Bubb Is New CEO of Pacific Mutual

Setting the stage for the eventual passage of leadership to a younger generation, Pacific Mutual Life Insurance said that Walter B. Gerken, chairman of the Newport Beach company since 1975, will step down Monday as chief executive.

Replacing Gerken will be Harry G. Bubb , Pacific Mutual’s 61-year-old president and chief operating officer. Gerken, 64, continues as chairman but may relinquish that post next year, as Pacific Mutual policy requires executives to retire at 65.

Gerken, who joined Pacific Mutual in 1967 as a financial vice president, was named the company’s president in 1972 and was elected chairman and chief executive three years later.

Bubb joined the company in 1949 as a sales representative. In 1972, he was named a senior vice president and in 1975 was elected president and chief operating officer.

In a telephone interview, Gerken said Bubb will lead Pacific Mutual until 1990, when he reaches 65. Although insiders have speculated that Thomas Sutton, 43, a Pacific Mutual executive vice president since 1984, is being groomed for the top job, Gerken said no decision has been made.

While Sutton “certainly is an outstanding candidate,” there are others, Gerken said, noting that the decision must be made by the company’s board of directors. “It’s a fluid situation,” he added.