In
this role, he manages relationships with institutional clients in the
mid-Atlantic region. Ford is based in
TCW’s New York City office and reports to Joe Carieri, group managing director
and head of Institutional Marketing.
Prior to joining TCW, Ford served as a vice president of institutional account management at PIMCO, where he was responsible for client relationship management, fundraising and new business development. Before coming to PIMCO, he was a portfolio management associate at Pacific Alternative Asset Management Company (PAAMCO), where he helped oversee the firm’s international portfolio of hedge funds. Previously, he served as an assistant vice president of Asian trading for HSBC Investment Bank and as an analyst for both M. Safra & Co. and UBS Investment Bank.
Part of Thornburg’s library of adviser
resources, the QDIA Blue Book is useful for plan advisers in supporting their
retirement plan clients as they assess a broad array of qualified default investment alternatives (QDIAs)—both off-the-shelf target-date funds (TDFs) and open-architecture custom solutions.
The growing volume of plan assets invested
in default investments, particularly target-date funds, has made selecting a QDIA one of the most important
responsibilities faced by plan fiduciaries, according to Rocco DiBruno,
managing director at Thornburg and director of the firm’s retirement group.
DiBruno says the guide’s range of
investment vehicles, including multi-manager custom solutions, distinguishes it
from other QDIA evaluation tools. The growing adoption of custom solutions and
the Department of Labor’s (DOL’s) directive to take custom solutions into
consideration made these critera a critical variable the firm’s selection
process, he said in a statement.
The QDIA Blue Book uses a patented
methodology that factors in a plan’s investment priorities and participant
demographics. Answers provided by plan fiduciaries to a simple maximum difference scaling (MaxDiff) questionnaire determine the relative importance of
13 criteria that are combined with demographic data to evaluate the suitability
of selected QDIA options.
The book helps retirement plan
advisers quantify performance, risk and organization criteria while identifying the
most suitable target-date or risk-based solution for each plan, based on the plan’s
priorities and participant demographics. It also helps plan sponsors manage fiduciary
responsibility in selecting and monitoring the plan’s QDIA.
“Plan fiduciaries look to their advisers
for leadership in presenting a methodology for evaluating QDIAs, and helping
them create reports and other documentation to demonstrate compliance with this
important fiduciary duty,” DiBruno said.
The Blue Book was developed by
Bdellium Inc., which provides retirement decision support tools that improve retirement
outcomes.
Thornburg Investment Management is
a privately owned global investment firm in Santa Fe, New Mexico.