Deals & People April 16, 2014

INTECH Hires Consultant Relations Director

Adam Craig joined INTECH Investment Management as a managing director of consultant relations.
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Craig is charged with establishing and retaining quality relationships with investment consultants across INTECH’s operations. He will also work with consulting resources to increase their understanding and endorsement of INTECH’s products and services.

Craig, who officially joined the firm April 14, reports to Phillip Leonardi, senior managing director and head of consultant relations.

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“The demand from institutional investors for risk-managed investment strategies that generate alpha continues to grow, and consultants play a critical role in the investment decisionmaking process,” Leonardi explains. “[Craig’s] history of working with consultants will help to ensure that our capabilities are understood by the appropriate investor base and that we continue to provide the highest level of service to consultants.”

Craig says he will focus on helping consultants deliver a balance between consistent alpha over time and disciplined risk management. If markets remain volatile, pursuing alpha within a risk-managed framework will become even more important to consultants and their clients, he says.

Craig has more than 20 years of investment management and consulting experience. Most recently he worked as director of consultant relations and business development at Analytic Investors. Before that, he was a vice president of consultant relations for Columbia Management. Craig was also senior investment consultant and a principal at Mercer Investment Consulting, after starting his career at Towers Watson.

He received a B.S. in mathematics from Pennsylvania State University and holds a chartered financial analyst (CFA) designation. He is a founding board member of The Boston Investment Professionals Association, Inc.

Products April 16, 2014

CUNA Mutual Group Introduces MEP

Credit unions providing a 401(k) program to 100 employees or more can save money and streamline their administrative tasks by joining a new multiple employer plan (MEP) administered by CUNA Mutual Group.
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An MEP is a single plan adopted by a group of employers, which may have a common interest though not common ownership. By comparison, a single employer plan covers employees of one employer, or several employers that are part of the same related group of employers.

The Credit Union Retirement Plan Association 401(k) Plan became available January 1. “This is the first national MEP designed exclusively for credit unions and their affiliates. When the Department of Labor published its Advisory Opinion in 2012 on open MEPs (that they are not single ERISA plans), we worked hard to come up with a solution so credit unions could get the full benefits of an MEP, including not having to do an annual audit of their plan,” says Paul Chong, senior vice president of CUNA Mutual Retirement Solutions, based in Madison, Wisconsin. ERISA plans are plans covered by the Employee Retirement Income Security Act.

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The new MEP includes advantages such as the elimination of annual plan audit expenses, reduction of employer’s fiduciary responsibility, and elimination of annual Form 5500 filings by individual employers.

“The plan administrator appointed by the association is responsible for the annual audit of the MEP, so credit unions can save audit costs, which typically run from $5,000 to $20,000 per year,” says Chong. “They also save staff time by not having to file the annual Form 5500.”

Chong says to be a member of the Credit Union Retirement Plan Association, an employer must be a member of the Credit Union National Association, Inc. (CUNA). Affiliates of CUNA members, such as wholly owned CUSOs, and credit union leagues, are also eligible to join the association. There are no association membership dues.

More information is available at 800-356-2644 or www.cunamutual.com.

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