mass Marketing Insurance Institute CommunicationsCommittee.

Orem, who was a senior regional sales director for TrustmarkInsurance Company, has more than 33 years of sales experience inthe industry. For four years in a row, Orem was the voluntarybenefits overall sales leader while at Trustmark InsuranceCompany.