Retirement Industry People Moves

Aon Names Fiduciary Services Practice Leader

Aon partner Julie Becker will be named fiduciary services practice leader upon the retirement of Jeanna Cullins in December, after 35 years in the industry and 14 years as part of Aon Investments USA Inc. Becker is based in Ohio and has been a key member of the Aon’s fiduciary services team since she joined the firm in 2017. 

Prior to Aon, Becker was the general counsel to the Ohio Public Employees Retirement System, an assistant Ohio attorney general and an assistant Summit County prosecutor. She currently serves on the fiduciary and plan governance steering committee of the National Association of Public Pension Attorneys. 

Aon also announces the hire of Benita Falls Harper as pension governance attorney, associate partner. Harper most recently served as the executive director of the Fort Worth Employees’ Retirement Fund. She was general counsel prior to being promoted to executive director. Harper will be responsible for providing consulting advice on fiduciary and governance issues to institutional investor clients. She will be based in the Dallas-Fort Worth area and report to Becker. 

Northern Trust Asset Management Names Head of Global Macro for Fixed Income

Northern Trust Asset Management, an investment management firm, has announced that Antulio Bomfim has been hired as head of global macro, a newly created position within its global fixed income group.

Bomfim joins NTAM with nearly 30 years of experience spanning roles within investment management and the Federal Reserve Board System. Most recently, he served as special adviser to the Fed Board as well as special adviser to Chairman Jerome Powell.

Previously, Bomfim was with Macroeconomic Advisers as a senior managing director, co-head of monetary policy insights. Prior to that, he served as a portfolio manager and co-head of interest rate strategy for OFI Institutional Asset Management, a division of Oppenheimer Funds.

A longtime adviser, consultant and award-winning author, Bomfim brings deep practical and theoretical knowledge of the economy and financial markets. His fields of research include asset pricing, monetary policy, macroeconomics, investments, and financial markets. He holds a Ph.D., M.A. and B.A. in economics from the University of Maryland, as well as a M.S. in mathematical finance from the University of Oxford.

In his newly created role within NTAM’s Global Fixed Income Group, Bomfim has overall oversight responsibility for the global macro group, which is responsible for interest rate strategy, systematic volatility, liquidity, and monitoring systemic risk globally. Bomfim is also responsible for the firm’s global liquidity management business. He reports to Thomas Swaney, chief investment officer of global fixed income.

DWS Appoints Americas CEO

DWS Group, an asset management firm, has announced the appointment of Dirk Goergen as Americas CEO, effective January 1. He will follow Mark Cullen, who holds responsibility for the Americas region on the DWS executive board, and who will step down at the end of the year and leave the industry in spring 2023 after 30 years.

Goergen will assume this responsibility in addition to his current role as member of the firm’s executive board and global head of client coverage division. As CEO of the Americas, he will be responsible for identifying growth opportunities in the market and strengthening the positioning of the firm. Goergen, who will relocate to the U.S. and be based in New York, will also oversee the Americas leadership council that manages the running of the firm.

Goergen joined DWS in 2018, where he has since been responsible for setting up and developing the client coverage division. His responsibilities include the global business with wholesale and institutional clients across all asset classes (active, passive, alternatives). Previously, Goergen was head of private client sales in Germany at Deutsche Bank. In this role, he was largely responsible for the further development of the digital distribution channels, the traditional branch business, and the cooperation with strategic distribution partners.

Previously, Goergen worked for the management consultancy Bain & Company. The focus of his consulting work was on large financial institutions, which he supported in strategy development, the implementation of strong cultures, and the realization of major transformation projects.

Allianz Trade Announces CEO Leadership Change

Allianz Trade has announced that current Allianz SE group Chief Risk Officer Aylin Somersan Coqui, will become CEO and chairperson of the board of management of Allianz Trade. This change is subject to regulatory approval, and follows the departure of Clarisse Kopff, who has decided to pursue a new leadership role outside of Allianz as of November 30.

Aylin Somersan Coqui holds a bachelor’s degree from Davidson College and an MBA from Harvard Business School. She began her career as a financial analyst at Morgan Stanley in 1998, and then joined the Allianz Group in 2002. She served in various positions with Allianz Global Investors and PIMCO before holding multiple international leadership roles within the group, including chief financial officer (2013-2015) and CEO (2016-2018) at Allianz Turkey, chief human resources officer at Allianz SE (2019) and board member and labor director at Allianz Deutschland AG (2019-2020). Since 2020, Aylin has been group risk chief officer at Allianz SE.

