Deals & People February 7, 2025

Retirement Industry People Moves – 2/7/25

Newfront Retirement Services adds associate vice presidents; CFP Board announces CEO Keller to retire in 2026; Focus Financial Partners names new CFO; Wagner Law Group welcomes a new partner; and more.

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Newfront Retirement Services Adds 2 Associate Vice Presidents

Matt Vallejo and Brandon Buckley joined Newfront Retirement Services as associate vice presidents. Vallejo brings expertise from a previous role at Fidelity Investments, while Buckley joins from Salesforce. Both will participate in Newfront’s mentorship program, pairing 1:1 with the company’s most successful, award-winning advisers, notes Greg Kaplan, practice leader of Newfront Retirement Services.

“Matt and Brandon are outstanding top performers who consistently push boundaries and drive innovation. We’re thrilled to have them on board, delivering exceptional results for our clients and plan participants,” says Kaplan.

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CFP Board Announces CEO Keller to Retire in 2026

Kevin R. Keller will retire as CEO of the CFP Board on April 30, 2026, the CFP Board announced. Keller has served in the role for nearly two decades.

The board of directors has initiated a planned succession process to ensure a smooth leadership transition. It has established a search committee and will engage an executive search firm later this year to assess internal candidates and conduct a national search.

“Kevin’s visionary leadership has transformed CFP Board and the financial planning profession,” said Liz Miller, chair of the board of directors. “Under his stewardship, CFP Board has achieved unprecedented growth and awareness while elevating the standards of the financial planning profession. The organization is well-positioned for its next chapter of leadership and continued success.”

Focus Financial Partners Names Jason Dubinsky Chief Financial Officer

Advisory network Focus Financial Partners Inc. announced that Jason Dubinsky will join Focus as its new chief financial officer, effective March 10, and will also join Focus’ operating committee. Most recently, he served as the CFO of Morningstar Inc. from 2017 through 2024.

James Shanahan will retire as chief financial officer and serve as a consultant to the company through the fall of 2025 to ensure a smooth transition.

“We are pleased to welcome Jason as our new Chief Financial Officer during such an exciting phase of growth and transformation for Focus,” said Michael Nathanson, the Focus CEO. “His valuable perspective, deep skill set, partnership approach, and track record for delivering results will complement and enhance Focus’ leadership team as we continue to progress on our journey to be the leading fiduciary advice company in the world.”

Partner Joins Wagner Law Group

Eric Keller

Wagner Law Group announced that Eric Keller has joined the firm’s Washington, D.C. office as a partner in its employee benefits and executive compensation practice.

For more than 25 years, Keller has focused his practice on executive compensation, employee benefits and workforce restructuring matters. Keller also maintains a broad-based practice representing domestic and international clients on executive compensation, tax-qualified retirement plans, health and welfare plans, and workforce restructuring matters.

He also designs and prepares plan documents and participant communications, negotiates service-provider contracts and assists clients in developing and operating efficient and prudent plan administration practices.

Shapiro Joins Venable’s Employee Benefits and Executive Compensation Practice

Andrew Shapiro

Venable LLP announced that Andrew Shapiro has joined the firm as a partner in the employee benefits and executive compensation practice.

Shapiro counsels public and private companies, as well as senior executives, on a broad spectrum of executive compensation and employee benefits matters. His practice includes designing and implementing incentive compensation, deferred compensation, employment, retention, change-in-control, severance and other compensatory and benefits arrangements.

“Andrew is a skilled employee benefits attorney who brings experience in a wide range of executive compensation and employee benefit matters,” said Juliana Reno, chair of the firm’s employee benefits and executive compensation practice. “We are thrilled to welcome him to our team in New York.”

Pacific Life Announces Promotions

Karen Neeley

Pacific Life Insurance Co. announced the promotion of Karen Neeley to senior vice president of its institutional retirement solutions group and Patricia Thompson to senior vice president and chief compliance and ethics officer.

Neeley will oversee the management and growth of the pension risk transfer and defined contribution lifetime income businesses, including responsibility for distribution, product development, operations and customer engagement.

Patricia Thompson

Thompson will oversee all compliance, ethics and privacy activities across the enterprise, including the maintenance and oversight of the code of conduct, ethics helpline and ensuring alignment with international data privacy laws and regulations.

Pantheon Announces Leadership Transitions

London-based Pantheon Ventures LLP named Kathryn Lead, who has played a role in the firm’s strategic development and led the firm’s real assets investment strategies, as CEO, succeeding Paul Ward, who is now executive chairman. Jeff Miller was elevated to CIO and also serves as global head of private equity.

