Voya, Goldman Start 2024 With Leadership Moves

Wall Street is starting the new year with some high-level leadership changes. Both the Goldman Sachs Group Inc. and Voya Financial Inc. announced promotions on Wednesday in retirement wealth management and institutional investing.

Matt Toms

Voya announced that Christine Hurtsellers, CEO of Voya Investment Management, will retire later in 2024, with Matt Toms, global CIO of Voya IM, succeeding her in the role, effective immediately. 

Before retiring, Hurtsellers will serve as a strategic adviser to the company. Meanwhile, Toms has joined Voya Financial’s executive committee; both executives report to Voya CEO Heather Lavallee.

“After almost 20 years at Voya, and as I look ahead to retirement and the ability to attend to my family’s needs, I am grateful for and proud of all that the team has accomplished over the years,” Hurtsellers said in a statement. “In the meantime, I look forward to working closely with Matt and Heather—and to engaging with our clients, intermediaries and employees—to ensure a smooth transition.” 

Christine Hurtsellers

In his prior role, Toms oversaw 300 investment professionals managing approximately $310 billion in assets under management across fixed income, equities, multi-asset solutions and alternative strategies. He previously served as CIO of fixed income. Prior to joining Voya IM in 2009, Toms worked with Calamos Investments as a senior vice president and director of its fixed-income business.

“Matt has been global CIO since 2022, has 30 years of asset management expertise, and has great insights into the needs of our clients,” CEO Lavallee said in a statement. “His deep knowledge and experience with our firm, and his passion for our clients, will serve him well as he leads Voya IM into its next stage of growth.” 

Stein Joins Voya From Morgan Stanley

Eric Stein

Voya also announced that Eric Stein has left a position at Morgan Stanley to become Voya IM’s head of investments and CIO of fixed income.

Stein, who will report to Toms, will lead the public fixed-income investment team, as well as oversee the broader equities, income and growth and multi-asset strategies and solutions investment teams.

“I am excited to have Eric on the Voya IM leadership team,” Toms said in a statement. “His more than 20 years of investment experience and demonstrated expertise in leading sizable teams throughout his career will no doubt bring great value to our investment teams and our clients.” 

Stein previously served as CIO of fixed income at Morgan Stanley Investment Management, managing 275 professionals and investment strategies for the division’s approximately $200 billion fixed-income platform.

Goldman Promotes Wilson to New Role

Goldman named Greg Wilson to a newly created position in the client solutions group as head of retirement for asset and wealth management, according to a company memo. Wilson will shift from his current role as head of workplace advisory solutions for Goldman Sachs Ayco, the firm’s workplace financial benefits division, but continuing to report to Larry Restieri, head of Goldman Sachs Ayco.

Greg Wilson

In the new position, Wilson will set strategy across the firm’s retirement distribution, defined contribution and workplace advisory divisions with the goal of “enhancing collaboration,” according to the memo from Marc Nachmann, Goldman’s global head of asset and wealth management.

“The firm has a long history of working with employers to help them deliver high quality financial wellbeing and retirement programs for their employees,” Nachmann wrote in the memo. “As we expand our focus on the growing DC and individual retirement account (IRA) market, we are seeing increasing demand from participants and the organizations that support them for personalized solutions, tailored strategies and engaging digital experiences.”

Nachmann noted that the firm’s multi-asset solutions group will continue to oversee managed account investment advice and DC advisory. The multi-asset group is co-headed by Tim Braude and Valentijn van Nieuwenhuijzen.

Wilson joined Goldman in 1995. Prior to his current role with Ayco, he had led Goldman’s Honest Dollar division, a low-cost retirement plan platform for individual savers, small businesses and independent contractors. Prior to that role, he led third-party wealth platform solutions by which he marketed the firm’s sub-advisory, hedge fund of funds, insurance solutions and DC investment-only products for the U.S. and Canada.

The firms make the moves as a number of financial analysts, including Goldman’s macro-economic team, are forecasting a more stable year in the markets after recent years of volatility stemming from the COVID-19 pandemic, inflation and rising interest rates.