Symetra Named to 2025 PEOPLE® Companies That Care™ List

BELLEVUE, Wash.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Aug 20, 2025--

Symetra Life Insurance Company, a national provider of life, retirement and employee benefits insurance products, announced that it has been named to the 2025 PEOPLE ® Companies That Care List ™, coming in at No. 71 among the top 100 organizations recognized. Compiled by Great Place To Work ® and PEOPLE magazine, the annual list honors companies that “go the extra mile to honor their customers, empower their employees, and make the world a better place.”

This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20250820780322/en/

“Witnessing the innovative spirit with which these companies invest in their employees, communities, and the world is truly invigorating," says Charlotte Triggs, PEOPLE GM and editor-in-chief. “Their commitment reflects our mission, to feature what happens when ordinary people do extraordinary work.”

The Companies That Care List is based on over 1.3 million employee survey responses and data from Great Place To Work Certified™ companies representing the experience of more than 8.4 million employees. More than a million surveys came from employees at companies eligible for this year’s list, and these rankings are based on that feedback. When surveyed, 92 percent of Symetra’s employees said the company is a great place to work, and 95 percent of those surveyed said they felt good about the ways Symetra contributed to the community.

“Symetra is incredibly proud to be recognized by PEOPLE and Great Place to Work and included among the organizations whose culture reflects a commitment to community,” said Margaret Meister, president and CEO, Symetra Financial Corp. “Serving our customers, supporting our employees, and innovating for the future are critically important to our long-term success, but equally vital is our work to support and give back to our communities. Through our corporate social responsibility program, Symetra Social Impact, we aim to be intentional and transparent about the goals we’ve set and the progress we’re making to create positive impact for people and for the planet alongside our community partners.”

“Businesses are vital pillars in the communities where they operate,” says Michael C. Bush, CEO of Great Place To Work. “Caring for your people and your community isn’t something you do after you build a successful business; it’s how to make your business successful.”

The Companies That Care ranking is among multiple recognitions Symetra has recently earned. In May, the company was named to the Puget Sound Business Journal’s Corporate Philanthropists list in the large company category for the fifth consecutive year. In 2024, Symetra was again recognized as a Fortune Best Workplaces for Women™ and a Fortune Best Workplaces in Financial Services & Insurance™ and also earned Fortune Best Workplaces for Parents™ and Fortune Best Workplaces for Millennials™ honors.

To learn more about Symetra Social Impact and how we support our employees’ volunteerism and giving efforts, visit https://www.symetra.com/about-us/about-symetra/social-impact/.

About Symetra

Symetra Life Insurance Company is a subsidiary of Symetra Financial Corporation, a diversified financial services company based in Bellevue, Washington. In business since 1957, Symetra provides employee benefits, annuities and life insurance through a national network of benefit consultants, financial institutions, and independent financial professionals and insurance producers. For more information, visit www.symetra.com.

About Great Place To Work

As the global authority on workplace culture, Great Place To Work brings 30 years of groundbreaking research and data to help every place become a great place to work for all. Its proprietary platform and Great Place To Work Model™ help companies evaluate the experience of every employee, with exemplary workplaces becoming Great Place To Work Certified and receiving recognition on a coveted Best Workplaces™ List.

About the PEOPLE Companies That Care List

Great Place To Work selected the 2025 PEOPLE Companies That Care List by gathering and analyzing over 1.3 million confidential survey responses from companies representing more than 8.4 million U.S. employees at Great Place To Work Certified organizations. Of those, more than a million responses came from employees at companies eligible for the list and these rankings are based on that feedback. Company rankings are derived from 60 employee experience questions within the Great Place To Work Trust Index™ Survey.

PEOPLE’s Companies That Care Logo® is a registered trademark of TI Gotham, Inc., a Dotdash Meredith company. Used under license.

The LETS Play by Symetra community program helps kids build leadership, equity and teamwork through sports.

