Retirement Industry Deals and People Moves – 6/20/2025

CBIZ appoints Seth Goldblum to lead advisory services; Aidentified hires Dan Cavanaugh as head of wealth management; ADISA names new executive director; and more.

CBIZ Appoints Seth Goldblum to Lead Advisory Services

CBIZ Inc. has announced the appointment of Seth Goldblum as national leader of advisory services, effective June 1. Goldblum specializes in driving profitable growth and building long-term alliances. He is responsible for leading the firm’s advisory practice.

Goldblum joined the firm in 2017 and has led its private equity advisory practice since January 2020. Before CBIZ, he served in various executive leadership positions, including chief financial officer and chief operations officer at Vertical Screen Inc. and CFO and vice president of corporate development at DigitHut Inc. Earlier in his career, he held senior management roles at Deloitte.

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“This appointment reflects our commitment to investing in one of the most critical and fast-growing areas of our business,” said Chris Spurio, president of CBIZ financial services, in a statement. “Seth’s leadership, both within CBIZ and across his 30-plus-year career, uniquely positions him to lead our advisory practice into its next chapter of growth and impact.”

Aidentified Hires Dan Cavanaugh as Head of Wealth Management

Dan Cavanaugh

Aidentified Inc. has appointed Dan Cavanaugh as head of wealth management. He will lead product delivery and strategic expansion within the firm’s wealth management segment.

“Dan’s deep industry expertise and product-first mindset make him a tremendous asset as we continue to expand our footprint in the wealth space,” said Tom Rauker, Aidentified’s co-CEO, in a statement. “His leadership will be key as we further innovate to serve the evolving needs of financial professionals.”

Cavanaugh brings more than 25 years of experience in software and financial services technology. Most recently, he served as head of products and services for data and analytics solutions at BNY.

ADISA Names John Grady as Executive Director

John Grady

The Alternative and Direct Investment Securities Association named John Grady as executive director, succeeding the retiring John Harrison. Grady recently resigned as ADISA’s board president—a position he has held since 2017—to assume his new role.

“I have full confidence in John Grady, who has demonstrated his unwavering commitment to the association’s growth and advocacy for many years,” said Harrison in a statement.

Grady has sat on the firm’s legislative and regulatory committee for more than a decade. He has authored articles on behalf of ADISA, campaigned with congressional staff and provided public policy insight.

Grady brings more than three decades of experience in the investment management industry. He currently serves as general counsel at ABR Dynamic Funds. Before joining ABR, Grady was a partner in both Practus LLP and DLA Piper LLP and held positions within firms focused on managed futures, real estate and other alternative investments.

Nixon Peabody Adds Mark Stember as Partner

Mark Stember

Nixon Peabody LLP added Mark Stember as a partner, expanding the firm’s employee benefits and executive compensation team. Stember is based in the firm’s Washington, D.C. office.

Stember brings experience counseling public and private clients on health and welfare benefits governed by the Employee Retirement Income Security Act, fringe benefit plans, privacy requirements of the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act, executive compensation and qualified retirement plans. He has recently advised clients on the use of artificial intelligence in third-party administrator services, value-based care arrangements, telemedicine and direct-provider administrator services. Stember also works with clients on short- and long-term disability and applicable funding arrangements.

“Mark will be an excellent fit for both our office and our firmwide culture as a whole,” said Sumeet Sharma, managing partner of the Washington office, in a statement. “His strong relationships and extensive experience … will be an immediate benefit to our clients as we continue to add targeted depth and breadth of services in Washington, DC.”

Stember previously chaired multiple employee benefits committees for the American Bar Association. He currently serves as a fellow in the American College of Employee Benefits Counsel.

Arthur Toth Returns to Nationwide Retirement Solutions

Arthur Toth

Nationwide Retirement Solutions announced that Arthur Toth has rejoined the company as technical director. Toth will focus on sales of fixed-annuity products as an investment solution, aiming to drive adoption in state-initiated savings plans. He reports to Hutch Schafer, vice president of business development.

