Deals and People February 16, 2011

T. Rowe Adds to Retirement Plan Services Sales Team

February 16, 2011 (PLANSPONSOR.com) – T. Rowe Price has announced some recent hires within the Retirement Plan Services sales team.
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Kimberly Baker is the new director of intermediary relations for T. Rowe Price Retirement Plan Services; Dan Darfler joined as director of national account sales; and James Quartarone joined as a retirement sales executive for T. Rowe Price Retirement Plan Services.  

According to the announcement, with more than 20 years of experience in a variety of sales, consultant relations, and marketing roles in the retirement and investment management industry, Baker will advance T. Rowe Price efforts to strengthen this critical function and drive the Retirement Plan Services division’s intermediary strategy. Most recently, Baker was vice president, consultant relations for Fidelity Investments. Prior to that she was a vice president, consultant relations at CitiStreet (now part of ING). She replaces Heidi Walsh in this role.  

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In his newly-created position, Darfler will cover the high end of the large prospect segment for the full-service marketplace. He has nearly 25 years of DC industry experience, and most recently was a managing director for Prudential Retirement. Before that he was director, defined contribution for AllianceBernstein Institutional Investments, and vice president, institutional sales for JPMorgan Retirement Plan Services.   

Also in a newly-created position, Quartarone will be focused on prospects in the consultant sales channel in the western region. He has nearly 20 years of sales experience in the defined contribution industry, and most recently was a sales executive at Aon Hewitt. Prior to working at Aon Hewitt, he worked at Fidelity Investments for 18 years, most recently as vice president, account executive. .
Products February 16, 2011

S&P Brings On Israeli Indexes

February 16, 2011 (PLANSPONSOR.com) – Standard & Poor's and Harel Financial Group have launched a suite of sector indexes covering a range of companies within the Israeli equity market.
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A news release said the S&P/Harel Sector Indices will provide investors with a benchmark for measuring sector performance within the Israeli equity market and will serve as the basis for investment products. 

The S&P/Harel Sector Indices are launched as part of a collaboration agreement entered by the two companies where S&P launches new sector indices for the Israeli market and Harel issues investment products which track the new indexes. On February 23, 2011, Harel will issue two investment products which track the following indexes:  

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  • S&P/ Harel TA Energy Index, and
  • S&P/ Harel TA Telecommunication Index.

“With the launch of these Indices, Israeli investors will have access to S&P Indices full range of indexing capabilities essential to both measuring asset classes and for serving as the basis for investment products,” said Alka Banerjee, Vice President at S&P Indices, in the news release. “Our full expectation is that these Indices will be the first of a family of indices serving both Israeli investors and those from outside of Israel looking to access this market.”

Each index within the S&P/Harel Sector Indices is made up of 12, 15, 20 or 25 of the largest eligible publicly traded Israeli companies listed on the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange (TASE) within industry sectors and sub-industries as defined by GICS, the Global Industry Classification Standard.

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