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Lowndes A. Smith, President & CEO of Hartford Life (NYSE:HLI), has a great team around him, states a Wall Streeter.

"Smith is one of those guys who surrounds himself with nothing but the most talented people. He has a great team around him. When you think of Smith, you think of the three Ds - discipline, drive and dependability. The other thing about Smith is that Hartford Life is in three businesses, and you can almost say that Smith is the best at each of those. The company deals with annuities, group specialty or group employee benefits, and mutual funds. If you look within the life of the annuity industry, Smith is probably the best at all three of those."

Consistently high marks for Hartford from a buy sider. "Hartford is an exceptionally well run company. The company has a lot of management depth and is extremely well focused. The problem is that 80% is owned by Hartford, so you can't get your teeth into it. But they have a lot of management depth, are really on the ball, and have consistently performed. Consistently, Hartford's gotten very high marks."