New Chair, Governing Board Elected at SPARK Institute

The Society of Professional Asset Managers and Recordkeepers announced the election of new governing board officers.

Joseph Smolen, the executive vice president of core and institutional markets at Empower, will become the new governing board chair.

Smolen said SPARK’s historical advocacy for Washington’s recent advances in retirement legislation, such as the Setting Every Community Up for Retirement Enhancement Act of 2019 and the SECURE 2.0 Act of 2022, offer great promise for retirement plan participants and a lot of work ahead for the SPARK membership.

“I look forward to helping SPARK members navigate the road ahead as new and better policy opportunities await us,” he said in a statement.

Smolen replaces outgoing chair Kevin Collins, head of U.S. Intermediaries at T. Rowe Price. Collins had been chair since November 2022 and is credited with starting the retirement income, financial literacy and fraud prevention committees at SPARK.

Todd McGrath was elected to be the vice chair of the governing board. McGrath is the managing director and chief operating officer of Corebridge’s financial retirement division.

Michael Miller was elected treasurer. He works as managing director and head of defined contribution solutions at PGIM.