Retirement Industry People Moves

WTW makes Health, Wealth & Career appointments; Allspring Global Investments to get new CEO;  Oliver Nisenson to join PGIM Fixed Income as head of Asset-Based Finance; and more.

WTW Makes Health, Wealth & Career Appointments 

WTW announced appointments on its Health, Wealth & Career leadership team, following the retirement of Marco Boschetti as global leader of retirement. 

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Imran Qureshi

Imran Qureshi took over from Boschetti as retirement business leader on April 2. Emory Todd will succeed Qureshi as the integrated and global solutions  business leader and Michelle Acciavatti  will replace Todd as North America HWC leader.

Qureshi brings more than 25 years of client and leadership experience to the retirement business. With an actuarial background and extensive multinational work, he understands the environment and opportunities for organizations in the retirement space. Qureshi will continue to hold his role as WTW’s North America leader and sit on the company’s executive team. 

Emory Todd

Todd, who has also been with WTW for more than 25 years, has held consultancy and leadership roles in the work and rewards business, served as the HWC growth leader for North America and led the company’s U.S. West region. He will bring his knowledge of client issues and his ability to make connections across HWC businesses to the IGS leadership position.

Michelle Acciavatti

Acciavatti, who is an actuary and has been with WTW for more than 30 years, has held client relationship manager and leadership roles, most recently as WTW’s Midwest Region reader. As North America HWC leader, Acciavatti will be responsible for driving revenue growth across the geography, bringing new solutions to market and ensuring clients benefit from the full value of HWC insights and offerings.

Rick Sherwood will succeed Acciavatti as WTW’s Midwest Region leader alongside his role as North America leader of the IGS business. Sherwood will bring his track record of growing client relationships to his dual role where he will support both market growth in the Midwest and growth of the IGS business in North America. 

Qureshi, Todd and Acciavatti are based in the U.S. and will all serve on the HWC Global Leadership team, reporting to Julie Gebauer, president of health, wealth and career. 

Allspring Global Investments to Get New CEO 

Allspring Global Investments, announced that  Kate Burke will assume the role of chief executive officer, effective July 1, 2025. She has served as president since 2023 and is a director on the company’s board. Once Burke takes the reins as CEO, current CEO Joe Sullivan will continue to serve as executive chair of the board. 

Prior to joining Allspring, Burke served as the chief operating officer and chief financial officer at AllianceBernstein. 

“Since joining the team in 2023, Kate has established herself as a skilled leader who combines deep experience in asset management and an understanding of the power of people to build culture and deliver results. She has a strong client orientation, a passion for operational excellence, and a focus on maintaining strong investment performance. I am proud to pass the torch to her as she leads Allspring into the future,” Sullivan said, in a statement. 

Oliver Nisenson to Join PGIM Fixed Income as Head of Asset-Based Finance 

Oliver Nisenson is joining PGIM Fixed Income as head of asset-based finance, effective May 15. In this newly created role, he will be responsible for oversight and leadership of the firm’s global private ABF platform within its $131 billion securitized products business. 

Joining PGIM Fixed Income from Blackstone Credit and Insurance, Nisenson will report to Gabriel Rivera and Edwin Wilches, co-heads of securitized products. 

“PGIM has been a leading investor in both the public and private asset-based finance markets for more than 30 years. As such, we believe we have a unique value proposition to offer clients as the divide between public and private fades and client demand for asset-based financing and tailored investment solutions accelerates,” said John Vibert, president and CEO of PGIM Fixed Income, in a statement. “We are excited to welcome Oliver to lead and expand our private ABF team. His expertise in this space will be valuable to our team and to our clients.” 

 
Alan Synnott Joins Mercer as Global Head of Real Assets 

Alan Synnott

Mercer appointed Alan Synnott as global head of real assets in its wealth practice, reporting to Hooman Kaveh, global chief investment officer. Synnott joins Mercer from BlackRock, where he served as managing director and global head of product strategy for real assets.

Synnott will be based in Dublin and will work closely with Mercer’s global investment platform, global alternatives and regional investment teams.  

