Deals and People May 26, 2023

Retirement Industry People Moves

Cambridge Associates names Davidson as president, head of investing; retirement consultant Mischell Joins Agilis as managing director; ACA Group appoints Olson as CEO; and more.

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Cambridge Associates Names Samantha Davidson President, Head of Investing

Samantha Davidson

Cambridge Associates appointed Samantha Davidson as the firm’s president and head of global investing, starting in July.

Davidson will be responsible for running the firm’s investment business and overseeing its global investment platform to ensure that clients’ return and partnership expectations are satisfied. Davidson, who was a senior partner in and U.S. investments leader at Mercer, will report to David Druley, Cambridge Associates’ CEO.

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“I have been following Cambridge Associates for almost two decades,” Davidson said in a statement. “I really value the firm’s focus on and alignment with clients and admire the passionate team of investors the firm has cultivated.”

Retirement Consultant Mischell Joins Agilis as MD

Agilis Partners LLC, an investment, actuarial and risk management group, has hired retirement industry specialist Bill Mischell as a managing director.

Mischell will be responsible for the delivery of services and strategic consulting for several of Agilis’s clients, as well as providing thought leadership for the firm. Mischell has more than 35 years of experience in actuarial and market leadership roles, as well as client management. Previously, he served as senior partner in Mercer.

“This could not be a more exciting time to join Agilis,” Mischell said in a statement. “Our team of best-in-class actuarial and investment professionals is always challenging and innovating to ensure that we can continue to bring the right solutions to the right clients at the right time.”

ACA Group Appoints Olson as CEO

Patrick Olson

ACA Group, a governance, risk and compliance adviser in financial services, announced the appointment of Patrick Olson as CEO and a member of the board of directors.

He joins ACA having previously held significant leadership roles over a 17-year career with BlackRock. Before BlackRock, he was a managing director with Merrill Lynch.

“I am truly excited and honored to be joining ACA at this time of exceptional opportunity,” said Olson in a statement. “The global trends in outsourcing and GRC have allowed ACA to establish itself as the leading provider of GRC solutions to the financial services industry. GRC at this level is not only about compliance but also about driving operational excellence for clients.”

KREST Names Butler as Chief Investment Officer

Julia Butler

KKR announced that the board of directors of KKR Real Estate Select Trust Inc. has appointed Julia Butler to the newly created role of chief investment officer of KREST.

Butler will oversee investment management for the fund as it continues to scale its global portfolio of private real estate equity and credit investments.

“Julia is a senior leader of our real estate business with two decades of experience investing across the real estate capital structure as both an equity and credit investor,” said Ralph Rosenberg, the chairman of KREST’s board, in a statement. “She has played an integral role in scaling KKR’s real estate business to over $65 billion in assets under management and she will be a key contributor to the continued commercial success of KREST.”

EP Wealth Advisors Announces CEO Transitions

Patrick Goshtigian

Ryan Parker

EP Wealth Advisors has announced Patrick Goshtigian will transition out of his role as CEO to become executive chair. Ryan Parker will move out of his position as president to become CEO. The transition will take place on July 1.

“I’m incredibly proud of the team we’ve built and the commitment we have to enriching lives,” said Goshtigian in a statement. “In my new role—working on a full-time basis as executive chair—I’ll be in a position to focus on specific strategic initiatives and M&A, while providing a sounding board for Ryan.”

“Patrick, along with our founders Derek Holman and Brian Parker, has set the bar incredibly high,” said Parker in a statement. “I’m honored and humbled by the opportunity to continue their vision of a client-led, national firm with a boutique/local delivery model.”

JP Morgan Asset Management Names Herr as US CIO

Kay Herr

J.P. Morgan Asset Management announced Kay Herr as U.S. CIO of global fixed income, currency and commodities, effective October 1.

Herr has 28 years of industry experience, including 23 years at J.P. Morgan, working in fixed income and equities as both a portfolio manager and a research analyst. She joined the global fixed income, currency and commodities team in 2019 to lead research after 17 years in global equity research.

She succeeds Steve Lear, who will retire in March 2024 after 15 years at J.P. Morgan. Samrawit Soquar will succeed Herr as the new global head of research for GFICC, also effective October 1.

Compliance May 25, 2023

House Committee Approves Bill Allowing CITs in 403(b) Plans

The proposal would provide the needed changes to securities laws that were missing from SECURE 2.0.

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The House Committee on Financial Services voted on Wednesday to advance the Retirement Fairness for Charities and Educational Institutions Act. The bill would amend securities laws such that collective investment trusts will be allowed in 403(b) plans.

The bill, initially proposed by Representative Frank Lucas, R-Oklahoma, passed the committee by a vote of 35-12. Lucas explained that his bill would bring parity between 403(b) and 401(k) plans. Lucas argued 403(b) plans are at an unfair and unjustified disadvantage relative to other plans, because they are not permitted to invest in CITs (which can be cheaper or more flexible to offer than mutual funds), which only serves to discriminate against teachers and charity workers who make disproportionate use of 403(b)s.

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Representative Wiley Nickel, D-North Carolina, a co-sponsor of the bill, said there is “no reason that people teaching our children and caring for our sick should be paying millions more in investment costs than private sector employees.”

Lucas noted that the substance of the bill was present in the House version of the SECURE 2.0 Act of 2022, known then as the Securing a Strong Retirement Act, which was later bundled into the larger legislative package. The House version passed Ways and Means unanimously in 2022, but due to committee jurisdiction, Ways and Means was only able to amend the relevant tax law, not the securities laws, leaving CITs excluded from 403(b)s.

Representative Sylvia Garcia, D-Texas, offered an amendment to Lucas’s bill which was defeated 26-21. The amendment would have opened 403(b)s up to CITs, but only if they are ERISA-governed 403(b)s. She explained that in order to achieve true parity, 403(b) plans should have the same protections that 401(k)s have under ERISA, and allowing unregistered funds into non-ERISA plans would remove “meaningful safeguards.”

Lucas answered that 403(b) plans can offer many of the same investment products as 401(k)s and that non-ERISA 457s are not prohibited from using CITs either. He said debating which plans should be ERISA-governed is a separate debate and should not hinder passage of this bill.

The Investment Company Institute and the Insured Retirement Institute expressed strong support for the bill. The IRI said it would place nonprofit employees on a “level playing field,” and the ICI said it “would expand opportunities for American savers and investors.”

The bill must now pass the full House before advancing to the Senate.

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