Kimberly Shaw Elliott has joined Independent Financial Partners (IFP) as president of IFP Plan Advisors. She will provide strategic direction for the division, which oversees more than $35 billion in retirement plan assets under advisement.

Under Elliott’s leadership, the firm’s plan advisers will deliver several new services, including a dedicated call center for retirement plan participants; a request for proposal (RFP) service department; annual conferences for retirement plan advisers; marketing materials and co-branding opportunities.

Known in the industry as a speaker and subject matter expert, Elliott will help IFP’s retirement plan-focused advisers navigate the complex rules surrounding employee benefits, securities law, broker/dealer regulation and taxes. She will also define IFP’s risk management strategies for retirement programs, provide thought leadership and training to advisers, and serve as the firm’s ERISA (Employee Retirement Income Security Act) counsel.

“The rules surrounding retirement plans are continuously evolving, and it’s a challenge for clients and their advisers to keep up on their own,” Elliott observes. “IFP’s retirement plan advisers now have a team dedicated to helping them assist their plan sponsor clients.”

A former private practice attorney, Elliott has represented broker/dealers, investment advisers, insurance companies and others across the nation, focusing on distribution and fiduciary responsibility. Previously, she worked for many years as lead counsel and an executive for a number of financial services companies.

Elliott holds a bachelor’s degree in mass communication, radio and television, from Southern Illinois University at Edwardsville, as well as three post-graduate degrees from Washington University in St. Louis: juris doctor, Latin legum magister in taxation and an executive master’s in business administration.

Jay Bloom has been hired as director of business development, and will work directly with plan advisers to ensure that IFP delivers the ideas, resources and support.

Bloom brings a perspective built from his years of experience working exclusively with retirement plans.

“I was attracted to IFP because of the scope of its business and diversity of its advisers,” he said. “We are an important player in this sector and should be a destination for retirement plan advisers looking to work with a hybrid RIA.”

Bloom joined the executive team at 401(k) Exchange in 2004, where he helped grow the institutional business channel until 2008, when he helped launch a 401(k) Exchange subsidiary, Jupiter Distribution Partners, a broker/dealer providing hybrid wholesaling services to Cullen Funds and First American Funds. In 2010, Bloom covered Florida as a regional vice president for The Retirement Advantage, a national third-party administrator focused on administering defined benefit and defined contribution plans. He joins IFP from Strategic Growth Advisors, a firm he founded in 2011 that delivered prospects to retirement-focused advisers.

John P. Carbone has joined Fred Alger Management as senior vice president, institutional sales and service. He will concentrate on growing sales and managing ongoing institutional relationships. Along with the existing institutional team, he will be responsible for fostering new relationships and increasing market presence in the institutional, consultant, and certain retirement and bank trust markets. Carbone will report to Jim Tambone, executive vice president, chief distribution officer.

Carbone, who has 20 years of experience, was most recently at BNY Mellon Investment Management, where he grew revenue through direct sales to corporate retirement plan sponsors on the East Coast. Prior to BNY Mellon, Carbone held senior institutional sales roles at The Hartford and Mellon Financial. Carbone coordinated benefit administration delivery and client servicing at Hewitt Associates. He holds a bachelor’s degree in finance from Providence College.

Matthew J. Goldberg has joined as senior vice president, divisional sales manager. He will lead and develop Alger’s team of regional marketing managers located in the western half of the U.S. Goldberg’s team is responsible for expanding relationships and creating new ones with advisers in wirehouses, independent broker/dealers and RIA offices, as well as expanding Alger’s market reach of growth equity strategies. He will report to Elizabeth Clapp-Carey, senior vice president, head of retail sales.

Goldberg, who has 24 years of experience, has spent his entire investment career at Columbia Threadneedle Investments (and its predecessors), most recently as divisional vice president for the West Coast and, previously, as regional vice president in California. Goldberg holds a bachelor’s degree in finance from Lehigh University.

Fred Alger Management reports that it manages more than $23.8 billion in assets as of June 30.

Jessica Portis joined Mercer Investments as a senior consultant to support Mercer’s work in the endowment, foundation and non-profit health care sectors.

Portis will report to Kim Wood, senior partner and not-for-profit segment leader. She takes on the new role effective September 8, and will be located in Mercer’s St. Louis office.

Previously, Portis was a senior consultant and business leader at Summit Strategies. She has extensive experience in investment consulting, Mercer says, including expertise in servicing public pension, corporate defined benefit and defined contribution, endowment, foundation and not-for-profit health care clients.