“It is a privilege to join Mercer and work alongside a global team of experts across infrastructure, real estate and natural real assets,” said Synnott in a statement. “These strategies are playing an increasingly central role in the portfolios of large asset owners, serving as a potential source of capital growth, income, diversification and stability. I look forward to being a partner to our clients as we tailor strategies to meet their objectives.” 


PBGC Attorney Camille Castro Joins The Wagner Law Group
 

Camille Castro has joined The Wagner Law Group’s Washington, D.C. office as of counsel. With more than a decade of experience in pension and employee benefits law, Castro comes to the firm after working at the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation. She brings brining a unique understanding of federal pension insurance programs and the intricacies of government regulations that impact plan sponsors, fiduciaries, and participants, the law firm said. 

In her role at the PBGC’s Office of the Advocate, Ms. Castro served as a liaison between participants, plan sponsors and the PBGC. She assisted plan sponsors in resolving disputes with the agency involving distress terminations, post-termination negotiations, PBGC premiums, standard terminations, and other issues arising under Title IV of ERISA.  

She also advised participants with benefit entitlement claims, questions about PBGC’s policies and procedures, and other complex benefits administration questions. She created the PBGC Office of the Advocate’s Pension Plan Tracing Service, designed to assist participants with historical pension plan research and related benefit claims and served as technical point of contact for a study commissioned by the advocate on pension plan de-risking. 
 

Employee Fiduciary Names Cindy Dash President

Cindy Dash

Cindy Dash has been appointing president of retirement plan provider Employee Fiduciary. Dash comes joined to the company after a long tenure at Broadridge.

“Cindy’s extensive leadership experience in scaling operations and technology platforms makes her the ideal person to lead Employee Fiduciary into its next phase of growth,” said Eric Droblyen, CEO of Employee Fiduciary, in a statement.. Her expertise aligns perfectly with our mission to provide high-quality, transparent, and low-cost 401(k) plans and our future growth plans into new markets. We’re continuously investing in improvements—like our recent website redesign—to better serve businesses and adviseors. I am excited to welcome Cindy to the team and look forward to the impact she will have on our clients and company. 

Principal Asset Management Appoints Matthew Peron as Deputy CIO of Equities 

Matthew Peron

Principal Asset Management appointed has named Matthew Peron as deputy CIO of equities and portfolio manager, a newly established leadership role.

Peron will serve as a strategic partner to George Maris, chief investment officer and global head of equities, and other senior leaders across global equity strategies to provide investment leadership, drive innovation, and advance portfolio outcomes to elevate overall client outcomes, the company said. Peron will also be co-portfolio manager for the firm’s international equity strategies, including the international equity, diversified international, and European portfolios, comprising $26 billion in assets under management. 

“We are excited to welcome Matthew Peron to our team. His deep expertise across equities and investment leadership will advance our high-performance culture and strengthen our ability to deliver exceptional investment outcomes for clients across our global portfolios,” said Maris, in a statement. 

 

Wellington Management Names Head of US Wealth  

Wellington Management named Christina Kopec Rooney as the head of U.S. Wealth, based in New York. She will lead Wellington’s efforts to enhance its offerings for the wealth channel and drive growth in the U.S. market.  

Rooney joins Wellington from Goldman Sachs Asset Management (GSAM), where she served as managing director and head of commercial and digital strategy for global third-party wealth.  

“We are thrilled to welcome Christina to Wellington,” said Scott Geary, vice chair and head of global wealth at Wellington Management, in a statement. “Her extensive experience and proven track record in the asset management industry make her well-suited to drive our U.S. wealth strategy forward. We are confident that Christina’s leadership will help us deliver value to our clients and further grow our presence in the US wealth market.” 

Penelope Adds Wagner, Crain and Kottler to Advisory Team 

Retirement services platform Penelope added three senior advisors to its team: Marcia Wagner, founder of The Wagner Law Group; Kevin Crain, executive director of the Institutional Retirement Income Council; and Lisa Kottler, partner in strategic growth and innovation at KWP  

“There are 34 million businesses in the U.S., yet only around 700,000 offer a 401(k)—leaving the vast majority of employees underserved,” said Jean Smart, CEO and founder of Penelope. “As states roll out new retirement mandates, [small and medium businesses] are looking for trusted partners to navigate the changes. The addition of Marcia, Kevin and Lisa to our team could not come at a better time. Their deep expertise will help us continue to expand our retirement platform, powered by a modern tech stack that takes advantage of AI. Together, we’re delivering innovative, compliant, and easy-to-use solutions that empower businesses and their employees to build a better financial future.” 





