Retirement Industry People Moves

Brian C. Rogers, T. Rowe Price chairman and chief investment officer (CIO) will retire from his post on March 31, 2017, according to the firm’s board of directors. Rogers has been with the company for nearly 35 years and he assumed his current role in 2004. Following his retirement, Rogers will remain on the board of directors and serve as the non-executive chair.

Anne Marie Whittemore, lead independent director, observes that Rogers “has been responsible for helping the firm navigate multiple market cycles, including the global financial crisis, and for guiding the board’s commitment to diversity.”

T. Rowe Price has also appointed six senior investment leaders. Rob Sharps will be Group CIO, with responsibility for coordinating the activities of the team; Henry Ellenbogen will be CIO, U.S. Equity Growth; David Giroux will be CIO, U.S. Equity Multi-Discipline; John Linehan will be CIO, U.S. Equity Value; Justin Thomson will be CIO, International Equity; and Mark Vaselkiv will be CIO, Fixed Income.

The team will share CIO responsibilities, which include providing investment thought leadership, partnering with investment division leaders to develop investment talent and capabilities, and serving as mentors for the firm’s investment professionals.

NEXT: Voya Hires VP of ESG 

Voya Investment Management has appointed Drew Schechtman as vice president and Environment, Social and Governance (ESG) integration leader. He will be tasked with integrating ESG investment disciplines across the firm’s four investment platforms comprising equities, fixed income, loans and multi-asset.

Working with the Voya Financial Office of Corporate Responsibility, he will serve as a lead advocate for ESG internally and externally—including developing an ESG education platform for investors.

Mark Weber, senior managing director and head of Structured Assets, Loans and Alternatives business, says, "We believe environmental, social and governance factors are important in understanding the risks and opportunities of our investment decisions across asset classes. We embarked on an ESG-integration program last year and are delighted to have Drew help join us to lead that effort."

Schechtman brings more than a decade of experience to this role. Prior to joining Voya, he was vice president and head of Sustainability and Environmental Investing at BNY Mellon. There he was responsible for leading the development and implementation of the firm’s sustainable finance solutions across various business lines. Prior to that, he was a senior sustainability consultant at Viridian Energy + Environmental.

"Our chief investment officers are committed to integrating ESG considerations into their investment processes, and they believe that Drew's experience in ESG integration across multiple investment teams will help us accelerate our progress," says Weber.  

NEXT: Morningstar Appoints Two New Leaders in Tech 

Morningstar has appointed Mitch Shue to the position of chief technology officer and James Rhodes to the role of chief data officer.

As chief technology officer, Shue is responsible for Morningstar's long-term technology vision and execution. He joined Morningstar in 2014 through the company's acquisition of HelloWallet, where he served as chief technology officer. Prior to HelloWallet, Shue was vice president of engineering at Centrifuge Systems. He was responsible for developing interactive data visualization solutions. He previously led the graphic design, engineering, and data center teams at webs.com and served as vice president of product development at webMethods.

Rhodes oversees data operations at Morningstar, focusing on the company's data technology strategy including data collection, processing, and storage. He previously served as chief technology officer and partner at Rocaton Investment Advisors, where he drove the company's technical vision and oversaw the software engineering team. Rhodes also spent 13 years at IBM Research, where he led the financial modeling research efforts of IBM's Global Services business units.

"Mitch's and James' appointments to Morningstar's leadership team help strengthen our commitment to technology, one of our core competencies," says Morningstar President Kunal Kapoor. "Their expertise will prove invaluable as global demand for our independent research and data continues to increase in light of evolving regulations and industry standards. We're committed to continuous technological innovation to best help investors reach their financial goals."

NEXT: USI Insurance Purchases Atlanta Insurance Brokerage Firm

USI Insurance Services (USI) announced it has completed its purchase of Johnson & Bryan. The purchase of the retail property-casualty and employee benefits insurance brokerage firm expands USI’s business into Atlanta, Georgia.

USI says it looks forward to leveraging Johnson & Bryan’s customer-centric culture and reputation for delivering quality risk management services via the USI ONE Advantage platform. 

Robert C. Wynne, president of Johnson & Bryan, predicts that joining forces with USI will improve coordinated insurance solutions and deliver powerful new analytics through USI’s Omni Knowledge Engine. 

USI is a national insurance-brokerage and consulting firm, delivering property and casualty, employee benefits, personal risk and retirement solutions throughout the United States. Headquartered in Valhalla, New York, USI has reports more than $1.0 billion in revenue.

NEXT: Voya Appoints Employee Benefits President

Rob Grubka has been named president of Voya employee benefits, the firm has announced. He will also serve on the operating committee, where he’ll collaborate on overall business strategy and corporate-wide initiatives.

Grubka joined Voya in 2015. Prior to that, he was with Lincoln Financial for 14 years, where he held several leadership roles.

"Rob's experience includes a unique combination of leadership roles in which he has been responsible for running a business, developing customer-focused strategies, advancing strong distribution partnerships and managing risk," says Alain Karaoglan, Voya's chief operating officer. "As CRO for Retirement and Annuities, he has driven positive change and has acquired an enterprise perspective that will serve him well as we focus on continuing to profitably grow our Employee Benefits business."

Grubka's 24-year career also includes nine years with Nationwide Financial, where he held several actuarial roles.

Grubka received a bachelor's degree in actuarial science from Ohio State University.  He also holds FINRA Series 6 and 26 licenses and is a Fellow of the Society of Actuaries (FSA).

NEXT: Standard Life Investments Appoints New Director

Standard Life Investments, a global investment manager, has appointed Jim Sia as its director of sub-advisory and defined contribution (DC) business. He will lead the firm’s efforts in these two spaces throughout North America and will report to Eric Roberts, head of U.S. business development.

“We are delighted to welcome Jim to our team and his experience and knowledge will be a valuable resource as we expand and diversify our client base,” says Eric Roberts, head of U.S. business development. “This newly created role is an important component of Standard Life Investments’ commitment to offering clients a diverse range of investment solutions.”

Sia has more than 25 years of experience in investment management most of which has been spent in the DC space. He’s worked for GMO and Wellington Management Company. In addition to his defined contribution role at GMO, he also led the strategy development and relationship management for sub-advisory business. He is a founding member and immediate past chair of the Defined Contribution Institutional Investment Association (DCIIA), a national organization dedicated to improving retirement outcomes in the US.

NEXT: New CEO Joins QMA

Andrew Dyson has been appointed as the new chief executive officer of QMA, effective April 2017. Dyson will be tasked with overseeing QMA’s investment organization as well as its distribution and management functions.

In his most recent role, Dyson served as vice president and head of global distribution for Affiliated Managers Group, where he worked in partnership with the company’s affiliated boutique investment managers on their distribution efforts. Previously, he served as head of BlackRock’s global institutional client business and held senior roles at Merrill Lynch Investment Managers and Mercer Investment Consulting.

Dyson will report to David Hunt, PGIM’s president and chief executive officer. He will assume his new role from Scott Hayward, who is leaving the company after more than a decade of service to pursue new endeavors. Hayward will remain at QMA through the rest of 2016 working with senior leadership to help with the transition.

Founded in 1975, QMA manages portfolios for a worldwide institutional client base, including corporate and public pension plans, endowments and foundations, multi-employer pension plans, and sub-advisory accounts for other financial services companies.