Retirement Industry People Moves

Empower Retirement Names EVP of Operations 

Empower Retirement announced the appointment of Richard H. Linton, Jr. as executive vice president for operations. In his new role, Linton will oversee all aspects of the firm’s recordkeeping and plan administration operations, including participant and plan call centers, compliance, conversion and implementation services, client service and financial controls. He will officially join Empower on April 25.

Linton will lead a team of 2,700 operations associates in the United States, Canada and India. He will be based at Empower’s headquarters in metro Denver.

Linton brings more than 25 years of experience in retirement plan administration to Empower—including 14 years in operations management—in addition to many years in sales, product, marketing and client service. He previously served as president of large corporate markets and retail wealth management for Voya Financial. Linton will report to Empower President Edmund F. Murphy III.

Murphy cites Linton’s “vast experience in operations, proven management and leadership skills and a wealth of knowledge about what clients and participants need.”

Linton has managed all aspects of defined contribution businesses throughout his career. He spent two decades at Fidelity Investments, where he rose through the ranks to become executive vice president in the adviser retirement business. He has deep operations experience, having served as senior vice president of an operations and client services group consisting of several hundred associates supporting 800 plan sponsors and 3 million participants. He was responsible for a major part of Fidelity Investments’ operations including tax services, non-proprietary fund trading, stock trading and cash management, among other functions.

Linton joined Voya in 2012 as president of large corporate markets and retail wealth management and chief executive officer for both the company’s broker/dealer and institutional trust and recordkeeping units. In this role, he was responsible for sales and marketing, relationship management, product development, platform management, field representative service, brokerage operations and strategic planning.

Prior to Voya, Linton was a managing director at Bank of America in the retirement solutions group, delivering retirement plans and services to small businesses. During that time, he implemented a three-year strategic plan focused on technology infrastructure redesign and build-out of the online 401(k) offering.

Linton is a graduate of Boston University, where he earned degrees in economics and mathematics. Linton serves on the board of directors of the American Benefits Council and the Expect Miracles Foundation, an organization that encourages the financial services industry to invest in life-saving cancer research and advance patient care programs nationwide.

Alan Biller and Associates Announces Executive Appointments 

Alan Biller and Associates, a fiduciary investment consulting firm and outsourced CIO of institutional client assets, announced the appointments of Mark Keleher as executive director and member of the management committee and Ralph Goldsticker (formerly the firm’s director of portfolio strategy) as chief investment officer.

Both are new roles, will be based in the firm’s Menlo Park headquarters and report to Alan Biller, chief executive officer.

Keleher joins the firm with more than 20 years of investment experience. He was previously chief executive officer of BNY Mellon’s Beta and Transition Management division. Keleher was also a member of the senior management committee of Mellon Capital, and an executive vice president of MBSC Securities Corp. He holds the Chartered Financial Analyst designation and is a member of the CFA Institute and CFA Society of San Francisco. Keleher earned a B.S. in Finance from Georgetown University, and an M.B.A. from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania.

Goldsticker has more than 30 years of investment experience, most recently as senior investment strategist in BNY Mellon’s Investment Strategies and Solutions Group, and managing director of research at Mellon Capital. He holds the Chartered Financial Analyst designation and is a member of the CFA Institute and CFA Society of San Francisco. He is also an active participant in the Q-Group (Institute for Quantitative Research in Finance) and the Quantitative Work Alliance for Applied Financial Education. Goldsticker earned a B.S. from Washington University and an M.B.A. in Finance from the Haas School of Business at the University of California, Berkeley.

“We are pleased to have Mark and Ralph join the firm in these important roles. They both bring high-caliber experience and thinking that will be of great benefit to our valued clients,” says Biller.

Segal Group Expands Administration & Technology Practice 

Joseph A. LoCicero, president and CEO of The Segal Group, announced that Michael Stoyanovich has joined the firm as a vice president and senior consultant in the Administration & Technology Consulting (ATC) Practice.

“Michael has deep expertise in employee benefits plan administration and technology and considerable experience working with multiemployer plans,” says LoCicero. “His leadership and talent make him a great addition to our ATC practice.”

Stoyanovich has more than 20 years of experience in the technology and benefits industry, having worked for a variety of organizations in operational, consulting and leadership roles. He most recently served as the chief information and chief operating officer at Associated Third Party Administrators (ATPA).

Stoyanovich received a Bachelor of Arts from the University of Michigan and a Master of Public Administration from Michigan State University. He will report to Stuart Lerner, senior vice president and Administration & Technology Consulting Practice leader and is based in Segal’s San Francisco office.

NEXT: MassMutual Combines Insurance and Retirement Operations