MetLife, a provider of insurance, annuities and employee benefit programs, has appointed Steven Goulart as executive vice president and chief investment officer (CIO).

As CIO, Goulart will oversee MetLife’s over $450bn general account portfolio and the more than 650 investment and support professionals in MetLife’s investments organization around the world,

Goulart will report to president and CEO Steven Kandarian and become a member of MetLife’s executive group.

Most recently, Goulart was senior managing director and head of the portfolio management unit of MetLife’s investments department.

Goulart joined MetLife in 2006 to head the company’s mergers & acquisitions unit, and in July 2009 was also named treasurer.

As a treasurer , he was responsible for the strategic management of MetLife’s financial resources, including capital management and managing the company’s relationships with banks and rating agencies, as well as mergers and acquisitions.

Prior to joining MetLife, Goulart was a senior managing director in the financial institutions group and co-head of the insurance practice at Bear Sterns.

Before joining Bear Stearns, he served as a managing director in the global insurance group of Morgan Stanley and in the financial institutions group at Merrill Lynch.