Deals and People September 30, 2022

Retirement Industry People Moves

Marsh McLennan names president and CEO; Lenox Advisors appoints SVP of finance and operations; Katten names former SEC senior counsel as partner; and more.

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Katten Names Former SEC Senior Counsel as Partner

Katten Muchin Rosenman LLP has announced that former senior counsel in the Securities and Exchange Commission’s Enforcement Division, Danette Edwards, has joined the firm’s securities ligation practice as a partner in Washington, D.C.

For more than a decade, Edwards led many of the SEC’s enforcement efforts, investigating and litigating complex cases involving violations of antifraud and other securities laws, and was recognized for her work with multiple awards from the director of the SEC’s Enforcement Division. During her tenure, she leveraged her proficiency in examining witnesses and analyzing complicated and massive data sets to help the agency obtain judgements for more than $595 million. A trio of cases that she recently prosecuted were included in a select group of matters highlighted in the SEC Enforcement Division’s 2020 annual report to Congress.

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Edwards advises clients involved in SEC Enforcement Division investigations and litigation, with a related focus on internal, special committee and non-SEC government and regulatory investigations, securities class action defense and complex economic litigation. She counsels clients on SEC-related matters of all types, including suspected financial and disclosure fraud and alleged misconduct by auditors, broker/dealers and investment advisers.

Edwards also advises on cybersecurity, records and information management best practices and environmental, social and governance questions concerning environmentally sustainable finance, as well as diversity and inclusion as components of social governance.

Prior to joining the SEC, Edwards was a white-collar and commercial litigator at a national law firm, where she defended market participants and other players in public and private actions and helped to establish the firm’s records management practice.

Marsh McLennan Names President and CEO

Marsh McLennan, a professional services firm in the areas of risk, strategy and people, has announced that John Doyle has been named president and CEO, effective January 1, 2023. Daniel Glaser will retire from Marsh McLennan at year end following a decade of leading the company.

Doyle has served as group president and chief operating officer of Marsh McLennan since January, and prior to that was president and CEO of Marsh, the Company’s risk advisory and insurance solutions business, from 2017 to 2021.

Glaser has served as president and CEO since 2013. Prior to 2013, Glaser served as group president and COO of the company. He rejoined Marsh McLennan in December 2007 as chairman and CEO of Marsh, returning to the firm where he began his career in 1982.

Upon his retirement, Glaser will also retire from the company’s board of directors. Doyle will join the board effective January 1, 2023.

Doyle has more than 30 years of management experience in commercial insurance underwriting and brokerage. He began his career at AIG and held several executive positions at the insurer, including CEO of AIG Commercial Insurance, and president and CEO of AIG Property and Casualty in the U.S.

Lenox Advisors Appoints SVP of Finance and Operations

Lenox Advisors, a wealth and insurance advisory firm, has announced the appointment of Marvine Laurent as senior vice president of finance and operations. Laurent will be responsible for finance, accounting and business intelligence. As a senior member of the executive team, Laurent will report directly to the president and COO, Greg Large.

Prior to her role at Lenox Advisors, Laurent cultivated more than 20 years of extensive financial and operational experience, including working as the chief of staff at Citigroup, Inc., where she provided strategic support and administrative structure in establishing risk-based auditing and reporting methodologies, organization design and effective positioning to ensure alignment with business objectives. Laurent is a certified public accountant and holds an MBA from Columbia University and a B.A. in accounting from Florida International University.

Mercer Appoints U.S. Central Market CEO

Mercer, a business of Marsh McLennan, has named Beth Kirk Malecki as senior partner and U.S. central market CEO. Kirk Malecki will also join Mercer’s U.S. and Canada leadership team. Based in Chicago, she will report to Pat Tomlinson, president, U.S. and Canada, effective immediately.

Kirk Malecki brings more than 25 years of experience in market leadership roles and client management. In her previous roles at Mercer, Kirk Malecki led Mercer’s Illinois and Wisconsin markets, and was senior client manager. Prior to joining Mercer in 2011, Beth worked for 17 years in client-facing roles with Hewitt Associates, now Aon. She holds a B.S. in actuarial mathematics from the University of Michigan. Since 2015, Beth has also been an active member in The Chicago Network, and now serves on the board.

Benefits September 29, 2022

Congressman Jim Himes Optimistic SECURE 2.0 Will Pass

Himes tells the Investment Adviser Association of the bipartisan support for SECURE 2.0, and shares his views on sanctions.

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Congressman Jim Himes, D-Connecticut, expressed confidence that SECURE 2.0 “will happen in this Congress” during his remarks Wednesday at the Investment Adviser Association’s 2022 Policy and Leadership Forum in Washington, D.C.

Himes noted the importance of this legislation, and said that many Americans are having difficulties “saving for retirement,” or even “saving for anything.”

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SECURE 2.0 refers to two Senate bills, the Enhancing American Retirement Now Act and the Retirement Improvement and Savings Enhancement to Supplement Healthy Investments for the Nest Egg Act—aka the EARN Act and the RISE & SHINE Act—as well as one House bill, the Securing a Strong Retirement Act. The three bills aim to increase Americans’ access to retirement accounts.

Passing SECURE 2.0 in this Congress would require the three bills to be consolidated into one and passed in both chambers before being sent to the president. Langston Emerson, a partner at public policy firm Mindset, said later in the forum that this is likely to happen during the lame-duck session after this November’s midterm elections.

Himes also addressed some of the investment risks associated with American national security policy and economic sanctions. He emphasized that the U.S. would not compromise regarding Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and that “we will continue to sanction Russia.” He also cautioned the audience of the possible risks of investing in certain sectors of Russian markets because of the perception of being complicit in what he called the “genocidal” war that Russia started against Ukraine.

These sanctions include blocking many Russian elites and institutions from the U.S. financial system, including the Russian Central Bank and an embargo on various Russian imports, including oil, gas, coal and other commodities.

He also explained that despite Chinese human rights violations against the Uyghur population of northwest China, sanctions against China are more costly and complicated due to the size of its economy, and that therefore the U.S. is more reluctant to sanction the country in the manner they have sanctioned Russia.

Himes noted that members of Congress are aware that the more the U.S. weaponizes the size of its financial system, the less effective that tool becomes, as more countries seek alternatives to it.

For example, when Russia was cut off from the Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunications, better known as SWIFT, and the U.S. financial system, the country demanded that its oil and gas customers open ruble-denominated accounts instead of dollar-denominated accounts to pay, and most customers complied.

Himes acknowledged that the federal government’s broad sanction authority is something that investors must account for, but added policymakers on the hill are not “stupid,” meaning that Congress is aware that sanctions impose a burden and risk on business, and that they account for that when making and considering sanctions policy.

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