“Arthur’s deep experience across a wide range of financial services roles will greatly benefit our team and the partners and plan sponsors that we serve,” Schafer said in a statement. “His dedicated support will be instrumental in accelerating our growth for an important part of our business.”

Toth returned to Nationwide from WTW. Before joining WTW as a project leader in February 2023, Toth served an eight-year tenure at Nationwide. His roles included business development for pension risk transfer, investment analysis in the office of investments and actuarial support for the specialty insurance business.

Cohen & Steers Names Seth Laughlin as Head of Real Estate Strategy,  Research

Seth Laughlin

Cohen & Steers Inc. has appointed Seth Laughlin as senior vice president and head of real estate strategy and research. Laughlin will lead the team responsible for identifying and analyzing long-term and secular real estate development ideas and head an integrated listed and private real estate strategy function. He reports to Jon Cheigh, president and chief investment officer.

“Seth brings significant expertise and a deep understanding of real estate investing, which will be highly value-added to our investment teams and clients,” Cheigh said in a statement. “Under his leadership, the Real Estate Strategy group will continue to analyze the intersection of the listed and private real estate markets to uncover value and alpha-generating opportunities.”

Laughlin joins the firm with more than 20 years of real estate experience. He most recently served as managing director and head of U.S. market research at Green Street. Previously, he served in equity leadership and analyst roles at Green Street, ISI Group and Merrill Lynch.

Asset Managers Predict Global Equities Will Be Best Short-Term Asset

Bank of America’s June Global Fund Manager Survey found that, over the next five years, a significant number of investors expect international stocks to be top performers.

Asset managers and institutional investors surveyed by Bank of America suggested overwhelmingly that international stocks will be the best-performing asset over the next five years. The bank’s monthly Global Fund Survey, conducted from June 6 through 12, polled 190 investors who collectively manage $523 billion.

Approximately 54% of the responding investors reported they expect international stocks to be the best-performing asset class, while only 23% of those surveyed said U.S. stocks will be the best performers. Thirteen percent of respondents said gold would be the best-performing asset, while 3% said corporate bonds and 2% said government bonds.

Month over month, investors rotated the most into emerging markets, equities and the energy sector, while rotating the most out of the euro, the utilities sector and cash.

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According to the survey, investors in June were most overweight in their positioning to the eurozone, emerging markets and banks, while being most underweight U.S. equities, the dollar and the energy sector.

According to the survey, investors cited in the bank’s Fund Managers Survey are the most underweight they have been to the dollar in 20 years.

Relative to the average long-term position over the last 20 years, investors are most overweight the Euro, bonds and the utilities sector, while they are most underweight the U.S. dollar, bonds and utilities.

The survey also found that investor sentiment is recovering to pre-“liberation day” levels, as trade war and recession fears decline.

Despite a rebound in equity markets from lows following President Donald Trump’s tariff announcements in April, U.S. equities—driven by a technology- and artificial intelligence-fueled rally—are still underperforming their global counterparts. The S&P 500 has returned 1.95% year-to-date, while the STOXX Europe 600 and the iShares MSCI China Index have returned 1.94% and 17.83%, respectively, during the same period. The iShares MSCI Japan Index has returned 10.16%, and the iShares MSCI Emerging Markets index has returned 13.15%. Weaker U.S. equities have led investors to search globally for diversification.

“We do think there are going to be pockets of opportunities outside of the U.S. to diversify more geographically,” says Mao Dong, co-head of portfolio management and head of portfolio research at PGIM Multi-Asset Solutions.

Some of the opportunities identified by PGIM include European equities, specifically European defense companies, as well as European credit in the securitized market, along with investing in Japan.

“Valuations are very attractive for European equities; we can see pretty low expectations priced into these stocks, even after a significant rally this year,” says Kristina Hooper, chief market strategist at Man Group.

PGIM’s Dong suggests the market climate should prompt investors to consider opportunities globally.

“I’d say the U.S. will continue to be a dominant driver of returns globally, but it doesn’t mean that we can’t look to diversify away a bit from that and into these areas of opportunities,” Dong says.

Of the 190 survey respondents, 62 were institutional investors, 78 were mutual funds, 17 were hedge funds and 33 were other types of investors.

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