Mr. Casale, who has most recently served as Senior Vice President and Deputy Chief Information Officer, is a 13-year veteran of Massachusetts Mutual Life Insurance Company's (MassMutual) Enterprise Technology Organization. He had been serving as Deputy Chief Information Officer since January 2008 and was promoted to Senior Vice President in June 2008. As Chief Information Officer, Mr. Casale will be responsible for the oversight of information technology at the MassMutual Financial Group family of companies. This includes MassMutual's Enterprise Technology Organization, which is accountable for enterprise-wide data, information security management and overall governance of the information technology development process.

Mr. Casale replaces Michael Foley, who will retire as Chief Information Officer as of Jan. 1, 2009. He will report to Roger W. Crandall, President and Chief Operating Officer, MassMutual.

"Throughout his career at MassMutual, Bob has demonstrated how strong, thoughtful collaboration between the systems and business areas can help drive successful execution of the company's strategy and excellent value for our clients and policyholders," Mr. Crandall said. "Bob's exceptional leadership skills, superior technical knowledge, and long track record of success will to serve him well in his new leadership role as we continue to utilize technology to make it easy for customers and financial professionals to do business with us."

Mr. Crandall continued: "In addition to acknowledging Bob, I would like to thank Mike Foley for his many contributions to our organization. Mike's leadership has been instrumental to our strategic effort to enhance our technology and processes and in developing a talented systems organization that will continue to position MassMutual for success. We wish him the best in his retirement."

Throughout his career at MassMutual, Mr. Casale has held a broad range of leadership positions in the company's systems division, including responsibility for establishing the enterprise-wide reference architecture used today as MassMutual's roadmap for all technological business decisions. Mr. Casale joined MassMutual in 1995 from Connecticut Online Computer Center Trust, where he served as a senior programming analyst. He resides in Bristol, Conn.

Mr. Foley has served as Chief Information Officer at MassMutual since 2005. Prior to that he was Chief Information Officer at Babson Capital Management, LLC, a MassMutual subsidiary, which he joined in 1994. Prior to Babson Capital, Mr. Foley served in a series of management roles in the systems area at Aetna Life and Casualty. He resides in Simsbury, Conn.

MassMutual Financial Group is a marketing name for Massachusetts Mutual Life Insurance Company (MassMutual) and its affiliated companies and sales representatives. MassMutual and its subsidiaries had more than $500 billion in assets under management at year-end 2007. Assets under management include assets and certain external investment funds managed by MassMutual's subsidiaries.

Founded in 1851, MassMutual is a mutually owned financial protection, accumulation and income management company headquartered in Springfield, Mass. MassMutual's major affiliates include: OppenheimerFunds, Inc.; Babson Capital Management LLC; Baring Asset Management Limited; Cornerstone Real Estate Advisers LLC; The First Mercantile Trust Company; MML Investors Services, Inc., member FINRA and SIPC (www.finra.org and www.sipc.org); MassMutual International LLC and The MassMutual Trust Company, FSB. MassMutual is on the Internet at www.massmutual.com.

CONTACT: Jim Lacey 413-744-2365 Mark Cybulski 413-744-5427SOURCE MassMutual