Deals & People August 6, 2013

Guardian Retirement Makes Sales Team Hires

Thomas Gleason, James Morris and Christine Wilhelm joined Guardian Retirement Solutions as regional vice presidents of retirement plan sales.
Reported by

Gleason brings more than 21 years of experience and will be responsible for retirement sales in Minnesota, North Dakota, South Dakota, Nebraska and Iowa. He is a former financial adviser for Ameriprise Financial. Gleason holds a bachelor’s degree in engineering from West Point Academy as well as FINRA Series 7, 63 and 65 licenses. 

Morris has more than 10 years of experience, including a position as a wealth management adviser for Merrill Lynch & Co., and most recently, vice president and senior wealth manager for First Financial Group. He will directly manage retirement sales in North Virginia, Maryland, Washington, D.C., and Delaware. Morris holds a bachelor’s degree in corporate communications and history from Elon University, as well as FINRA Series 7 and 66 licenses. 

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Wilhelm joins Guardian with more than 15 years of experience in financial services, including senior positions with Retirement Alliance Inc. and, most recently, ING Financial Services. Wilhelm’s responsibilities include overseeing retirement sales for Northern California. Wilhelm holds a bachelor’s degree in international studies from the University of California at Berkeley. She holds FINRA Series 6 and 63 licenses. 

The three will focus on the micro- to small-401(k) plan market.

Products August 5, 2013

Pentegra Enhances Participant Education Campaign

Pentegra Retirement Services introduced new features to its “Building Blocks for Retirement” campaign.
Reported by

The features, which will include posters and a multimedia tool highlighting critical — and simplified — advice about retirement, will enhance the current “Building Blocks For Retirement” online tool that was launched by Pentegra in July 2012.

According to Rich Rausser, Pentegra senior vice president of Client Services, “We are pleased to introduce new components in the Building Blocks for Retirement program. The new tools are designed to supplement our monthly Building Blocks e-newsletter by providing clients with a poster campaign and multimedia presentation designed to visually remind participants of the importance of your plan in building a successful and financially secure future. The information is delivered in an attractive and comprehensive, easy to absorb presentation and poster campaign that clients will find quite useful.”

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“The Building Blocks for Retirement” is a “library” of information located at Pentegra.com that offers participants retirement planning vehicles and informative content that is designed to remind them of the importance of saving and investing for retirement (see “Education Tool Reinforces Importance of Saving, Planning”). Topics covered include asset allocation, diversification, retirement planning essentials, investment strategy, risk tolerance, revisiting your portfolio and distribution planning.

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