Retirement Industry Deals and People Moves – 11/21/2025

Mesirow Appoints Nitay Laor as Director of Strategic Growth and Acquisitions

Mesirow Financial Holdings Inc. announced Thursday the appointment of Nitay Laor as Mesirow Wealth Management’s director of strategic growth and acquisitions, a newly created role. He will lead efforts to execute strategic partnerships, acquisitions and adviser recruitment.

Nitay previous served as Mesirow Investment Banking’s vice president, where he led transactions across the industrial, business service and packing sectors.

Wells Fargo Taps Tim Froehlich as Head of Investment Products

Tim Froehlich

Wells Fargo selected Tim Froehlich to be the head of investment products within its wealth and investment management division, effective January 1, 2026. He will succeed Patty Loepker, who plans to overlap with Froehlich for two months before retiring on March 1, 2026.

Froehlich will lead the strategy and development of WIM’s investment offerings, including retirement services, advisory, packaged products, alternative investments, insurance, annuities and structured notes, and will report to Darrell Cronk, WIM’s CIO. Froehlich most recently led WIM’s insurance, annuities and market-linked investments and previously co-led the alternative investments group. Froehlich joined Wells Fargo in 2002 after five years with ING broker/dealer network.

Manulife John Hanock Welcomes Anne Thibeault as Head of Product

Anne Thibeault

Manulife John Hancock, the U.S. retirement business of Manulife Wealth & Asset Management, appointed Anne Thibeault as head of product.

Thibeault will lead product strategy and transformation, product delivery and the benefits consulting group. She brings more than 20 years of experience in the retirement industry, most recently having served as senior vice president and head of advisory group at Empower. She had earlier served as an Empower vice president and head of product delivery.

“Anne is a strategic and forward-thinking leader with deep expertise in the retirement space,” said Wayne Park, CEO of Manulife John Hancock Retirement, in a statement. “Her experience in driving transformation and delivering innovative, participant-focused solutions will be instrumental as we continue to evolve our product offerings to meet the needs of today’s retirement savers.”

Cresset Names Albert Leshinsky Head of Corporate Development

Albert Leshinsky

Cresset Capital Management LLC named Albert Leshinsky managing director and head of corporate development.

Based in New York, Leshinsky will lead Cresset’s national strategy for recruiting and integrating advisory teams.

Leshinsky brings nearly two decades of experience in wealth management and corporate development.

Nationwide Picks JJ Pérez to Lead Strategic Customer Solutions Team

Albert Leshinsky

Nationwide Financial announced that Juan José (JJ) Pérez will become the leader of its strategic customer solutions team, effective November 24. Nationwide’s pick of Pérez follows Tina Ambrozy’s announcement that she will step down as current leader of strategic customer solutions and retire at year-end.

Pérez most recently served as president of Nationwide Corporate Solutions, overseeing a portfolio of solutions including Nationwide Business Solutions Group, pension risk transfer, pet insurance and securities-backed lending. He first joined Nationwide in 2009 as a fellow in the general counsel rotation program. Since then, he has served in leadership roles in finance and strategy, retirement plan operations and in Nationwide’s corporate strategy office.