In addition, the firm announced three new partner promotions across different areas of the business:

  • Janice Ince was promoted to partner in Pantheon’s global infrastructure team, where she focuses on identifying and executing a wide range of infrastructure investments in the U.S.;
  • Iain Jones was promoted to partner in Pantheon’s investor relations team, focused on existing relationships and business development in the U.S.; and
  • Marc Melia was promoted to partner in the legal and compliance team, where he also serves as European head of legal. Melia has responsibility and oversight for a broad range of functions, including product structuring.

New York Life Announces Head of New York Life Real Estate Investors

Thomas O’Hanlon

New York Life Investment Management LLC announced an upcoming leadership transition in New York Life Real Estate Investors. At the end of June, current Managing Director Thomas O’Hanlon will become head of NYLREI when Senior Managing Director Mark Talgo, the current NYLREI head, retires.

O’Hanlon will continue to serve in his current capacity as head of real estate equity well. He will report to New York Life Executive Vice President and CIO Tony Malloy and join Malloy’s senior leadership team.

O’Hanlon joined New York Life in 2004 as an acquisitions officer. In 2010, when New York Life’s general account began investing in real estate equity, he helped build NYLREI’s portfolio management and transactions teams. Over the next decade, O’Hanlon held roles of increasing responsibility, including head of transactions. He became head of real estate equity in 2019.

Client Service February 7, 2025

Most Workers Acknowledge the Importance of DC Plans

Nearly half of individuals with a DC plan said they probably would not be saving for retirement if not for their DC plans, according to research from the Investment Company Institute.

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Defined contribution account owners appreciate the saving and investing features of DC plans, with nearly nine out of 10 agreeing that the plans helped them think about the long term and made it easier to save.

Additionally, nearly half of individuals with a DC plan said they probably would not be saving for retirement if not for their DC plans, according to the recent Investment Company Institute report “American Views on Defined Contribution Plan Saving, 2024.”  

When it comes to retirement savings, 55% of respondents said they want a higher 401(k) match than what their employer currently offers, and 18% said they want a 401(k) match on student loan payments. Despite this, 72% of respondents feel at least somewhat confident that they will be able to save enough to support themselves in retirement, up from 68% who felt the same in 2023.

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A significant majority (85%) also agreed that the tax treatment of their retirement plans was a big incentive to their contributing, and many disagreed with proposals to remove or reduce tax incentives for retirement savings.

“It’s important when discussing changes to our retirement system for policymakers to note that current plans are working for millions of Americans,” said Sarah Holden, the ICI’s senior director of retirement and investor research, in a statement. “Most Americans, whether they currently have retirement accounts or not, have confidence in DC plans as they are and do not support any changes.”

The results come as Congress is in discussions to extend the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, a major priority for President Donald Trump. There are ongoing conversations in Washington, D.C, about where federal revenue to offset tax cut extensions could come from, and most tax-free or tax-favored programs are facing consideration.

Financial Stressors and Emergency Savings

While employees are increasingly confident about their ability to save enough money to support themselves in retirement, and more workers are building up their emergency savings, many are still anxious about their day-to-day finances and continue to feel the effects of elevated cost of living, according to several recent research reports.

After surveying 1,000 full-time employees in August 2024, Betterment at Work found that the most-reported financial stressor that employees faced in the previous 12 months was the increasing cost of living, followed by credit card debt and housing costs.

On the flip side, the survey found that 63% of respondents reported having an emergency fund—a jump from 52% in 2023. This included 82% of those reported being “very/somewhat financially stable,” as compared with 25% of those with “moderate/significant financial instability,” showing a correlation between feeling financially stable and having emergency savings, according to Betterment at Work.

But even though the majority of respondents reported having emergency funds, a shockingly high 54% said they use their retirement account for emergency expenses. Of those who have tapped into their retirement accounts for emergencies, 34% said they did so within the past year to pay for short-term expenses, such as rent, groceries and medical bills.

Mindy Yu, director of investing at Betterment at Work, said in the report that the findings indicated participants’ lack of awareness of the consequences of early retirement account withdrawals.

Under the SECURE 2.0 Act of 2022, employers can allow participants to cash out up to $1,000 from a 401(k) or IRA for emergency withdrawals without the participant paying a penalty.

Betterment at Work found that Millennials were the most likely age cohort to have tapped into their emergency fund in the preceding 12 months. Those with student debt were almost twice as likely as those without student debt to have tapped their emergency fund.

 

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