NEW YORK, July 14 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- AXA Equitable Life Insurance Co. announced today that Chris Winans will join the company in a newly created position heading External Affairs. Mr. Winans will join the company on July 29, 2008 and become Senior Vice President, External Affairs, subject to Board approval in September. The announcement was made by Christopher M. "Kip" Condron, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of AXA Equitable. (Photo: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20080709/NYW075 ) As chief spokesman for AXA Equitable, Mr. Winans will be responsible for developing and executing programs to raise public awareness of AXA Equitable's position as a leader in the life and retirement services industry. In addition to managing the external affairs function, Mr. Winans will advise AXA Equitable's CEO on matters regarding the company's reputation and activities related to public policies that affect the entire industry. "Chris's leadership of AXA Equitable's newly formed External Affairs team will further position the company as a leading insurance provider," Mr. Condron said. "His knowledge, gleaned through many years of experience as a journalist, a Wall Street analyst, and an insurance media-relations professional, uniquely positions him to accelerate our efforts to raise our profile among our many constituencies and to play a constructive role on a broad range of important emerging industry issues." Prior to joining AXA Equitable, Mr. Winans was Vice President, Media Relations, at American International Group, Inc. Prior to joining AIG in early 2005, he was a vice president in Lehman Brothers' Equity Research Division, covering property/casualty insurers. Mr. Winans previously held a similar position briefly at Williams Capital following three years as an equity analyst on the property/casualty sector at Morgan Stanley and, before that, at PaineWebber. Before joining the research team in late 1999 at PaineWebber, he was Vice President, Communications, at A.M. Best Co., the U.S. insurance rating agency, where he spent six years. Before joining A.M. Best in 1993, he was a national news editor at The Wall Street Journal where he spent 10 years following a seven-year career as a journalist on various dailies and a wire service. He is the author of two business biographies, The King of Cash: The Inside Story of Laurence Tisch (John Wiley & Sons, 1995) and Malcolm Forbes: The Man Who Had Everything (St. Martin's Press, 1990). He holds a B.A. from Pennsylvania State University. About AXA Equitable In business since 1859, AXA Equitable Life Insurance Company is a leading financial protection company and one of the nation's premier providers of life insurance, annuity, and investment products and services. AXA Equitable's assets under management totaled $888.6 billion as of December 31, 2007. The company's products and services are distributed to individuals and business owners through its retail distribution channel, AXA Advisors, LLC; to the financial services market through its wholesale distribution channel, AXA Distributors, LLC; and to corporations and their employees through its corporate distribution channel, Corporate Markets. AXA Equitable, a subsidiary of AXA Financial Inc., is part of the global AXA Group, a worldwide leader in financial protection strategies and wealth management. AXA Group's operations are geographically diverse, with major operations in Western Europe, North America, and the Asia/Pacific region. AXA Group is listed as the 15th largest company in the world on the 2007 Fortune Global 500 list (based on revenues). It had $1.87 trillion in assets under management as of December 31, 2007. Listed on the Paris Stock Exchange, the AXA ordinary share trades under the symbol AXA. The AXA American Depositary Share is listed on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker symbol AXA. For more information, visit http://www.axa-equitable.com/ http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20080709/NYW075 http://photoarchive.ap.org/ DATASOURCE: AXA Equitable Life Insurance Co. CONTACT: Mary A. Taylor, +1-212-314-5845, , or JoAnn Tizzano, +1-212-314-2979, , both of AXA Equitable Life Insurance Co. Web site: http://www.axa-equitable.com/

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