Products March 23, 2018

Retirement Industry People Moves

Voya Hires Sales Executive for Small-Mid Business; OppenheimerFunds Adds to CEO Advisor Institute's Executive Consulting Team; Vanguard Promotes Four Professionals Within Fixed Income Group; and more.

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First Eagle Investment Management (First Eagle) has entered into a multi-year partnership with Boston College’s Center for Retirement Research (CRR).  Their objective is to work together to develop insights and tools for plan sponsors and financial advisers to use when helping retirement savers reach their goal of living a dignified life throughout retirement.

Initially, CRR and First Eagle will collaborate and publish a series of wide-ranging papers that explore key challenges that retirement savers face in the years leading up to and while in retirement. Topics will address how different workers save in their company-sponsored retirement plans, what affects spending in retirement, and the impact of health care expenses for different segments of the retiree population.

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In addition, First Eagle and CRR plan to develop a customized, interactive platform that plan sponsors, financial advisers and plan participants can use to establish goals, project key milestones, and take positive action on the journey towards a secure retirement. Combined with specific plan features and aggregated participant data, this solution should be an effective avenue for plan sponsors to increase engagement of their participants as they save for retirement.   

John Hancock Adds Regional Vice President for Taft-Hartley Practice

 

John Hancock Retirement Plan Services (JHRPS) has hired Leo Reed as regional vice president, eastern region, for JHRPS’ Taft-Hartley practice. In this role, he is responsible for Taft-Hartley plan sales. Reed reports to Nick McParland, national sales manager for Hancock’s Mid/Large/Taft-Hartley markets.

Reed most recently served as head of Marketing and New Business Development for Scott’s Cove Management, where he oversaw all marketing, new business development and investor relations. Prior to that, he served as managing director for Sales and Relationship Management at Logan Circle Partners/Fortress Investment Group where he marketed investment products to Taft-Hartley plans nationally.

Reed earned a bachelor’s degree from Boston College and holds Series 7, 66, 31, 33 and Futures Branch Manager licenses.

Voya Hires Sales Executive for Small-Mid Business

 

Voya Retirement has recently hired Will Ahrens as regional vice president of Sales for the company’s Small-Mid Corporate Market business.

Ahrens will be responsible for generating new business and building key distribution relationships in Alabama, Mississippi and the Florida Panhandle. He will be working through all channels, including wirehouses, banks and independents that serve employers with plans up to $75 million in assets.

With nearly 20 years in the financial services industry, Ahrens comes to Voya with significant sales experience in the retirement plan space. Most recently, he held the position of regional vice president of Sales at TransAmerica, where he covered the Alabama territory.

“We’re thrilled for Will to join our expanding sales team here at Voya,” noted George Lessner, senior vice president, Worksite Markets at Voya. “His deep sales experience and noted success within the plan market space make him a great addition to our team.” 

Ahrens graduated from the University of Mobile with a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration.

OppenheimerFunds Adds to CEO Advisor Institute’s Executive Consulting Team

OppenheimerFunds has appointed Julie Sendelbach and Dave Thomas to its CEO Advisor Institute’s Executive Consulting team. Reporting to Paul Blease, director of CEO Advisor Institute at OppenheimerFunds, Sendelbach and Thomas will lead personal and professional development programs for financial advisers across the Midwest and Mid-Atlantic regions.

Sendelbach has over 25 years of experience and joins OppenheimerFunds from CEG Worldwide, where she spent 17 years advising some of the country’s largest and most complex adviser teams. Thomas joined OppenheimerFunds in 1997 and has held numerous roles, including most recently as regional sales manager for Virginia. 

“Leveraging their extensive industry experience, our senior business consultants assist advisors in developing strategies to grow their business, strengthen their teams and offer guidance to clients, especially during periods of increased market volatility,” says Blease.

The CEO Advisor Institute programs, including Compelling Conversations, Professional Practice, and Constructing and Managing a Synergistic Team, are offered through its CEO Advisor Institute app that addresses financial advisers’ personal and professional goals and challenges. 

intellicents Adds Analyst to Kansas City Office

The Kansas City office of intellicents has expanded their Personal Financial Management division with the addition of Scott Wightman, chartered financial analyst.  

Wightman joins the team along with the recent addition of Nick Madl. 

Prior to joining intellicents, Wightman worked as a financial analyst for Sprint and Adknowledge.  Most recently, he worked for American Century Investments providing consultative support to financial advisers on investment products offered through American Century.  In addition, Wightman earned his charter financial analyst(CFA) designation in 2017 and is a member of the Kansas City CFA Society.

Now as the chief investment officer for the intellicents Personal Financial Management Services, his responsibilities will include monitoring and overseeing investment and asset allocation policy.  In addition to his responsibilities as CIO of Personal Financial Management Services, he will work as a consultant to plan sponsors and personal financial management clients for intellicents in Kansas City. 