Legal & General Retirement America Hires Head of Service and Operations

Legal & General Retirement America has hired Londone Moulds as vice president, head of service and operations effective October 3. 

Moulds brings deep expertise in the pension risk transfer operations space, including implementation, data management, customer relations, benefit calculations, operations, and customer service management. She will be responsible for leading all operational aspects of LGRA’s PRT business. 

Moulds joins LGRA from MetLife, where most recently she served as assistant vice president of U.S. pensions responsible for implementation and administration of PRT for defined benefit pension plan participants. 

OneDigital Owned Firm Rebrands to OneDigital Investment Fiduciary Services

OneDigital Investment Advisors, an SEC-registered investment adviser and wholly-owned subsidiary of OneDigital, insurance brokerage, financial services and HR consulting firm, has announced that Fidelis Fiduciary Management, an outsourced investment fiduciary firm that OneDigital acquired in 2020, will be rebranded to OneDigital Investment Fiduciary Services. 

OneDigital Investment Fiduciary Services provides outsourced ERISA 3(38) investment management and ERISA 3(21) investment advisory services to plan sponsors of employer-sponsored retirement plans. Additionally, OneDigital IFS has had a specialty in providing 3(38) fiduciary services to pooled employer plans and multiple employer plans for over a decade.

Voya Expanding Regional Sales Team

Voya Financial has hired Justin Chilcote as sales director, mid-market, West division for the company’s wealth solutions business. 

As part of Voya’s expansion of the mid-market team, Chilcote will be responsible for business development of Voya’s defined contribution plan offering for Voya’s corporate and not-for-profit markets division for mid-market plans, with plan assets of $50 million to $250 million.

Chilcote will interact with financial advisers, consultants, investment committees, and plan sponsors to help these parties find solutions available at Voya and ultimately drive retirement success for defined contribution plans they influence.

Chilcote comes to Voya with more than two decades of experience in the financial services industry helping individuals prepare for a successful transition into retirement. Most recently, he held the position of institutional director, retirement plan sales at Transamerica Workplace Solutions, where he was responsible for leading business development efforts for 401(k), 403(b), 457, non-qualified defined contribution and defined benefit products for over $50 million institutional markets in the western region of the U.S.

Chilcote received his Bachelor of Science in finance and marketing from Westminster College. Based in Salt Lake City, he will start at Voya on October 24, reporting to Ned Freer, vice president, mid-market wealth solutions sales leader.

Symetra Aligns Retirement Distribution Under Two Channel Leaders

Symetra Life Insurance Company has announced the promotion of Dayna Cerrone to vice president, channel head for the bank and wirehouse channels, a new role. Cerrone joins Kevin McGarry, vice president, independent broker-dealer channel, in leading Symetra’s core distribution channels. The executives report to Andrew Farrell, senior vice president, retirement sales, distribution, and marketing.

Most recently vice president, western division, Cerrone joined Symetra in 2013 and is a financial professional whose 30-year career encompasses roles as financial adviser, external wholesaler and corporate sales trainer at multiple financial institutions including Transamerica, AIG and American Express. In her new role, Cerrone assumes leadership for the retirement division’s field sales teams and relationship management in the bank and wire distribution channel.

McGarry joined Symetra in November 2021 following 10 years at Nationwide Financial where his most recent role was vice president and national sales manager for mutual fund distribution. Prior to Nationwide, he worked for MFS Investment Service Groups, Alliance Bernstein, and Travelers Insurance in roles that include divisional vice president, mutual fund wholesaler, and annuity wholesaler. Responsible for establishing the vision and strategy for growing Symetra’s annuity brand and sales across the independent broker-dealer channel, McGarry has been building a team of wholesalers to provide valuable solutions for retirement planning with RILA, FIA, and SPIA product offerings.

The company also announced that Courtney Ellis, formerly vice president, internal sales, will take on an expanded role that includes retirement product marketing, as vice president, retirement marketing, internal sales and sales effectiveness.

Ellis joined Symetra in 2012 as a product specialist in the retirement division before moving into internal wholesaling. She was promoted to assistant director, internal sales and distribution, in 2016, when she took on additional responsibilities for the internal relationship management and suitability teams, as well as broker-dealer operations. Ellis was named associate vice president, internal sales and distribution in 2019, and her leadership of the internal sales desk played a major part in the pivot to virtual wholesaling during the pandemic. She was promoted to vice president in 2022.

