Retirement Industry People Moves

Vestwell appoints Rettig to board seat; Star Mountain Capital names DeAngelis as senior adviser; Club Vita names Gleed as head of U.S. business development.

Vestwell Names Rettig to Board of Directors

John Rettig

Vestwell announced it has appointed John Rettig, executive vice president and chief financial officer of Bill Operations LLC, a cloud-based software provider, to its board of directors. Rettig will work closely with Vestwell CEO Aaron Schumm and CFO Dave Sheen.

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“We’re delighted to welcome John to the team as an innovator who shares Vestwell’s vision and commitment to serving small and medium-sized companies,” Schumm said in a statement. “Adding John’s extensive operational, strategic, and analytical experience to our board of directors is a key element in our strategy to scale our businesses.”

Rettig has more than 20 years of strategic finance and operational leadership experience in both private and public companies. Before joining Bill, he was the CFO of Exponential Interactive Inc., a digital media company.

“It’s hard not to see the vast impact Vestwell has on the industry today,” said Rettig in a statement. “I’m thrilled to join the board of directors at Vestwell and help champion the firm’s next phase of growth.”


Star Mountain Capital Adds DeAngelis as Senior Adviser

Star Mountain Capital LLC, a specialized investment manager, announced that Steve DeAngelis has joined as a senior adviser.

Steve DeAngelis

“Steve’s experience with alternative investment distribution, investor reporting, communications and talent management is a great addition for all our stakeholders, including continuing to provide differentiated capabilities and reliable capital for the high-quality businesses we invest with,” Brett Hickey, Star Mountain Capital founder and CEO, said in a statement.

DeAngelis’ experience includes founding and building a technology-based wealth management platform to more than $100 billion in assets and selling to PFPC Worldwide, a division of PNC Financial. Previously, he was managing director and head of the U.S. advisor solutions group at Goldman Sachs Asset Management and first executive vice president and head of distribution and later president at FS Investments.

“I appreciate the opportunity to focus time and capital on differentiated investment value propositions for financial advisors, especially at Star Mountain Capital, an organization that aligns with my values and team-oriented culture,” DeAngelis said in a statement.


Club Vita Appoints Gleed as US Head of Business Development

Club Vita LLP, which specializes in longevity data analytics, announced the hiring of Natalie Gleed as its head of U.S. business development.

Jennifer Haid

“We are thrilled to welcome Natalie to the Club Vita,” Jennifer Haid, Club Vita’s CEO, said in a statement. “She is a highly qualified and experienced professional with a passion for driving understanding and engagement with actuarial analytics.”

According to Club Vita, Gleed’s hiring came in response to growing demand for longevity analytics to support pension risk transfer activity in the U.S. and Club Vita’s increasing presence in the PRT market. She will be responsible for driving the adoption of Club Vita’s product suite and analytics.

Gleed brings more than 20 years of actuarial experience, having previously held a variety of roles across insurance companies in the U.K. and U.S., most recently as a key account manager at the Swiss Re Group. “I’m excited to get started,” Gleed said in a statement, “My previous experience in the industry, both in the U.S. and in the U.K., has prepared me perfectly to bring Club Vita’s offering to the U.S. market and to help develop further innovations within Club Vita.”

Whole Foods Plans Benefit to Plug Workers’ Saving Gaps

The company announced this week it will offer emergency savings accounts in 2024.

Amazon subsidiary Whole Foods Market will join a growing number of large U.S. employers that offer emergency savings accounts as an employee benefit, announcing plans to bring emergency savings accounts to full-time and part-time U.S. employees beginning in 2024.

Julie Cunningham, vice president of total rewards, talent and learning & development posted on LinkedIn information about the launch including:   


The American multinational supermarket chain, headquartered in Austin, Texas, worked with Fidelity Investments to build the program.

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Almost 1,500 Fidelity workplace clients have chose to use Fidelity Goal Booster, says Emily Kolle, vice president, Goal Booster.  

“Emergency savings is one of several goals available through Goal Booster, which makes it difficult to say which employers are focused on emergency savings alone, but we do know that emergency savings has been the most popular goal selected by employees for some time,” says Kolle. 

“We are continually looking for new and innovative benefit offerings for our team members,” said Brian O’Connell, Whole Foods’ senior vice president of team member services, in a statement. “We are excited to add Fidelity’s savings program to our suite of financial wellness benefits, creating an easy way for team members to save for unexpected expenses—one paycheck at a time.”

Delta Air Lines and Starbucks are among several large companies that have recently implemented emergency savings benefits to help employees achieve savings goals, with Delta enhanced its program in August to provide greater flexibility. According to Delta, employees who enrolled in the emergency savings program have increased their 401(k) contributions.

“It’s great news that more and more employers are looking to add emergency savings: we think it’s foundational,” says Pamela Hess, executive director of retirement research at the Defined Contribution Institutional Investment Association. “It sets a foundation for folks’ and their financial health and that ability to withstand shocks and withstand financial challenges is critical so they continue to save and reach their long-term goals. It’s wonderful to see Whole Foods signing-on and being another large employer taking that step and we think the more it becomes a snowball effect, the more employers doing the more mainstream it becomes, which we think is really critical to help all workers.   

Fidelity recently published data highlighting that Americans’ persistent lack of savings to cover unexpected expenses­—coupled with economic events like inflation and market volatility—has increased the stress on their finances. In a sign of financial stress, 57% of U.S adults could not afford a $1,000 emergency expense, according to a Bankrate LLC report published in January.

“We’re seeing a lot of employer interest in implementing emergency savings programs for a diverse workforce, like organizations in the retail sector such as grocery chains, says Nick Maynard, senior vice president at Commonwealth. “Employees earning low and moderate incomes are often living in the financial present, carrying financial anxiety and stress. [Research] has demonstrated that having emergency savings contributes to both short- and long-term financial well-being, like retirement.”

Whole Foods’ workforce comprises more than 90,000 employees, according to the company’s LinkedIn page. Representatives for Whole Foods Market did not provide additional details on the emergency savings program.

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