Retirement Industry People Moves

SageView Adds to Plan Sponsor Relationships Team; Names Head of New Financial Education Platform

SageView Advisory Group named Kasi Boyles as a senior relationship manager, according to a spokesperson for the independent registered investment adviser.

Boyles is responsible for day-to-day contact with plan sponsor clients; helping employers manage their retirement programs; plan design; compliance; and fiduciary responsibilities, the spokesperson says. Boyles reports to Bob Trethewey, a principal at Newport Beach, California-based SageView.

Prior to joining SageView, Boyles was a vice president for institutional retirement distribution and consultant relations at Lincoln Financial Group, according to LinkedIn.

SageView also announced that Kerry Woods has joined the company as a vice president for participant education and engagement. Woods will head up a new plan sponsor and participant offering called PersonalSAGE. The new platform is designed to give participants of any savings level access to a personalized assessment of their financial standing and access to one-on-one sessions with financial coaches, according to the announcement.

Woods will report to Jon Upham, head of participant education and engagement. She joined SageView from Voya Financial, where she was vice president and consultant relations director.

McAtamney Joins MissionSquare Retirement to Lead Consultant Relations Team 

MissionSquare Retirement announced that Michael McAtamney has joined the company as vice president and head of consultant relations to manage the team and lead strategic efforts, according to a company spokesperson. 

McAtamney joins the investment and retirement advisory from Empower, where he was the director of business development. He previously served as vice president of strategic relations for Prudential Retirement.

“Supporting our consultants and advisers in today’s complex environment is critical for delivering retirement security for the public service workforce,” Orlando Cruz, senior vice president and chief growth officer, said in a statement. “MissionSquare Retirement will benefit immensely from Michael’s proven ability to lead a nationwide consultant relations team, which will expand our growing network.”

McAtamney will report to Andrew Whiting, a managing director and head of institutional and investment sales.

MissionSquare Retirement is based in Washington, D.C., and has about $69 billion in assets under management and administration, according to the firm.

Vestwell Names Regional VP for Midwestern States

Digital recordkeeper and retirement plan provider Vestwell Advisors LLC confirmed the company has hired Josh Henry to the position of regional vice president covering Ohio, Michigan and Indiana.

Henry will report to Josh Forstater, senior vice president and national sales manager at Vestwell, according to a spokesperson.

Henry was previously a senior vice president and a financial adviser at Morgan Stanley, according to LinkedIn.

Accelerate Retirement Names Thurston Managing Director

Accelerate Retirement, a workplace retirement advisory services provider, confirmed that Tim Thurston has joined as an affiliate adviser with the title of managing director.

Thurston operates a retirement advisory practice consulting with employers to address employee retirement plan benefits, an Accelerate Retirement spokesperson says.

“[His] practice exclusively focuses on the design, operations and compliance of public- and private-sector employers’ qualified and nonqualified retirement plans,” the spokesperson says.

Prior to this role, Thurston was a vice president of retirement plan consulting at VisionPoint Advisory Group and, before that, a manager in retirement plan consulting services at Hub International, according to LinkedIn.

Aliso Viejo, California-based Accelerate Retirement is a full-service retirement plan consultant with affiliated advisers, offering wealth management services to companies and employees.

Wealthbox Adds Leadership in Marketing, Sales, Engineering

Customer relationship management platform Wealthbox announced the addition of new executives to its leadership team: Erin Bickford as vice president of marketing, Shawn Preisler as senior vice president of revenue and Mike Leone as vice president of engineering.

The Providence, Rhode Island-based firm makes the leadership move after a $31 million equity investment in March 2022 that has helped with a doubling of employee count to accommodate demand for its CRM workspace technology, according to the announcement.

Bickford comes to Wealthbox from Global Payments, (via its $500M September 2021 acquisition of MineralTree), where she served as director of demand generation. In her role as Wealthbox vice president of marketing, Bickford will look to grow the company’s demand generation program for scalability and continue to elevate the Wealthbox brand within the wealth management industry, according to the firm.

