Kandarian retired from MetLife on April 30, 2019 and was succeeded as president and CEO by Michel Khalaf and as chairman by Glenn Hubbard.

As CIO, Kandarian oversaw a number of initiatives that strengthened MetLife's investment portfolio, enhanced the company's focus on effective risk management and contributed to the bottom line.

[1] He is credited with preparing MetLife's portfolio prior to the 2007 recession, partly by anticipating the housing bubble and selling Stuyvesant Town—Peter Cooper Village in Manhattan in 2006.

[5] In his first three months as CEO, Kandarian expanded the company's senior leadership team with the hiring of Frans Hijkoop to head human resources [6] and Martin Lippert to oversee global technology.

Kandarian was appointed to head the PBGC on December 2, 2001, by Secretary of Labor Elaine L. Chao, announcing his departure on January 7, 2004. to return to his family in Boston.