GRP Names Chief Operating Officer

GRP is a new retirement plan advisory firm and office of supervisory jurisdiction (OSJ) being built out of LPL’s acquisition of broker/dealer Financial Telesis (see “LPL and Financial Telesis Create New RIA Firm”). Bill Chetney, CEO of GRP, says of the need to form GRP within LPL, all advisers are licensed with LPL but are required to have an OSJ at the broker/dealer (B/D). GRP is going to be the only “retirement-centric OSJ,” Chetney says, which he says is the last piece of the puzzle for LPL to fully specialize in retirement plans and “be dominant in this space.” (See “GRP Recruits Three from 401(k) Advisors”) Giles is tasked with defining and executing strategic programs to increase the value delivered to clients, empowering plan participants and broadening retirement plan offerings for advisers.

Global Retirement Partners has ambitious programs to implement around participant advice and employee education, and Giles has the proven ability to execute on complex projects, Chetney said in a statement. “We expect to be servicing 300 advisers with over $100 million in revenue and $80billion of assets by mid-2015, so having someone with Christopher’s adviser-facing expertise is crucial to our success.”

Giles brings more than 20 years of experience in financial services, with previous roles at Ameriprise Financial and American Express Financial Advisors. Most recently, at LPL Financial, he was senior vice president of adviser-facing technology solutions, responsible for the strategic direction and day-to-day management of products and services in the division.

Before joining LPL, Giles served as vice president of adviser-facing solutions at Ameriprise Financial, where he managed an annual profit and loss unit in excess of $100 million. In this role, he delivered new software-as-a-service technology systems and maintained all necessary facets of more than 100 adviser applications. 

As vice president of the business solutions group at Ameriprise, he led a team that covered business strategy, technical design, user-experience design, marketing/communications, operations and offshore contractors. In addition to his corporate experience in the industry, Giles spent nine years in the field as an adviser and in field leadership with Ameriprise Financial.

Giles holds a bachelor’s degree in business management and marketing from Cornell University.