Deals & People January 22, 2009

Great-West Continues Focus on 401(k) Advisers, Consultants, TPAs

Great-West Retirement Services has appointed two regional sales directors to focus on development of new corporate 401(k) plan business through brokers, financial advisers, consultants, wirehouses, and third-party administrators.
Reported by

According to a press release, Mike Demler, will be responsible for western Michigan, and Trevor Silveria will be responsible for central and southern Virginia and the state of West Virginia.

Demler joins Great-West Retirement Services from The Hartford. Silveria also previously worked at The Hartford and MFS Investment Management.

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Great-West recently announced the appointment of two new sales directors within the Northwest and Northeast regions (see “Great-West Retirement Appoints Two Regional Sales Directors’).

Compliance January 22, 2009

Law Firms Investigating State Street 401(k) Fiduciaries

Two class action law firms are investigating conduct that they believe may have caused losses to State Street’s 401(k) plan and might have violated the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA).
Reported by

The law firms of Pyle, Rome, Lichten, Ehrenberg & Liss-Riordan, P.C., and Stember Feinstein Doyle & Payne, LLC, announced they are investigating whether certain fiduciaries of the State Street Salary Savings Program knew or should have known that statements regarding the company’s financial health were inaccurate, which the law firms contend may have caused the price of State Street’s shares to be artificially inflated.

Specifically, according to the announcement, the firms are investigating whether State Street breached its fiduciary obligations under ERISA by:

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  • continuing to offer State Street common stock as an investment option for participant contributions when it was imprudent to do so;
  • failing to take action to sell State Street stock or otherwise protect the plan’s assets;
  • failing to adequately disclose alleged problems with off-balance sheet assets.


More information is available at www.prle.com or www.stemberfeinstein.com.

Stember Feinstein announced a number of similar investigations since the economic downturn began (see “Pharmaceutical Company Could Face Company Stock Suit’).

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