Retirement Industry People Moves - 5/23/2025
TIAA expands its retirement product team; Mutual of America names a CFO; FINRA appoints a new public governor; and more.
TIAA Expands Retirement Product Team
Chris Stickrod, head of retirement product at TIAA, announced three changes to the organization, effective June 1.
Bridget Bouchard will take on an expanded role, leading strategic annuity product management. Bouchard will establish strategic product roadmaps for multiple existing and new products and craft enhanced product capabilities for TIAA’s core customers, including development of collective investment trust solutions for TIAA’s core annuities and transforming and developing new capabilities for the real estate account and decumulation product suite.
Elena Rotolo will take on a new role leading product portfolio management. Among other responsibilities, her team will provide support across variable and fixed annuities and RetirePlus to put forth innovative approaches, enhance productivity and streamline processes.
Brenda St Arnaud will take on an expanded role as head of institutional annuity product. In this role, St Arnaud will lead product management for variable and fixed annuities, including CREF, TIAA Traditional, Secure Income Account and stable value solutions.
Mutual of American Names Executive VP, CFO
The Mutual of America Financial Group announced that Christine Janofsky joined the company as executive vice president and chief financial officer. She reports to Stephen J. Rich, chairman, CEO and president of Mutual of America.
Janofsky is responsible for leading the corporate finance and corporate financial services divisions. Among other responsibilities, she directs financial planning and analysis (including budgeting and forecasting), oversees treasury and cash management to make sure the company maintains liquidity to meet its obligations and ensures the company’s financial reports comply with regulatory standards.
She brings more than 25 years of finance and insurance experience to the position. Prior to joining Mutual of America, Janofsky was the chief financial officer and treasurer of Nassau Financial Group.
FINRA Appoints New Public Governor
The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority announced the appointment of Stephen Luparello as a public governor on its board of governors.
“Steve’s deep understanding of securities regulation and markets, combined with his experience across the public and private sectors, will be invaluable as the board continues to help FINRA advance its mission of protecting investors and safeguarding market integrity,” said FINRA Board Chair Scott Curtis in a statement.
Luparello most recently served as managing director and general counsel of Citadel Securities from 2017 until his retirement in 2022. He was director of the Securities and Exchange Commission’s Division of Trading & Markets from 2014 to 2017, overseeing policy related to secondary markets and intermediaries.
Franklin Equity Group Appoints Head of Portfolio Construction, Quantitative Risk
Franklin Templeton announced the appointment of Surajit Ray to the newly created position of head of portfolio constructions and quantitative risk in Franklin Templeton’s Franklin Equity Group. He will be based in New York City.
Reporting to Jonathan Curtis, Franklin Equity Group’s chief investment officer, Ray will work in partnership with FEG’s various strategy teams to enhance the group’s systematic risk-aware portfolio construction processes. This role will help portfolio strategy teams align investments to a risk framework that assesses a range of scenarios and outcomes.
Prior to joining Franklin Templeton, Ray was the head of investment risk analysis at the Public Investment Fund sovereign wealth fund in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.