Deals & People April 30, 2009

SageView Advisory Group Adds Two Advisers

SageView Advisory group has added Nichole Reidy and Frank Ricchiuti as advisers, the company said.
Reported by

Reidy will be located in the Richmond Virginia office and will service clients on the East Coast. She has more than 13 years of experience in the retirement industry, which includes experience with both defined contribution (401(k), profit-sharing, and 403(b)) and defined benefit plans.

Prior to joining SageView, Reidy’s experience centered around bank-based products, specifically with Wachovia Bank and SunTrust Bank. The company said her experience in client service issues, product offerings, and evaluation of service among vendors will ensure recommendations clearly coincide with client goals. She’s also responsible for ensuring that new legislation and opportunity for plan enhancements are communicated to clients to ensure the proper integration with their retirement program.

Ricchiuti is a seasoned retirement plan professional and client relationship manager with more than 25 years of experience delivering retirement plan solutions primarily to corporations on the West Coast, according to a news release. He will be based in SageView’s Irvine office.

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In his role as retirement plan consultant, Ricchiuti will focus on partnering with retirement plan sponsors to help companies with plan design, investment selection and monitoring, vendor searches, mergers and acquisitions, and plan benchmarking. Frank will also advise on fiduciary liability issues and legislative compliance.

Prior to joining SageView, he held consultant positions at Arthur J. Gallagher and Comerica Securities.

Deals & People April 30, 2009

Lewis Says BofA Poised for Growth

Bank of America (BofA) Chief Executive Kenneth Lewis was forced out of his role as chairman and will be replaced by Walter Massey.
Reported by

At the company’s annual meeting, a shareholder proposal was approved to change the company’s by-laws to require an independent chairman, according to a release from BofA. Lewis will remain chief executive.

Lewis faced pressure from shareholders after BofA has been scrutinized for its acquisition of Merrill Lynch (see “Some BofA Shareholders Want Lewis Out’). BofA is under investigation for $3.6 billion in bonuses doled out to Merrill Lynch executives in the final hour before Merrill was acquired by BofA (see “Cuomo Says Merrill Accelerated Bonus Payments’ and “Merrill Executives Supoenaed in Bonus Probe’).

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During the meeting, Lewis defended the acquisition of Merrill. According to the release, he said the company’s long-term vision for profitable growth is being advanced by the acquisitions of both Merrill and Countrywide Financial Corp., despite the challenging economic environment.

“Merrill will help the company move toward its goal of developing stronger, deeper, and more profitable customer relationships over the long term through its leading positions in capital markets and wealth management,” Lewis said. “My strong feeling is that organizational integration—and a renewed focus on organic growth—will be the almost exclusive focus of our efforts in the coming years.’

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