Deals & People March 6, 2014

An Organizational Shakeup for United Planners

Registered independent adviser and broker/dealer firm United Planners Financial Services says it is enacting staffing and organizational changes to better serve its adviser partners.
Reported by

The firm has appointed Mike Goyarts, who joined United Planners as a partner development consultant in 2013, to the new position of practice management consultant. United Planners says the role was created to expand and improve services offered to client-advisers.

Goyarts has 20 years of experience in the industry and has served in business development and relationship management positions with TD Ameritrade, Charles Schwab and Pershing. In his new role, Goyarts will provide advisers with tactical support for practice management initiatives, with an emphasis on leveraging strategic partnerships and technology resources.

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The firm says it has also added Thane Walton as a retirement plan consultant. Walton has worked in various sales and business development roles as an adviser to retirement plan clients, and as a business development officer supporting advisers, third-party administrators and recordkeepers. Most recently, Walton was a retirement plan regional sales manager with Mutual of Omaha. He previously worked with organizations such as Pacific Life, ADP, Principal Financial, Lincoln Financial and Mass Mutual.  

United Planners says it has also revised its organizational structure by creating a new division called Advisor Services. Led by vice president Billy Oliverio, the Advisor Services division is tasked with providing United Planners clients with retirement plan services, practice management support and investment advisory consulting.

United Planners Financial Services is a Securities and Exchange Commission-registered investment advisory firm and independent broker/dealer partnership serving hybrid advisers. The firm works with about 350 advisers in various markets across the United States, with headquarters in Scottsdale, Arizona. More information on the new hires and organizational shuffle is available at www.UnitedPlanners.com.

Advisers interested in working with the firm can call United Partner’s partner development team at 800-966-8737.

Compliance March 6, 2014

DOL Seeks Recovery of Va. Pension Plan Assets

The Department of Labor (DOL) is seeking to recover pension plan assets, of behalf of participants, from a construction company based in Radford, Virginia.
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The DOL filed a lawsuit, Perez v. Kinser et al. (docket number: 7:14-cv-00080), in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Virginia. The suit names Mark Kinser, Joyce Bennett and Unlimited Construction Inc. as defendants.

In the suit, Mark Kinser is noted as having been the sole owner and CEO of Unlimited Construction Inc., as well as a plan trustee. Joyce Bennett was a plan trustee until approximately July 2011. The suit alleges that in August 2010, Kinser withdrew $491,000 from the plan’s investment account. The check was made payable to Kinser and Bennett, who endorsed the check. The check was then deposited into a personal banking account in Kinser’s name.

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The DOL is seeking restitution to the plan for all losses due to the withdrawal of the $491,000, including: lost opportunity costs; the appointment of an independent fiduciary to administer or terminate the plan; and an injunction removing Unlimited Construction Inc., Kinser and Bennett as fiduciaries to the plan and permanently barring these parties from serving as fiduciaries to any plans covered by the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA).

A copy of the DOL lawsuit can be downloaded here.

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