Deals and People December 1, 2023

Retirement Industry People Moves

Principal promotes Branham to national retirement investment director; Spouting Rock hires chief client officer; Natixis bolsters retirement product sales; and more.

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Principal Asset Management Names National Director of Retirement Investments

Megan Branham

Principal Asset Management promoted Megan Branham to national director of retirement investments, effective October 16, a Principal spokesperson confirmed by email.

Branham is responsible for leading an investment team that supports Principal-branded products and solutions and sales to advisers, consultants and plan sponsors on Principal’s recordkeeping platform, a Principal spokesperson explained.

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Branham reports to Rob Logan, Principal’s managing director of U.S. retirement. Her previous role was senior investment specialist.

 

Spouting Rock Appoints CCO

Spouting Rock Asset Management appointed Andy Provencher as chief client officer, according to a press release.

Andy Provencher

Provencher is responsible for leading initiatives to deepen and broaden relationships across asset management, according to a press release.

“Andy will now be responsible for distribution, marketing and client relationship management,” a company spokesperson added by email.

In the role, Provencher reports to Spouting Rock Asset Management Chairman Andrew Smith. Spouting Rock hired Provencher to grow company market share, according to the spokesperson.

“After diligently building our brand in the institutional marketplace over the past few years, we think now is the time to extend our presence in the intermediary sector,” the spokesperson said. “Andy’s background positions him well to play a key role in advancing our brand as we embark on this next phase of growth for Spouting Rock Asset Management.”

Provencher was previously the head of North American distribution at BNY Investment Management from 2018 until March 2023.

 

Natixis Investment Managers Names Managing Regional Director

Natixis Investment Managers hired Daniel Schatz as a managing regional director with the firm’s retirement products sales team, a company spokesperson confirmed by email.

Schatz is responsible for sales covering the U.S. Southeast and reports to Bill Slimbaugh, a managing director at Natixis, according to the spokesperson. 

“We were filling an open position on the team, and the objective is to grow our financial adviser-led retirement business in the U.S.,” the spokesperson said. “We’re excited to have someone with significant industry experience in the role.”

Schatz was previously a senior defined contribution investment only sales consultant at Hartford Funds.

CFP Board Promotes 2 Staff Members

Erin Koeppe

Jason Gudenius

The CFP Board promoted Erin Koeppel to managing director of government relations and public policy and promoted Jason Gudenius to managing director of workforce, overseeing talent pipeline, future financial planner and student engagement initiatives, according to a press release.

Koeppel reports to Jim Dinegar, CFP Board interim chief program officer, and Gudenius reports to Leo Rydzewski, CFP Board general counsel.

Koeppel was previously deputy general counsel for adjudication, and Gudenius was director of marketing.

Voya Hires Matt Marchese to Lead Wealth Solutions Mid-Market Sales Team

Matt Marchese

Voya Financial has hired Matt Marchese as mid-market sales leader on the company’s wealth solutions team.

Marchese is responsible for leading the wealth solutions mid-market sales team by driving strategic initiatives that include segment-specific pricing analysis, creating greater awareness of Voya’s value and growing brand awareness.

“I’m excited to bring my experience to this role and for the opportunity to be part of the great momentum and strong culture that Voya continues to build upon,” said Marchese in a statement. “I’m eager to partner with colleagues and build new relationships with individuals across all levels of the organization to help drive our business objectives and influence positive outcomes for the Wealth Solutions Mid–Market Sales team.”

Marchese joins Voya with more than 25 years of experience in the industry, focusing on institutional retirement plan sales, including corporate and nonprofit defined contribution, as well as defined benefit and nonqualified plans in midsize and large markets. Most recently, he held the position of vice president of retirement plan sales at Charles Schwab Retirement Plan Services.

Compliance December 1, 2023

New DOL Proxy Voting Rules Take Effect Friday

The new rules will require managers to obtain consent for their investment policy.

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The Department of Labor completed its Final Rule on Prudence and Loyalty in Selecting Plan Investments and Exercising Shareholder Rights, sometimes called the ESG rule, in November 2022. The elements of the rule pertaining to shareholder rights come into effect on Friday, December 1.

The second half of the rule, which speaks to shareholder rights and proxy voting, takes effect in December. The DOL removed language from old rules that the department believed incentivized abstentions on shareholder proposals, an excision that will remove a safe harbor voting policy that limited “voting resources to types of proposals that the fiduciary has prudently determined are substantially related to the issuer’s business activities or are expected to have a material effect on the value of the investment.”

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Ruth E. Delaney, a partner in K&L Gates LLP, says the rule reiterates the principle that a fiduciary’s duty to manage plan assets includes the management of shareholder rights, including the right to vote proxies.

In the context of pooled investment vehicles, where multiple plans may be subject to proxy voting policies that conflict with the policies of other plans, the manager would be required, to the extent possible, to reconcile conflicting policies and vote proxies proportionately in accordance with each plan’s interest in the vehicle.  However, consistent with longstanding guidance, a manager may, instead, require investors to accept the manager’s own proxy voting policy as a condition of a plan’s investing in such vehicle. 

However, Delaney explains that existing investors are not grandfathered in explicitly by the rule, and managers may need to take steps to get consent from their investors to follow the manager’s proxy voting policy. Delaney says some managers have drafted negative consent forms: Investors already in those funds are assumed to have consented by saying nothing. The DOL declined to explicitly approve of or forbid this approach, according to Delaney.

Fiduciary managers have until Friday to avoid compliance issues by obtaining consent.

Delaney says the rule also permits fiduciaries to use ESG considerations when voting on shareholder proposals and when making recommendations on those votes.

Delaney adds that the rule “codifies longstanding principles” that already existed, such as the notion that fiduciary duty requires the prudent exercise of shareholder rights. Abstentions are permitted in cases where it would be prudent, such as when the voting process would be costly to the plan.

Under the rule, fiduciaries are required to “prudently select and monitor a service provider,” but this does not require them to “monitor in real time every vote.” Instead, the fiduciary must follow a prudent process in picking service providers and must ensure their activities align with their investment policy, Delaney says.

 

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