John Hancock Picks Retirement Exec for Chief Marketing Officer

David Longfritz has been selected as the first Chief Marketing Officer at John Hancock Financial.

Previously, Longfritz served as senior vice president and general manager of John Hancock’s Retirement Income & Rollover Solutions (RIRS) unit. Karen Walsh was chosen to take over this position.  

Longfritz reports to James R. Boyle, President of John Hancock, and is a member of his senior management team.  

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As Chief Marketing Officer, Longfritz is responsible for brand communication functions and for developing new strategies to help John Hancock’s insurance and wealth management business units achieve their objectives.  He also has executive responsibility for John Hancock’s sponsorship opportunities such as the Boston Marathon and the Boston Red Sox. 

The Retirement Income & Rollover Solutions (RIRS) unit develops integrated lifetime retirement solutions for individuals, utilizing the products and services provided by John Hancock’s wealth management businesses. Longfritz led the formation of RIRS in early 2007, and the company reports the unit has experienced considerable success in retaining clients’ retirement assets with John Hancock.  

Prior to joining John Hancock in 2000, Longfritz was a retail broker with Merrill Lynch. He also held marketing positions with Procter & Gamble, Titleist and Dunlop.

 

Are Benefits of Investing in Alternatives Overstated?

A report from the Center for Retirement Research at Boston College suggests that for corporate pension plans, the potential diversification benefits from investing in alternative investments may be overstated.

Researcher Divya Anantharaman examined the determinants and consequences of corporate pension plan investments in hedge funds and private equity and found plans with alternative investments earn higher returns in the pre-crisis period, but also have a worse performance during times of crisis. The report said “overall, there seems to be very little evidence that plans with allocations to alternative assets weathered the market crisis better than their peers who invested only in ‘traditional’ stocks and bonds. If anything, the evidence indicates that they performed slightly worse.”  

Anantharaman found highly leveraged firms with low market-to-book ratios and volatile earnings performance are more likely to invest in alternative assets, indicating that financially constrained firms choose alternative investments to increase asset returns and minimize pension contributions. In addition, the research found a nonlinear relationship between plan funding status and alternative investing – very underfunded and well-funded plans are less likely to make alternative investments compared to moderately underfunded plans, suggesting that such plan sponsors may avoid these investments to minimize contribution volatility.  

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The report can be downloaded here.  

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