Deals and People October 6, 2023

Retirement Industry People Moves

Haase joins small business retirement plan provider; Vestwell hires Farmakis; PGIM appoints Carlino to newly created role; and more  

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Haase Named Chief Revenue Officer at 401Go

Small business retirement plan provider 401Go Inc. has appointed Ted Haase to the role of chief revenue officer, the company’s CEO, Dan Beck, confirmed this week by email.

Ted Haase

Haase is responsible for managing 401Go marketing and sales efforts.

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“We’ve hired Ted to help accelerate growth and expand our partner-based approach to [retirement plan] distribution,” Beck says. “We have seen a massive increase in financial advisors wanting to work with us and have been needing to scale our advisor support team, which Ted is now leading.”

Haase previously worked at retirement plan provider Human Interest for four years, ending his tenure with the title of national senior director of business development. Prior to working there, Haase worked at retirement plan recordkeeper Paychex in several roles for 21 years.

Vestwell Hires Farmakis as SVP for Enterprise Sales

John Farmakis

John Farmakis has joined Vestwell as a senior vice president for enterprise sales. He will focus on growing strategic partnerships in retirement, asset management and insurance.

“I am delighted to join the impressive Vestwell team,” Farmakis said in a statement. “At this stage in my career, it was essential to align myself with the ‘go-to firm’ across the industry with the de facto platform for all workplace savings and investing. Vestwell’s leadership and culture, combined with the company’s great momentum, were key factors in my decision to join the team.”

In his career of more than 40 years, Farmakis has worked at firms such as Ubiquity Retirement + Savings, BlackRock and ADP Retirement Services.

PGIM Investments Appoints Carlino as Global Head of Alternative Investments

PGIM Investments has appointed Dominick Carlino as global head of alternative investments. He will report to Stuart Parker, president and CEO of PGIM Investments.

Dominick Carlino

“Dominick’s deep understanding and experience in the alternatives space will add tremendous value to our business as we continue to extend PGIM’s full array of high-quality private capabilities to our financial intermediary partners and their high-net-worth clients,” said Parker in statement.

In this newly created role, Carlino will be responsible for driving the continued development and distribution of alternative investments tailored to wealth management needs around the globe.

Carlino most recently served as managing director and head of alternative investments distribution at Merrill Lynch. Prior to his 10 years at Merrill Lynch, Carlino held various business development and distribution roles at AlphaOne Capital Partners, Morgan Stanley and Susquehanna International Group.

Equitable Holdings Names Bass Head of Investor Relations

Equitable Holdings Inc. announced the appointment of Erik Bass as head of investor relations, effective immediately.

Bass will be responsible for communicating the company’s strategy and financial performance, as well as maintaining and expanding relationships with the investor and analyst communities. He will report to Robin Raju, Equitable’s chief financial officer.

“Erik’s knowledge and ability to produce valuable, industry-specific insights will enhance our relationships with investors and the market,” said Raju in a statement. “As a top analyst in our sector, Erik understands Equitable Holdings’ unique, integrated business model, and his experience will help advance our growth strategy.”

Bass joins the company after his seven-year tenure with AllianceBernstein’s sell-side research subsidiary, Autonomous Research, where he served as the lead U.S. life insurance analyst and was named in 2022 director of U.S. research, overseeing coverage across all sectors.

Pine Joins Carson Group as Chief Legal Officer

Carson Group has hired Julie Pine as its chief legal officer. Pine will report directly to Teri Shepherd, president of the Carson Group, and will oversee all legal and regulatory matters for the firm.

Julie Pine

“Julie’s impressive legal background and her dedication to community align perfectly with the values and goals of Carson Group,” Shepherd said in a statement. “Her expertise will be instrumental as we navigate the complex legal and regulatory landscape in our industry.”

Pine previously served as executive vice president, general counsel and chief risk officer at Lead Bank, in Kansas City, Missouri. During her tenure, Pine oversaw legal, risk, compliance, human resources and information security functions.

Early in her career, Pine was a commercial litigator and equity shareholder at McDowell, Rice, Smith & Buchanan PC before taking on the role of general counsel at Mariner Wealth Advisors.

