Mercer Investments Adds Four Senior Hires

Mercer Investments is adding four senior investment professionals to its staff to provide additional client support across the firm’s North America regions.

Rich Nuzum, head of Mercer Investments in North America, says the firm is building additional delivery capacity ahead of anticipated growth in its investment consulting and fiduciary management business. New hires include:

  • Neeraj Baxi, previously a director with Primus Investment Management and a principal with EnnisKnupp, is joining Mercer as a senior investment consultant in New York. He holds a bachelor’s degree in commerce from Sydenham College of Commerce and Economics in Mumbai, India, and an M.B.A. from the Indian Institute of Management in Bangalore, India. He also holds a chartered financial analyst (CFA) designation and a master’s of science degree in financial markets from the Illinois Institute of Technology.
  • Brett Horton, previously a director with Duff & Phelps, has joined Mercer as a senior consultant and principal to help enhance investment manager operational risk assessment services. He has more than 25 years of experience focusing on operational risk, due diligence and the detection of operational fraud and embezzlement. Horton’s undergraduate concentration was in economics at Brigham Young University.
  • Chris Kohler, most recently with Entrust and previously with Hewitt EnnisKnupp, has joined Mercer Investments as a senior consultant supporting the firm’s endowments and foundations business. Kohler received a bachelor’s of science degree from Pennsylvania State University and an M.B.A. from Carnegie Mellon University’s Tepper School of Business.
  • Greg Korte, previously founder and Principal of Korte & Associates Consulting, LLC, a specialist custody and investment operations consulting firm, has joined as a senior consultant and head of Mercer’s custody consulting business in North America. Korte has 30 years of experience in the investments service industry. He received a bachelor’s of science degree from Franklin University, concentrating on finance and management.

Guardian Puts Emphasis on Social Media

The Guardian Life Insurance Company of America says more than eight in 10 (81%) of its financial representatives regularly engage with clients  and prospects on social media channels.

Guardian says these representatives have completed a social media training program to ensure successful interactions with customers and business partners via online channels. The training program covers social media basics, compliance issues, and how to leverage social capital through content planning, creation and publication. Further, the firm says it is working to extend its social media training program across its entire wholesaler network.

Guardian is also leveraging new content, compliance and retention software to equip its financial representatives and wholesalers with tools to effectively grow business through social media platforms such as LinkedIn and Facebook. Guardian says the successful use of these tools provides its agents with the ability to connect with more prospects, attain new clients and increase the assets under management in their books of business.

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“Guardian’s financial representatives and wholesalers need to be where our clients are and increasingly this is on social media platforms,” explains Kurt Shallow, vice president of risk products distribution at Guardian. “These forums provide unprecedented client access and engagement opportunities, and are also great tools for recruitment and professional development for our agents and wholesalers.”

Guardian’s social media program provides its reps with access to relevant materials, such as articles, images and videos that can be passed along to their clients and prospects. These interactions are captured to remain compliant with federal regulations, Guardian says. On average, Guardian’s users share eight pieces of content each month to create new touch points and avenues of engagement with clients.

For more information about Guardian’s social media efforts is at www.GuardianLife.com.

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