Deals & People March 26, 2008

Stecher To Lead MSIM’s Real Estate Funds of Funds Biz

Joseph D. Stecher will be joining Morgan Stanley Alternative Investment Partners as Managing Director and Chief Investment Officer of the firm’s real estate fund of funds business.
Reported by

He will be responsible for overseeing the identification, selection and management of real estate funds, and will be based in New York, working closely with Paul Vosper, Chief Operating Officer of the real estate fund of funds business, who is based in London, according to a press release.

Stecher has almost 25 years of real estate experience across all property types, structures and regions. He joins Morgan Stanley from Goldman Sachs where he was managing a global program of real estate funds of funds and separate accounts for institutions and high net worth individuals.

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Previously, he was at General Motors Asset Management for 15 years where he managed $1.5 billion of direct and indirect private equity real estate, committed more than $5 billion to a mix of real estate investments and oversaw the asset management of more than 33 million square feet of real estate.

The real estate fund of funds business is part of Morgan Stanley AIP, which includes portfolios of hedge funds and private equity funds. The real estate fund of funds business will offer solutions to clients seeking exposure to a global portfolio of opportunistic and value-added real estate funds, secondaries and co-investments, while seeking to provide superior risk adjusted returns.

Deals & People March 26, 2008

Hancock Beefs Up TPA Services Team

John Hancock Retirement Plan Services has added two senior officers dedicated to relationships with TPAs and realigned seven regional marketing directors to more closely work with the TPA Services team.
Reported by

The move signals a strengthened commitment to 401(k) third party administrator firms (TPAs) by the firm, according to a press release. “TPAs are extremely important business partners, and by expanding this team, we are in a better position to help them grow their businesses,” said George Revoir, Senior Vice President of John Hancock RPS. “By providing them with more support and sharing our expertise, everyone wins.”

Specifically, John Hancock has hired Allen Cairns and Steven Hart as Assistant Vice Presidents in charge of TPA relations in the East and West divisions, respectively. They will work to promote the interests and needs of John Hancock’s key TPA relationships within the company. Cairns joins John Hancock with more than 20 years experience in the industry, primarily as a managing and sales partner in a TPA practice. He will draw on his technical background of providing compliance and administrative services for defined contribution and defined benefit plans.

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Hart joins John Hancock with more than 19 years experience in the industry, primarily managing TPA programs on a national basis. According to the announcement, he will draw on his experience in developing and managing TPA focused products, systems, sales and marketing tools for providing assistance in placing qualified plans.

Marketing Director Moves

Additionally, seven Regional Marketing Directors, who previously reported to the sales department, will now be aligned under the TPA services team. Their new responsibilities will focus on supporting TPAs in their regions providing greater support, closer relationships and renewed commitment. Additionally, a team under the leadership of Ann Slotwinski (AVP of TPA Services) will continue to develop value-added programs for TPAs and bring TPA thoughts and concerns to John Hancock’s product and process development meetings.

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