Preisler joins Wealthbox from Riskalyze, where he was vice president of sales. He previously held roles with Advicent Solutions in sales management and as CEO of Cedar Creek Securities. Preisler will look to grow existing business, identify new business opportunities, develop strategic partnerships and execute all revenue-generating efforts.

Leone comes to Wealthbox from Wealthbase, a simulated stock trading app, where he served as vice president of engineering. Previously, Leone ran several consulting businesses, managing large-scale software projects for clients such as Coca-Cola and Harvard University. Leone will oversee all software development projects, scaling and managing the company’s growing engineering team.“We sought to round out our management team following our Series B financing last year, and we’re delighted to bring these talented professionals aboard,” John Rourke, CEO of Wealthbox, said in a statement.

Private Advisor Group Names Frank Smith as CEO

Independent wealth management firm Private Advisor Group announced Frank Smith is being promoted from president to CEO after the group drew $4.4 billion in new affiliated assets under management in 2022.

Smith joined the Morristown, New Jersey-based advisory group in 2021, according to his LinkedIn profile, and was part of the firm’s launch of two proprietary platforms for its adviser network. Last year, the firm launched Advisor Alignment & Equity Programs, designed to help firms assess their business goals, practices and expenses, as well as WealthSuite, an investment management platform.

Smith will continue the firm’s strategy of actively recruiting financial advisers, according to the announcement. In the announcement, Private Advisor Group’s head of business development, Verne Marble, said the independent RIA model remains in high demand.

“Based on licensing and registration data, we see the trend of advisers aligning with an independent RIA continuing,” Marble said in a statement. “There is also continued interest in advisers moving to fee-only, adopting the Investment Advisor Representative or IAR-only model, which was another area of growth for us last year.”

The firm’s adviser network currently oversees more than $29 billion in AUM.

Greenleaf Trust Hires Managing Director in Michigan

Greenleaf Trust announced that Bill Feldmaier is joining the company as managing director of Southeast Michigan to lead marketing strategy, business development and leadership of the firm’s Birmingham, Michigan, office.

Feldmaier brings more than 20 years of experience in the institutional pension, 401(k) and retirement space to the firm’s wealth management; trust and estate administration; and administration of company-sponsored retirement plans practice, according to the company. He will also work in southeast Michigan to grow the firm’s personal trust, family office and retirement plan business, the company stated.

Feldmaier joins Greenleaf from Lord, Abbett & Co., where he was director of consultant relations. He had prior senior national sales leadership roles at Transamerica, CUNA Mutual Group and Comerica Bank.

Marygold Companies Name Fintech President Ahead of Banking App Launch

The Marygold Companies Inc., a diversified global holding firm, announced the appointment of Timothy M. Rooney as president of Marygold & Co., a wholly owned subsidiary created to develop and launch a mobile banking app built around a unified platform for spending, receiving, saving and investing.

Rooney is part of the founding leadership group at Marygold & Co., joining the company to create and lead Marygold & Co. Advisory Services LLC, a registered investment adviser, the company stated. Rooney will lead the division as it finalizes its mobile banking app ahead of launch later this year.

Marygold has been developing the app for the three years and has more than 10,000 potential clients on a wait list, according to the company. The app will: allow clients to send payments to anyone; enable users to save through interest-bearing FDIC-insured accounts without banking fees or minimum requirement; and allow customers to invest in diversified portfolios to match user-selected goals and time-based objectives, according to the announcement.

Rooney joined Marygold from a role as vice president of product development at Nationwide Investment Management Group. He was also vice president ofstrategy for Sun America Retirement Markets and head of strategic initiatives for Pacific Life Insurance Company.

“I am incredibly excited to be leading Marygold & Co., as we prepare to introduce what we believe will be the most innovative mobile banking product on the market,” Rooney said in a statement. “Fintech is widely regarded as a high growth sector in an increasingly complex world. Our new app will truly enable clients to simplify and organize their financial lives in a secure manner.”