Weldon Wilson, Class of 1986, traces his successful legal and business career in the insurance industry to a “pure happenstance” assignment he received on his first day of work at a Dallas law firm. A partner handed him a huge stack of papers, explained that a client was interested in buying an insurance company, and told him to figure it out.
Weldon went on to represent life insurance companies as an attorney at two different law firms in Texas before joining the reinsurance company Life Re Corporation as general counsel. The company was later acquired by the Swiss Reinsurance Company, and he served as general counsel for the company’s global life insurance businesses. Later, he joined the executive board and became CEO of the company’s North American life reinsurance business.
After briefly retiring in 2009, Weldon turned his attention to volunteer and philanthropic pursuits. However, he was lured out of retirement to help launch Resolution Life in the United States. Resolution Life is a global firm that provides life insurance companies with the flexibility to grow and innovate by acquiring and administering their existing life insurance policies. He has served in a variety of roles with Resolution Life, and is currently vice chairman.
Weldon became a supporter of the Law School soon after graduation. An early and dedicated member of our Founders Circle beginning in the 1990s, he and his wife Elaine celebrated his 25th Reunion by establishing the Weldon Wilson Scholarship. They have continued to invest in the scholarship since, which has to date provided substantial support for 16 students. In 2021, in honor of Weldon’s 35th Reunion, the Wilsons documented a meaningful bequest to the scholarship.
In addition to making a Vanderbilt legal education possible for students, Weldon has been a member of the Law School Board of Advisors since 2011, including a two-year term as president. He has also helped to connect and engage his classmates and other alumni with the Law School through serving as a Reunion volunteer, and by hosting multiple events in both Nashville and New York. He has also aided student recruitment efforts in New York.
An Alabama native, Weldon earned his undergraduate degree at the University of Alabama in Huntsville. The Law School is a Wilson family tradition: Dee Ann Weldon Wilson, JD’83, was the first of the Wilson siblings to attend; now retired from a senior in-house legal position, she also served multiple terms on our Board of Advisors. Their younger brother Casey graduated from the Law School in 1989.
Weldon and Elaine live in New York City and are meaningful contributors of their time and resources to a range of charitable causes in New York and Connecticut.