Greed Named Chairman of Board at Mutual of America  

Mutual of America Life Insurance Company has announced that John Greed was named chairman of the board, effective March 8. Greed, who is also president and chief executive officer of the company, succeeds Thomas Moran, who retired as chairman after more than 40 years of service with the company.

“I am leaving the company in the very capable hands of John Greed and a leadership team that, like John, is second to none,” says Moran. “He possesses the right combination of experience, expertise and vision to lead and help grow the company, while always remaining committed to the needs of our customers.”

Greed, who joined the company in 1996, was appointed chief executive officer of Mutual of America in April 2016, succeeding Moran. Prior to that appointment, he served as president for one year and as senior executive vice president and chief financial officer since December 2007. Prior to joining Mutual of America, Greed was a partner with Arthur Andersen.


Vanguard Promotes Four Professionals Within Fixed Income Group

Vanguard has announced four key appointments within its Fixed Income Group as part of the firm’s long-standing practice of periodically rotating investment professionals to broaden their experience and strengthen and deepen the firm’s equity and bond management teams.

“We have employed rotations as a way to build global investment teams that are deep, diverse, and experienced. Along with low costs, our investment teams are a source of competitive strength and the primary driver of fund performance over time,” says Vanguard Chief Investment Officer Greg Davis.

Among the changes:

  • Paul Jakubowski, global head of the Taxable Credit Group, will be assuming the position of head of Investments-Europe and global head of Fixed Income Indexing, responsible for all of Vanguard’s bond indexing operations worldwide. Jakubowski, who has worked in investment management since joining Vanguard in 2000, replaces Ken Volpert, who is retiring in August. 

  • Christopher W. Alwine, head of Municipal Investment, will assume Jakubowski’s previous responsibilities, overseeing the active corporate bond portfolio management and trading teams in the U.S., Europe, and Asia-Pacific. In addition, he will be responsible for the oversight of the global taxable credit research team and the Stable Value Group. Alwine joined Vanguard in 1990 and has more than twenty years of investment experience.

  • Paul Malloy, currently head of fixed income in Europe, will assume Alwine’s role leading the municipal bond team of 30 investment professionals who manage more than $183 billion in 12 municipal bond funds. Malloy joined Vanguard in 2005 and the Fixed Income Group in 2007, and has held various portfolio management positions in Vanguard’s offices in London and the United States.

  • Christopher Wrazen, manager of the $103.5 billion Vanguard Total International Bond Index Fund, will move to manage the Bond Index Group in Europe. Wrazen has been with the Fixed Income Group since 2008 and his team currently manages more than $200 billion in more than 20 bond index fund portfolios. Josh Barrickman, head of fixed income indexing – Americas, will become sole portfolio manager on nine funds, including VanguardTotal International Bond Index Fund.

Ascensus Acquires Chard Snyder for Health Division

Ascensus has entered into an agreement to acquire Chard Snyder. Chard Snyder, which will serve as the anchor business for Ascensus’ newly formed Health division, is a third-party administration (TPA) firm that services consumer directed health (CDH) plans including health savings accounts (HSAs), health reimbursement arrangements (HRAs), and flexible spending accounts. It also offers benefit continuation services like COBRA and FMLA leave administration along with retiree billing administration and commuter benefits.  

“When looking at Chard Snyder, we identified a market leader in the CDH space with an outstanding market and client reputation,” states David Musto, Ascensus’ president. “Adding their employee benefits expertise to our suite of service offerings positions Ascensus to better achieve our mission of helping Americans save for retirement, education, and health needs.”

“Chard Snyder’s difference has always been our people and our ability to maintain authentic customer experiences,” says Joy Snyder, president of Chard Snyder. “As part of Ascensus, we’ll continue to provide a no-noise atmosphere to our advisers, clients, and business partners via a highly-personalized approach that incorporates flexibility and customization in addition to technology and compliance expertise.”

SageView Adds Retirement Plan Consultant in Northern California

 

SageView Advisory Group, an independent retirement consulting firm, hired Eric Weissman as a retirement plan consultant.

 

Weissman will be joining the Northern California office and fellow SageView colleagues including Bob Patton, David Shnapek, William Posch and Ann Cheu.

 

With more than 11 years in the retirement plan industry, Weissman has a wide-range of experience in retirement plan design specializing in managing the complexities of Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) compliance, vendor relationships, investment monitoring, audit support, fiduciary duties, investment education, and plan participant advising. He has spent most of his career partnering with plan sponsors to help them reduce costs, increase participation, and minimize fiduciary liability.

 

Weissman began his career at VALIC Financial Advisors in Emeryville providing retirement planning, education and investment management for retirement plan participants. Most recently, he was director of Retirement Plan Consulting at BPM Advisors where his duties included overseeing all operations of a large-market RIA, consulting with over 100 retirement plan clients, and navigating complex and time-sensitive compliance issues, including plan conversions, plan acquisitions & mergers, and plan audits. Additionally, he holds numerous certifications, including Accredited Investment Fiduciary (AIF).

