J.P. Morgan Names Lead LDI Specialist

Sean Kurian has been hired as executive director and Lead LDI [liability-driven investing] Structuring Specialist for J.P. Morgan Asset Management.

In this newly created position, Kurian will be responsible for structuring and executing derivative-based solutions for liability-driven mandates, as well as working with clients and their advisers on designing complete LDI strategies as part of their customized de-risking strategy. He will be based in Columbus, Ohio, and he will report to Owais Rana, head of the Asset/Liability Solutions Group. 

Kurian joins from Towers Watson, where he worked for the past eight years. Most recently, he served as director and head of Structured Solutions for the Americas, where he augmented the firm’s risk management and derivative capabilities in the North American market and set up the firm’s execution platform for pension plans and insurance companies in the U.S. and U.K. Previously, Sean was the senior investment consultant and manager of the Towers Watson U.K. Structured Products team. Prior to Towers Watson, he spent four years at Mercer Investment Consulting, advising pension scheme clients about all aspects of their investment arrangements.   

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Kurian holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Actuarial Science from the Sir John Cass Business School, London City University, U.K., and a Master’s Degree in Mathematical Finance from Christ Church College, University of Oxford in the U.K. He is also a Fellow of the Society and Institute of Actuaries in the U.S. and U.K., respectively.

New York Life Names Retirement Admin Leader

New York Life announced that Don Desiderato has joined the firm as senior managing director and chief technology officer in the Investments Group.

Desiderato is responsible for the retirement administration, distribution and marketing, investment operations and warehouse platforms, along with infrastructure services and business/IT risk management. In addition, he is a member of the Investments Group Senior Leadership Team. He will report to John Kim, president of the Investments Group.  

Prior to joining New York Life, Desiderato was most recently principal and industry analyst at Novarica. Before that, he held chief information officer roles at Prudential and ING, as well as various IT leadership positions at Citigroup. Desiderato earned a Bachelor of Science Degree in Computer Information Systems from Quinnipiac University.   

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The company also announced that Cara-Anne Gagliano is a senior vice president in the Insurance Group. She is in charge of information technology strategy and all application development for life products, reporting to Susan Paternoster, senior vice president and chief information officer for the Insurance Group. Prior to joining New York Life, Gagliano worked at Nomura Securities International as global COO for equities technology, where she had global responsibility for business analysis, project governance, risk and control, as well as overall financial management. Before that, she held senior information technology leadership roles at CIT Group, Lehman Brothers and Deutsche Asset Management. Gagliano earned a Bachelor of Science Degree in Computer Science from St. John’s University.    

Thomas Hendry is senior vice president and treasurer, reporting to Senior Vice President, Deputy CFO and Controller John Fleurant. He is responsible for the treasury function, as well as financial planning, analysis and management reporting. Prior to joining New York Life, Hendry worked at Prudential, where he served in multiple key leadership roles in financial management, most recently as the treasurer for the life insurance businesses and, prior to that, focusing on solutions for defined benefit (DB) plans. Before that, he worked at Coopers and Lybrand in the financial advisory and assurance practices. Hendry earned an MBA from New York University and a Bachelor of Science Degree from Kings College. 

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