401(k) Participants Show High Trading Activity Amid Market Volatility

Alight Solutions found high levels of trading in retirement plans in the first quarter of this year, with investors trading out of equities and into fixed income.

The U.S. stock market experienced its worst day in five years on Friday, with President Donald Trump’s sweeping tariff announcement triggering major losses to the S&P 500, Nasdaq and Dow Jones Industrial Average.

While retirement plan investors may feel inclined to make changes to their portfolios and trade, experts advise that is still best to “stay the course” and not make any knee-jerk reactions.

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Alight Solutions found that volatility in the stock market has already caused high trading activity in retirement plans in the first quarter of 2025, as 0.77% of balances were traded—the highest level since the third quarter of 2020.

Until mid-February, when the S&P 500 reached all-time highs, 401(k) investors favored equities. But, as stock prices have declined, many have shifted their investments to fixed income funds. According to Alight, there was “above-normal” trading activity on 29 of the 60 trading days in the first quarter. The month of March alone experienced higher trading than the entire fourth quarter of 2024.

The asset classes with the most trading were target-date funds, large-cap U.S. equity funds and small-cap U.S. equity funds.

Rob Austin, head of thought leadership at Alight Solutions, says while Thursday may have seemed like a huge shock to investors, it is not abnormal for the stock market to tumble and then rebound in the future. When 401(k) investors see the market fall, Austin says they tend to trade , typically trading out of equities and into fixed income.

“They’re definitely not buying stocks when they’re on sale … and they don’t tend to get back into the market until equities have gone up,” Austin says. “So in other words, … they’re selling low, buying high. Not the perfect recipe for investing.”

Even though trading was relatively high in the first quarter of this year, Austin says less than 1% of participants’ assets have been traded, which indicates that most participants are staying put.

Austin recommends that if participants are not in a target-date fund or a managed account, they should think about rebalancing. Ideally, plans should implement auto rebalancing, he says, which can be done once a quarter. Currently, about 70% of defined contribution plans offer auto rebalancing, but only about 10% of participants actually use it, according to Austin.

For participants who are close to retirement, Austin says, as long as they have not been overweighted to equities, the amount their portfolios have suffered over the last few months has likely been somewhat muted due to derisking along the course of their glidepath.

How Should Plan Sponsors Communicate?

Communicating with the cohort nearing retirement can be difficult for plan sponsors because, while they are not supposed to provide investment advice, they should encourage participants to take a more prudent approach to investing.

“I think plan sponsors are generally trying to get people [who are in] the pre-retirement phase … to think about derisking,” Austin says. “It’s tough to make that message now, because you don’t want people to lock in those losses especially when they don’t have the time to make that up in the next few years.”

Austin adds that the losses investors have experienced are technically only paper losses and that nothing is officially locked in until one makes a trade or takes money out of their account.

Different Generations, Different Reactions

Joe Coughlin, director of AgeLab at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, says participants ages 55 to 62 are likely going to be the most reactive when it comes to market volatility. In addition, he says many in this cohort likely feel they will need to work longer to make up for losses and that plan sponsors should prepare for employees sticking around longer.

But at the same time, Coughlin believes these workers are going to want more flexible work accommodations if they are working into their later years.

“In fact, what’s kind of ironic is they may start to echo younger workers in a greater way than we’ve ever expected,” Coughlin says. “Everyone was busting on Gen Z and Millennials about [wanting] to work from home, but I think this [older] group is going to react by saying ‘I need to stick around longer to make sure that my wealth span is not shorter than my lifespan, … which means I need a little bit more flexibility.”

With Gen Z and Millennials, Coughlin says these workers may start to lose trust in their employers and institutions and become more skeptical of benefits and retirement plans as the market continues to fluctuate.

“While one generation may be reactive, the other one is taking it to heart and learning,” Coughlin says.

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