Retirement Industry People Moves – 1/17/25

JPMorganChase announces new responsibilities for senior leaders; NEPC names Contorno principal and head of DC vendor management; CG Financial Services Appoints Hiipakka as President and COO; and more.

 JPMorganChase Announces New Responsibilities for Senior Leaders

Daniel Pinto

JPMorgan Chase & Co. announced new responsibilities for several senior executives across its global financial services departments.

Daniel Pinto, president and chief operating officer, who has served the firm for more than 40 years, informed Chairman and CEO Jamie Dimon of his decision to retire at the end of 2026. Pinto will relinquish his responsibilities as COO immediately and as president as of June 30. He will continue to serve the company as vice chairman.

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Jennifer Piepszak

Jennifer Piepszak, currently co-CEO of JPMorganChase’s Commercial & Investment Bank, has been named the company’s new chief operating officer. She will work closely with Pinto over the next few months. Piepszak will manage and coordinate technology, operations, the chief administrative office, data and analytics, corporate strategy, and diversity, equity and inclusion efforts. She will also oversee the firm’s global corporate centers in India and the Philippines, which employ more than 80,000 professionals.

Doug Petno

, currently co-head of global banking, will succeed Piepszak as co-CEO of the CIB, partnering with current CIB Co-CEO Troy Rohrbaugh to manage the business. John Simmons, currently head of commercial banking, will succeed Petno and join Filippo Gori as the new co-head of global banking, with both reporting to Petno and Rohrbaugh. 

NEPC Names Contorno Principal and Head of Defined Contribution Vendor Management

Michael Contorno

EPC LLC, an investment consulting firm, appointed Michael Contorno as a principal and head of defined contribution vendor management.

Contorno joined the firm on January 13, reporting to Bill Ryan, a partner and defined contribution team leader. Contorno will lead NEPC’s nationwide DC vendor management search practice. He will also support NEPC’s DC clients by helping them optimize relationships with recordkeepers, financial wellness providers, executive compensation plans and overall plan governance.

Contorno previously held consulting roles at Marsh & McLennan and Aon, as well as a tenure at Vanguard, where worked to modernize recordkeeping capabilities.

“Mike’s diverse background uniquely positions him to elevate NEPC’s DC vendor management services to new heights,” Ryan said in a statement.

CG Financial Services Appoints Hiipakka as President and Chief Operating Officer

Scott Hiipakka

 CG Financial Services, which manages more than $4 billion in client assets, hired Scott Hiipakka as president and chief operating officer.

Hiipakka most recently served as the CEO of the Michigan Israel Business Accelerator, a nonprofit organization that promotes economic ties between Michigan and Israel. He also serves as a major general in the Michigan Army National Guard.

“As the industry is changing fast, with large national brands consolidating smaller firms, CG wants to grow independently,” said Tony Mazzali, CG Financial Services’ CEO, in a statement. “Scott brings experience to guide teams as they adapt to challenging obstacles.”

401GO Names Smith as Chief Growth Officer

Stan Smith

Retirement plan provider 401GO announced the appointment of Stan Smith as chief growth officer.

His 26-year career includes leadership positions at Fidelity Investments, SaveDaily and DriveWealth. As CGO, Smith will work to meet 401GO’s market share growth projections while helping the company extend retirement planning to clients and partners.

In addition to leading a sales team, Smith will help 401GO diversify its revenue streams through the development of additional products tailored to underserved markets.

“This nation is facing a true retirement crisis,” Smith said in a statement. “401GO has the opportunity to provide working Americans with the tools they need to shore up their financial futures.”

Beatrice Advisors Appoints 2 Senior Partners

Mervin Burton

Peter Lupoff

Beatrice Advisors L.P., an independent, woman- and minority-owned multi-family office, announced the appointment of two senior partnersPeter Lupoff and Mervin Burton, as it expands its investment team.

Lupoff joins the firm as a partner specializing in investments and partnerships. As a member of the Beatrice executive management team and investment committee, Lupoff will collaborate with Founder Christina Lewis on organizational objectives and with Meredith Bowen, president and CEO, on investments and operational strategies. His role will also include augmenting business development and overseeing client engagement.

Burton joins the firm as a partner focused on research, leveraging more than 20 years of experience as a senior portfolio manager at various institutions, including a large foundation, an endowment, a pension fund and multiple family offices. Burton will be responsible for delivering active investment research, including asset allocation, manager selection and risk management.

Strategies for Enhancing Portfolio Management

According to the Carson Group, investors are leveraging equity factors like momentum and low volatility and adopting active fixed-income strategies.

Savvy investors are turning to strategies such as factor investing and returning to active management to enhance portfolio performance and mitigate risks, according to Carson Group’s “2025 Market Outlook.”

Factor investing focuses on key characteristics of securities, such as quality, value, momentum, volatility, size and yield, which influence risk and return profiles. These factors exhibit cycles, sometimes outperforming or underperforming depending on market conditions. However, over the long term, Carson Group noted that factors have proven beneficial for returns, even after accounting for risk.

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A notable example, according to the report, is the combination of low volatility (stocks with minimal price fluctuations) and momentum (stocks with strong recent performance). This pairing provides a blend of defensive stability and offensive growth, yielding a risk-adjusted performance superior to benchmarks like the S&P 500.

The Role of Active Management

Although factor investing often replicates the benefits of active management at a lower cost, the report stated skilled active managers still have a vital place in portfolios, especially in fixed income.

“Active management typically struggles when market returns are mostly driven by very few stocks, like in 2023 and 2024,” said Sonu Varghese, a Carson Group vice president and global macro-strategist. “That’s because active managers typically hold more diversified portfolios, which is not helpful when concentration is rewarded—assuming you get the composition of the handful of stocks that are running up exactly right and have the wherewithal to sit with a concentrated portfolio that can potentially experience greater volatility and drawdowns.”

Varghese said if there is a broadening out of the market in 2025, as expected, active managers who have a good process of picking profitable and quality companies across the capitalization spectrum (large, mid, small) and style spectrum (value, core, growth) will potentially be rewarded.

“Any active manager who has outperformed over the last two years likely did it by being even more concentrated than the broad index, and it’s an open question whether that sort of concentration risk will be rewarded over the long term, especially if we have more volatility than we experienced in 2024,” Varghese said.

In fixed-income markets, replicating broad indices like the Bloomberg US Aggregate Bond Index is virtually impossible due to the vast number of bonds and their limited liquidity, the report stated. Active managers excel in navigating this terrain, selecting bonds worth owning and avoiding others. Notably, nearly two-thirds of active fixed-income managers in exchange-traded funds have outperformed their benchmarks.

ETFs are particularly appealing for active strategies, offering lower expenses and greater tax efficiency compared to mutual funds. Active management in fixed income has demonstrated its value in navigating recent market volatility, while active equity strategies are gradually gaining traction despite concerns about transparency and front running.

Positioning for 2025

Carson predicted that the investment landscape may present greater volatility this year, even as bullish sentiment remains pervasive. Over the past two years, the absence of a recession and the continuation of the bull market have allowed investors to generate excess returns through strategic asset allocation.

For 2025, combining factor-driven equity exposure and an emphasis on low volatility and momentum with actively managed fixed-income positions provides a robust framework for success, the report concluded. By prioritizing diversification, disciplined risk management and an adaptive approach, investors can better navigate uncertain markets.

The “2025 Market Outlook” was created by Carson’s research team, based on its own research and market predictions. 

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