Deals & People April 4, 2012

MassMutual Names Two for Sales and Client Services

MassMutual's Retirement Services Division named a new senior relationship manager and managing director to its sales and client management organization.  

 

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Ann Kutrow rejoined MassMutual’s Retirement Services Division as senior relationship manager. Garrett Carlough was promoted to managing director with MassMutual’s Retirement Services Division.

Based in Washington D.C., Kutrow serves on the south/central region client management team and is working with retirement plan advisers in the mid-market. She comes to MassMutual from The Meltzer Group, where she served as director of retirement plan consulting, a position she held since 2004. Kutrow first joined MassMutual’s Retirement Services Division in 2000 as a communications specialist. In this role, Kutrow reports to Brian Barrett, assistant vice president for MassMutual’s Retirement Services Division.

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Carlough is responsible for business development and sales support of MassMutual’s third-party and dedicated distribution channels in Washington, D.C., Maryland and Virginia. Before joining MassMutual in 2011 as sales director, he spent nearly six years with Principal Financial Group. Carlough will be based in Washington, D.C., and reports to Michael Reilly, divisional sales manager for MassMutual’s Retirement Services Division.

Compliance April 4, 2012

Explore General Ordered to Restore 401(k) Funds

Fresno, California-based Explore General Inc. and Jaime M. Gonzalez were ordered to restore $519,601 to the company’s 401(k) profit-sharing plan. 

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The suit alleged that the defendants failed to pay required fringe benefits to the plan and breached their fiduciary duties under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) by not administering the plan solely in the best interests of participants. At the time of the violations, Gonzalez was the owner and president of the company.

Chief Judge Anthony W. Ishii found that the now-defunct construction company was required to pay its workers an hourly prevailing wage rate, including a fringe benefit for each participant in the form of contributions to the retirement plan, when it was contracted to perform work on projects financed by government agencies. The company was paid in full by the agencies for its work, including fringe benefit amounts, and certified that it was sending the fringe benefits to the plan. However, the company failed to remit more than $300,000 to the plan, choosing instead to use the money for general operating expenses. In addition to that amount, the judge’s order requires the company to restore lost earnings to the plan.

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“Retirement savings are a vital part of ensuring a steady income after we leave the workforce, which is a key reason that Congress chose to give them special protections,” said Phyllis C. Borzi, assistant secretary of labor for employee benefits security. “Unfortunately, the individuals entrusted with protecting this plan violated those safeguards.”

The case is Solis v. Explore General Inc. No. 1:10-cv-01157-AWI-JLT. 

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