Deals & People September 19, 2011

Lincoln Financial Distributors Hires Sales Directors

Lincoln Financial Distributors (LFD) has added three regional sales directors to its Institutional Retirement Solutions Distribution (IRSD) team.
Reported by

LFD, the wholesale distribution subsidiary of Lincoln Financial Group, hired Greg Hodges, Bryan Hissong, and John Byrne. All three will report to Aaron Moore, National Sales Director of Lincoln’s IRSD team.

Hodges’ territory will include Northern California, Washington, Alaska, Oregon, Utah, Colorado, Montana, Idaho, and Northern Nevada. Hissong will cover Missouri, Kansas, Oklahoma, Texas, and Louisiana. Byrne will be responsible for Ohio, Indiana, Michigan, Wisconsin, and Chicago, Illinois.  

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Hodges has nearly 20 years of retirement sales experience in the financial services industry. Prior to joining LFD, he was Vice President of Sales with Diversified Investment Advisors. He has also served in other retirement sales capacities with Great-West Retirement Services, New York Life Investment Management, ICMA Retirement Corporation, Fidelity Investments, and Wells Fargo.He received a B.A. in management and organizational leadership from George Fox University.

Hissong has more than 20 years of experience in the financial services industry. Prior to joining LFD, he was Vice President of Pension Sales for Prudential Financial, where he was responsible for the sale of full-service defined contribution, defined benefit, and nonqualified plans through advisers and consultants. He was ranked by the company as #1 in adviser-sold sales for 2009 and 2010. He has also worked at Massachusetts Financial Services, AIM Investment Management, and American United Life.  He received a B.S. from Kansas State University. 

Byrne has 15 years of experience in the financial services industry. Prior to joining LFD, Byrne was Vice President of Retirement Plan Sales for Prudential Retirement, where he was responsible for the sale of defined contribution and defined benefit plans through intermediaries to health care, non-profit, government, and Taft Hartley organizations. He has also held a variety of sales roles at Nationwide Retirement Solutions.He received a B.S. in family financial management from Ohio State University. 

Products September 19, 2011

Fidelity Expands Spartan Equity Index

Fidelity Investments has expanded its Spartan equity index mutual fund line-up with five low-cost funds.
Reported by

The funds include: Spartan Emerging Markets Index Fund, Spartan Global ex U.S. Index Fund, Spartan Mid Cap Index Fund, Spartan Real Estate Index Fund, and Spartan Small Cap Index Fund. Each new fund will be offered with multiple share classes at competitive prices, according to Fidelity.

Fidelity also added low-cost institutional share classes to three existing Spartan Index Funds: Spartan Total Market Index Fund, Spartan Extended Market Index Fund, and Spartan International Index Fund. This is in addition to the new institutional share classes launched in May 2011 for the Spartan 500 Index Fund and Spartan U.S. Bond Index Fund.

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Seeking to provide investment results that correspond to the performance of their respective market benchmarks, the five new equity index funds are:

  • Spartan Emerging Markets Index Fund, seeking to provide investment results that correspond to the total return of emerging stock markets, as represented by the FTSE Emerging Index
  • Spartan Global ex U.S. Index Fund, seeking to provide investment results that correspond to the total return of foreign developed and emerging stock markets, as represented by the MSCI ACWI (All Country World Index) ex USA Index
  • Spartan Mid Cap Index Fund, seeking to provide investment results that correspond to the total return of stocks of mid-capitalization U.S. companies, as represented by the Russell Midcap Index
  • Spartan Real Estate Index Fund, seeking to provide investment results that correspond to the total return of equity REITs and other real estate-related investments, as represented by the Dow Jones U.S. Select Real Estate Securities Index
  • Spartan Small Cap Index Fund, seeking to provide investment results that correspond to the total return of stocks of small capitalization U.S. companies, as represented by the Russell 2000 Index

Fidelity now offers investors and retirement plan sponsors access to 13 equity and bond Spartan index funds across the major investment categories, with total assets under management of more than $80 billion.

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