Deals & People September 4, 2014

Mesirow Financial Adds to Investment Unit

Mike DiCenso joined Mesirow Financial as managing director and head of national sales on the investment strategies team. 
Reported by

DiCenso is responsible for strategic initiatives, business development, sales and marketing. He reports to Mike Annin, the group’s senior managing director. 

DiCenso has more than 27 years of experience in executive-level business development, sales and marketing roles in institutional retirement services. Before coming to Mesirow Financial, he was president at Gallagher Fiduciary Advisors, where he was responsible for growing assets in the retirement service division. Prior to Gallagher, DiCenso was executive vice president of sales and marketing with RSM McGladrey.

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DiCenso holds a bachelor’s degree in business administration, with a double major in management and marketing, from Missouri Southern State University. He completed the LIMRA Leadership Institute Fellowship (LLIF) program at Babson College.

The Mesirow Financial investment strategies team is an independent, third-party consultant that provides asset-allocation strategies and manager selection to defined contribution providers.

Products September 4, 2014

Guardian Adds Investment Options to Retirement Platforms

The Guardian Insurance & Annuity Company, Inc. (GIAC) added 21 investment options to The Guardian Choice and The Guardian Advantage group retirement plan products.
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The company says the enhancements increase the flexibility and breadth of asset classes for plan sponsors using these products to fund their qualified retirement plans.

The additions include offerings from new fund families, such as American Funds, Morgan Stanley Investment Management, Natixis Funds, OppenheimerFunds and Putnam Investments. New funds are also being added from existing fund families, including Vanguard, MFS, Franklin Templeton Investments and Invesco. With these news funds, The Guardian Choice now totals 138 funds, while The Guardian Advantage has 111. 

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“The investment options in our group retirement product line-up offer a large selection of investment options across the risk/reward spectrum that are managed by some of the most well-recognized investment managers in the industry,” says Douglas Dubitsky, vice president at Guardian Retirement Solutions. “With multiple qualified default investment alternative (QDIA) options and no proprietary fund requirements, GIAC’s group retirement funding vehicles allow plan sponsors to select from a diverse and flexible fund line-up best suited to meet the needs of their plan participants.”

Guardian Retirement Solutions is a provider of group retirement products in the micro- to small-plan market, helping plan sponsors, plan participants and the financial professionals who serve them optimize the retirement planning process. For more information, visit http://401k.guardianlife.com/.

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