Symetra, a national provider of life, retirement and employee benefits insurance products, was named to the 2025 PEOPLE® Companies That Care list (https://people.com/100-companies-that-care-list-2025-11784812).

WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. forces in the Caribbean Sea have seized another sanctioned oil tanker that the Trump administration says has ties to Venezuela, part of a broader U.S. effort to take control of the South American country’s oil.

The U.S. Coast Guard boarded the tanker, named Veronica, early Thursday, Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem wrote on social media. The ship had previously passed through Venezuelan waters and was operating in defiance of President Donald Trump’s "established quarantine of sanctioned vessels in the Caribbean,” she said.

U.S. Southern Command said Marines and sailors launched from the aircraft carrier USS Gerald R. Ford to take part in the operation alongside a Coast Guard tactical team, which Noem said conducted the boarding as in previous raids. The military said the ship was seized “without incident.”

Several U.S. government social media accounts posted brief videos that appeared to show various parts of the ship’s capture. Black-and-white footage showed at least four helicopters approaching the ship before hovering over the deck while armed troops dropped down by rope. At least nine people could be seen on the deck of the ship.

The Veronica is the sixth sanctioned tanker seized by U.S. forces as part of the effort by Trump’s administration to control the production, refining and global distribution of Venezuela’s oil products and the fourth since the U.S. ouster of Venezuela President Nicolás Maduro in a surprise nighttime raid almost two weeks ago.

The Veronica last transmitted its location on Jan. 3 as being at anchor off the coast of Aruba, just north of Venezuela’s main oil terminal. According to the data it transmitted at the time, the ship was partially filled with crude.

Days later, the Veronica became one of at least 16 tankers that left the Venezuelan coast in contravention of the quarantine that U.S. forces have set up to block sanctioned ships, according to Samir Madani, the co-founder of TankerTrackers.com. He said his organization used satellite imagery and surface-level photos to document the ship movements.

The ship is currently listed as flying the flag of Guyana and is considered part of the shadow fleet that moves cargoes of oil in violation of U.S. sanctions.

According to its registration data, the ship also has been known as the Gallileo, owned and managed by a company in Russia. In addition, a tanker with the same registration number previously sailed under the name Pegas and was sanctioned by the Treasury Department for being associated with a Russian company moving cargoes of illicit oil.

As with prior posts about such raids, Noem and the military framed the seizure as part of an effort to enforce the law. Noem argued that the multiple captures show that “there is no outrunning or escaping American justice.”

Speaking to reporters at the White House later Thursday, Noem declined to say how many sanctioned oil tankers the U.S. is tracking or whether the government is keeping tabs on freighters beyond the Caribbean Sea.

“I can’t speak to the specifics of the operation, although we are watching the entire shadow fleet and how they’re moving,” she told reporters.

But other officials in Trump's Republican administration have made clear they see the actions as a way to generate cash as they seek to rebuild Venezuela’s battered oil industry and restore its economy.

Trump met with executives from oil companies last week to discuss his goal of investing $100 billion in Venezuela to repair and upgrade its oil production and distribution. His administration has said it expects to sell at least 30 million to 50 million barrels of sanctioned Venezuelan oil.

Associated Press writer Ben Finley contributed to this report.

This story has been corrected to show the Veronica is the fourth, not the third, tanker seized by U.S. forces since Maduro’s capture and the ship also has been known as the Gallileo, not the Galileo.

Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem speaks with reporters at the White House, Thursday, Jan. 15, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)

Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem speaks with reporters at the White House, Thursday, Jan. 15, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)

Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem speaks with reporters at the White House, Thursday, Jan. 15, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)

Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem speaks with reporters at the White House, Thursday, Jan. 15, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)

Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem speaks with reporters at the White House, Thursday, Jan. 15, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)

U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem speaks during a press conference, Thursday, Jan. 8, 2026, in New York. (AP Photo/Yuki Iwamura)

U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem speaks at a news conference at Harry Reid International Airport, Nov. 22, 2025, in Las Vegas. (AP Photo/Ronda Churchill, File)