Benefits October 6, 2023

5 Ways Employers Can Improve Retirement Readiness for Underserved Participants

From incorporating an in-plan emergency savings vehicle to facilitating auto-portability, employers can take actionable steps to help disadvantaged workers save for retirement, Alight advises. 

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In order to bolster retirement savings for underserved workers, employers can take advantage of a wide array of plan features and strategies designed to improve retirement readiness. 

In a new white paper, Alight Solutions outlined numerous ways employers can make retirement savings more accessible for workers from racial and ethnic minorities and the LGBTQ+ community, all of whom have historically fallen behind in saving for retirement. 

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Embedding Financial Wellness in Plan Design 

According to the Survey of Consumer Finances, white families typically have more than four times the amount of emergency savings as families of color, and 36% of white families would be able to cover six months of living expenses, compared to just 14% of Black families and 10% of Hispanic families. 

As a result, people of color in 401(k) plans are more likely to take out a loan from their account to pay for an emergency expense, further hurting their retirement readiness.  

Additionally, only about half of LGBTQ+ respondents said they would be able to get by without disruption if they had a sudden expense of $500, compared to 63% of the general population, according to Alight. There is also evidence that LGBTQ+ individuals have a harder time getting approved for bank loans, such as for a mortgage. 

Alight suggested that employers offer in-plan features like after-tax contributions that allow workers to access their savings without as many penalties and restrictions as before-tax accounts. The SECURE 2.0 Act of 2022 also included two optional provisions that would allow for participants to grow emergency funds in a sidecar account or to withdraw $1,000 from their retirement account per year with no penalties. 

An out-of-plan program dedicated to helping workers establish emergency savings can also be effective, according to Alight. 

Include DEI in Investment Selection Process 

Examining the culture and diversity of the asset managers represented in an employer’s 401(k) plan can also be a way to build employees’ retirement readiness. 

Alight’s paper pointed to evidence that investment managers with strong initiatives to enhance diversity and inclusion outperform their peers. For example, the Knight Foundation found both women-owned and minority-owned firms are overrepresented in top-quartile performers among mutual fund companies, hedge funds and private equity managers.  

With growing interest from Gen Z and Millennial participants in ESG investments, employers may want to consider including investments from diverse managers as an option in the plan. 

Communication Should Reflect Diverse Population 

When communicating about benefits and retirement to diverse groups of employees, it is important to establish standards for inclusive language, according to Alight. 

Using visual storytelling that features people from a range of races, body types and ages in photos is also an effective way to connect to participants. 

Alight found it crucial to “go mobile” with communication, as most people have access to a smartphone. Communications that cannot be accessed on mobile devices run the risk of excluding underserved populations. 

Tweak Matching Formula 

While features like automatic enrollment have helped close the gap between white and non-white participants in retirement plan contributions, significant disparities remain. 

Alight suggested that employers can provide workers with a contribution not tied to a match or can tweak their matching formula to help keep costs consistent with the current formula. For example, instead of offering a $1 for $1 match on 6% of pay, an employer could provide a $0.50 per $1 match on 6% with a 3% non-elective contribution. Plan formulas can also be tweaked to provide the non-elective contribution to more vulnerable populations, such as workers earning under a certain pay threshold. 

Employers may also consider implementing an automatic enrollment “sweep,” which would enroll non-participants into the plan unless the individuals opt out. 

Facilitate Auto-Portability 

Many people have a tendency to cash out their retirement savings when they change jobs, particularly workers with smaller balances. Yet this significantly hurts overall retirement readiness. 

By working with recordkeepers in Retirement Clearinghouse’s Portability Services Network—a consortium of retirement plan service providers seeking to help workers transfer low account balances from one employer plan to the next—employers can help participants avoid early cash-outs. 

While less than one-third of all defined contribution retirement plan participants cash out small balances, 57% of Hispanics and 63% of Black participants cash out their small balances, according to Retirement Clearinghouse.  

The country’s five largest recordkeepers by assets are now part of the network, including Alight, Principal, Fidelity Investments, Empower and Vanguard.  

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