 

 “We are excited to add a person of Eric’s caliber and expertise.  Eric is extremely knowledgeable in plan design, investment consulting, cost management, ERISA compliance, and understanding the fiduciary obligations of the plan sponsor. We love Eric’s passion in helping people ultimately have a successful retirement. His talents complement and enhance our team and will add depth to help grow our practice and expanding client base in the Bay Area,” says Bob Patton, managing director at SageView’s Woodside, California, location.

In Practice March 23, 2018

DOL Fiduciary Rule Ambiguity Mustn’t Derail Quality Client Service

With so much uncertainty now overhanging the future of the DOL fiduciary rule expansion, the onus is squarely on advisers, broker/dealers and recordkeepers to decide how they will respond; we hear from one small advisory firm in Northern Ohio that will carry on with business as usual.

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Joe Heider is president of Cirrus Wealth Management, a firm he describes as a small independent wealth management shop offering comprehensive retirement, estate, tax and business planning solutions. Cirrus also has a sister firm that services several hundred retirement plan clients. 

Like pretty much every adviser that services small retirement plans and wealth management clients alike, Heider’s work in the last few years has been pretty dramatically impacted by the ongoing rollout of the Department of Labor (DOL) fiduciary rule expansion. In fact, doing both wealth management and corporate retirement plan work, his firm operates right in the space where the most severe “unintended consequences” of the fiduciary rule were expected to play out. For this reason the firm is in an interesting position to talk about how fiduciary rule uncertainty—brought to a head once again by the recent 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals decision to vacate the rulemaking—is impacting the business and its clients.

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“Most of our 401(k) and cash balance plans that we service are at companies with fewer than 100 people,” Heider observes. “We have a couple plans with a few hundred participants, but we really look like the footprint of Northern Ohio, where we operate. There are a lot of small manufacturing firms and specialty companies, along with large medical and legal practices. These companies and their employees really desire and value our advice.”

Asked whether the regulatory machinations of the past weeks and months have made it harder to plan for the future and structure new client offerings, Heider agrees there “has been a little bit of that,” but really the firm has maintained its footing by keeping its head down and focusing on excellent client service.

“Part of what has helped us maintain our direction is that, whether or not it is formally written out in the client service agreements, we strive to act as a best-interest fiduciary to our clients,” Heider says. “This is crucial for feeling confident in this uncertain marketplace. Particularly when it comes to the parts of the business that touch on 401(k) plans, we will continue to view this as extremely important, come what may with the fiduciary rule.”

Where the uncertainty has had some impact on Cirrus and its clients, Heider candidly admits, is with respect to individual retirement account (IRA) rollovers and the ability to offer advice and support on annuities and structured retirement income products.

“We don’t have to get into all the details of how the fiduciary rule as crafted by the DOL created significant new restrictions and required exemptions for serving 401(k) plans while also doing rollover work—it has been something of a minor challenge for us,” Heider says. “In some limited cases, the issue became, how do you operate and serve your client if they want to use some form of guarantee products and annuities? We had practical questions about what was the best way to go about structuring this business and setting fees and commission structures under the fiduciary rule. These concerns may be eased somewhat, with the new 5th Circuit ruling, but it’s still too soon to say for certain.”

Despite the previous challenges, Heider strongly fees the overall experience of the DOL fiduciary rule implementation has been good for the retirement planning and advisory industries at large. In fact he expects the rule, even if it is not appealed by DOL and allowed to lapse on the order of the 5th Circuit, will continue to have a positive impact over time. 

“Whether the DOL rule is going away or not, we have seen providers that service these areas already take a refreshing look at their compensation and service structures—to the benefit of end clients, I believe,” Heider says. “The industry is not going to turn back on this work, in my opinion. That cat is already out of the bag because we have been moving down this road toward lower and more transparent fees for years now. There is already less focus on one-and-done, commission-based products.”

Taking the risk of speculating as to what comes next in the DOL fiduciary rule sage, Heider says he “finds it interesting to contemplate whether the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) will view this as an opportunity to take this effort back over, versus other regulatory institutions.”

“The bottom line is that I hope we are going to end up with the best of both worlds—with ongoing improvements in product and services coming at the same time that we are gaining more clarity on the duties of prudence and loyalty,” Heider concludes. “Overall the rulemaking has been a net positive. With some changes, we have more or less been able to provide the same advice and products to our clients—but I can tell you that we have had to shift the way the products are structured and paid for. The fee structure has improved, frankly. Insurance companies in particular are attempting to simplify a very complex product set, and in some cases they are having to adjust away from products that were made complex on purpose. That’s a bit of a cynical view of the insurance industry, of course, but my point is that the rulemaking, again, has already led to important product and compensation changes.”

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