Strongpoint Partners Announces Platform Launch and Leadership Appointments

Strongpoint Partners, a tech-enabled financial services platform focused on third-party administration of retirement plans, recordkeeping, payroll, and HR solutions for small and medium business, has announced the company’s launch.

Backed by Shore Capital Partners, a Chicago-based private equity firm focused on microcap investing, Strongpoint combines an integrated software platform for outsourced retirement services alongside a passion for service and innovation. Together, Strongpoint and Shore will continue to explore opportunities for growth through new partnerships and business development and will continue to invest in the company’s products and infrastructure.

Strongpoint partnered with HowardSimon, an independent retirement third-party administrator and payroll services provider based in Riverwoods, Illinois, in December 2021. In addition, Strongpoint recently partnered with the Jocelyn family of companies (investment management and pension consulting) to expand its services to Boulder, Colorado and Northern California.

Strongpoint is launching with a management team that includes Danny Hest, former CEO of Roadpass Digital and senior leader at Orbitz Worldwide and Expedia Group, who will serve as the Company’s CEO, and Sean Morris, a seasoned financial executive, who will serve as chief financial officer.

Hest has over 20 years of experience leading business development, sales, marketing, strategic planning and operations. In his nearly 10 years at Orbitz Worldwide and Expedia Group, he led rapid growth of its B2B distribution business units, primarily through organic partnerships, sales, marketing, and product development. Most recently, Hest served as CEO of Roadpass Digital, a road-based travel technology company with several consumer-focused brands that it has both acquired and developed organically.

Morris has over 16 years of experience leading finance, accounting, operations and M&A teams. He has worked at several fast-paced financial services and investment firms, including Citadel, Northern Trust and, most recently, PEAK6 Investments, where he led a finance team of 60 employees.

DWC Announces New Partner

DWC has announced that Tianna Schulz has been promoted to partner.

 Schulz joined DWC in 2018 as a consultant performing compliance, plan document, and government reporting services. Schulz eventually joined the firm’s management operating committee and led the compliance services practice.

As partner, she will continue to serve in this capacity with an emphasis on ensuring DWC provides a premium service at a fair price for DWC’s clients, and their investment adviser partners.

CAPTRUST Adds Massachusetts-Based Patriot Pension Advisors

CAPTRUST Financial Advisors has announced the addition of Patriot Pension Advisors based in Foxborough, Massachusetts. Founded in 2002, PPA supports sponsors of retirement plans, including 401(k), 403(b), and defined benefit plans. The firm oversees more than $900 million in client assets and is led by Ted Burke, who will be joining CAPTRUST, along with his colleague Michelle Marchionni.

This is the 59th deal for CAPTRUST since 2006 and the third of 2022. Consistent with other transactions, Patriot will take on the CAPTRUST brand. MidCap Advisors served as PPA’s financial adviser in the transaction.

BNY Mellon Investor Solutions Names Head of Responsible Investing

BNY Mellon Investor Solutions, LLC has named Manisha Ali as head of responsible investing. She will help build and shape the investors solutions responsible investing franchise, and work to identify best-in-class solutions. Ali will partner with investment management, wealth management and family office clients at different stages of their responsible investing journey. She will also represent investor solutions as an active participant in industry organizations and spearhead thought leadership that raises awareness of on-going responsible investment trends. Ali is based in New York and reports to Sinead Colton Grant, global head of investor solutions.

Ali has more than 17 years of industry experience and brings a strong practitioner perspective on responsible investing solutions. She is a frequent speaker at client events and industry conferences on environmental, social and governance, and impact and responsible investing. Prior to joining the firm, Manisha served as an ESG-focused portfolio specialist at Neuberger Berman and worked closely with institutional, intermediary, and individual investors. She was also associate director at Russell Investments, where she worked on investment strategy and outsourced chief investment officer solutions for institutional non-profit investors and was a key member of their global sustainability council.

Ali earned a Bachelor and Master of computer science from National University of Singapore. She also earned an MBA from Columbia Business School. She is a Chartered Alternative Investment Analyst and Chartered Adviser in Philanthropy professional. She has also volunteered with a non-profit organization in Cambodia, negotiating and implementing social finance solutions with microfinance institutions. Ali is an active member of the U.S. SIF Education Committee, Columbia University’s Advisory Committee on Socially Responsible Investing, as well as the Financial Women’s Association of New York.