Prudential Retirement Appoints New CEO

Phil Waldeck will serve as the president and chief executive officer of Prudential Retirement, a division of Prudential Financial, effective June 5. He succeeds Christine Marcks, who recently announced her decision to retire following more than 13 years of service, a decade of which was spent as president and CEO.

Waldeck has more than 30 years of industry experience behind him. He first came onboard Prudential in 2004 as part of the firm’s acquisition of Cigna’s retirement business. He currently leads Prudential Retirement’s Investment & Pension Solutions business, which had $185 billion in institutional investment products account values as of March 31, 2017. While at Prudential, he has spearheaded institutional product innovation efforts both domestically and internationally across the pension risk transfer, longevity reinsurance, structured settlements and stable value businesses. Under his leadership, Prudential led two major pension buy-outs with General Motors ($25 billion) and Verizon ($8 billion), as well as the nation’s first pension buy-in with Hickory Springs.

Before joining Prudential, Phil spent the first 20 years of his career in the full service recordkeeping business. He earned a bachelor’s degree, magna cum laude, from Tufts University and a master’s degree from the University of Michigan. He serves on the board of directors of the Prudential Retirement Insurance and Annuity, and is chair of Achieve Hartford.

“Under Chris’s leadership, Prudential Retirement created a talent-centered, customer-focused culture that has inspired and created significant business growth and innovation, resulting in greater retirement security for a growing market,” says Steve Pelletier, chief operating officer of Prudential’s U.S. Businesses. “Phil is a passionate advocate for retirement security who will build on Prudential Retirement’s impressive momentum to address unmet financial needs for both institutions and individuals, including increased access to workplace benefit programs and deeper engagement with participants.”

Yanela Frias will succeed Waldeck as head of Investment & Pension Solutions. Frias was most recently Prudential Retirement’s head of Structured Settlements. She also previously served as Prudential Annuities’ chief financial officer.