Covr appoints Sam Barnett as CEO

Covr Financial Technologies has appointed industry veterans Sam Barnett as Chief Executive Officer and Bob Klein as Chief Distribution Officer.

Barnett brings more than 20 years of insurance and insurtech leadership experience, with senior roles spanning distribution, strategy, and growth at Lincoln Financial, Global Atlantic backed by KKR, and most recently VIBE Insurance. Klein, a long time distribution and product leader, is best known for developing Lincoln Financial’s MoneyGuard solution and has held senior roles across carriers and BGAs including Global Atlantic, Sun Life, John Hancock, and Ash Brokerage.

As part of the transition, Covr will acquihire the VIBE Insurance Services team, which Barnett and Klein co founded, integrating its independent agency expertise into Covr’s platform. The appointments follow Covr’s recent merger with Optifino, which combined Covr’s compliance and operational infrastructure with Optifino’s AI driven planning technology.

Founder David Kleinhandler will move into the role of Chairman, focusing on long term strategy and capital formation, while the expanded leadership team positions Covr to scale distribution and deepen its digital capabilities across life, annuity, and linked benefit markets.

“Following the Optifino–Covr merger this fall, I retained Sam and Bob’s firm, VIBE Consulting Services, to help guide our transition. As we worked together, it became clear that the opportunity was larger. Their expertise, vision, and ability to execute made them the natural choice to run the newly-merged company, and I approached them about joining full time to help author our next chapter. I’m truly excited that they accepted, and look forward to our ongoing collaboration.” – Kleinhandler.