Deals and People October 4, 2024

Retirement Industry People Moves

T. Rowe Price names Thomson head of new investment institute; Nationwide hires East Coast institutional sales head; 401GO hires chief of staff; and more.

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T. Rowe Price Taps Thomson to Lead New Investment Institute

Justin Thomson

T. Rowe Price’s Justin Thomson, head of international equity and chief investment officer, has been appointed head of a new investment institute.

The T. Rowe Price Investment Institute was announced October 1, with the goals of “enhancing the firm’s investment talent development” and “strengthening the delivery” to clients of its investment insights. The institute will launch at the start of 2025.

Thomson, who has been with the firm for 26 years, will lead the creation of a charter for the institute and then its work to curate and highlight T. Rowe’s investment insights and create educational content for clients and T. Rowe’s own investment professionals. The institute will also pursue partnerships and engagements on topics including “portfolio construction, behavioral finance, geopolitics, and others,” according to the announcement.

“Risks are everywhere in the markets today,” Thomson said in a statement. “More than ever, investors and advisers need a place where they can find timely and actionable insights from people who are on the ground asking the right questions of the companies that are shaping the present and future of the financial markets and global economies.”

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Nationwide Taps Kelly for Institutional Sales Director East

Tom Kelly

Nationwide Retirement Solutions has hired Tom Kelly as institutional sales team director covering the East region.

Institutional sales are focused on Nationwide’s 401(k) and not-for-profit 403(b) plans with more than $25 million in assets under management. Kelly will report to Oscar Rodriguez, head of the division.

Kelly joins with 30 years of retirement plan industry experience, including at Transamerica and, most recently, Conduent HR Services. 

401GO Names Joseph Marullo Chief of Staff

Joe Marullo

Plan provider 401GO has named Joseph Marullo as chief of staff to work with leadership on operations, team management and the execution of strategic priorities.

Marullo joins from HealthFleet, where he was most recently vice president for strategic planning and operations. He also served as an intelligence officer for the U.S. Army while on active duty from 2004 through 2012 and served in the U.S. Army Reserves for an additional six years.

Marullo joins 401GO shortly after the firm completed a $12 million Series A financing round, with his hiring reinforcing “the company’s commitment to attracting top talent as it continues to innovate and disrupt the financial services industry,” according to the announcement.

ICI Names Shelly Antoniewicz as Chief Economist

Shelly Antoniewicz

The Investment Company Institute has named Rochelle “Shelly” Antoniewicz its chief economist, replacing Sean Collins, who will become a senior adviser.

Separately, the institute named Shane Worner senior director of industry and financial analysis; he will move to its Washington, D.C., office from its Brussels office, where his title was senior economist.

Antoniewicz is an ICI veteran, starting in 2005 and holding several positions, including senior economist and senior director of industry and financial analysis. Before ICI, she spent 13 years as a staff economist and senior economist at the Federal Reserve Board.

Collins had been ICI’s chief economist since 2017; he first joined the institute in 2000 after being a staff economist at the Federal Reserve Board. His work as chief economist focused on “the flows, assets, fees, and industrial organization of registered investment companies; financial market issues; the costs and benefits of laws and regulations governing funds; money market funds; and financial stability,” according to the announcement.

Worner joined ICI in 2023 after working at the International Organization of Securities Commissions coordinating IOSCO’s engagement in international asset management policy initiatives.

IRI Announces New Board Members

Tim Froehlich

The Insured Retirement Institute announced two new members of its board of directors.

Tim Froehlich, managing director and head of insurance and annuities, wealth and investment management at Wells Fargo, will join the ICI’s board.

Colleen Tycz, senior vice president and head of strategic partnerships and insurance distribution at Franklin Templeton, will also join.

Colleen Tycz

“Tim and Colleen bring solid industry experience and energy to the IRI Board of Directors,” Wayne Chopus, IRI’s president and CEO, said in a statement. “They are joining a highly motivated and engaged group of leaders. I look forward to their contributions and guidance to help IRI navigate our industry’s evolving challenges and opportunities in the months and years ahead.”

Compliance October 4, 2024

Regulators Clarify Part-Time Eligibility Rules for ERISA 403(b) Plans

The guidance provides additional clarity on which part-time employees can be excluded from contributing to a plan.

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The U.S. Department of the Treasury and IRS this week issued guidance confirming that student employees are not considered long-term, part-time employees of their colleges and universities for the purposes of retirement savings in 403(b) plans.

According to a question-and-answer section of the guidance, Employee Retirement Income Security Act 403(b) plans are not required to provide student employees the right to make elective deferrals into a plan, even if that student otherwise qualifies for long-term, part-time employee classification under ERISA.

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The clarification was one that higher education plan sponsors were seeking because maintaining the necessary records for all student employees was considered cumbersome, according to Mike Webb, a senior manager in the retirement plan consulting group at CAPTRUST.

The guidance came in an 11-page release from the agencies addressing long-term, part-time employees in 403(b) retirement plans under the SECURE 2.0 Act of 2022, provisions of which apply to 403(b) plans beginning in 2025.

The release, Notice 2024-73, includes guidance for the charities, public schools, and state or local governments that operate 403(b) plans that are subject to the Employee Retirement Income Security Act. The rules do not apply to 403(b) plans that are not subject to ERISA.

Rules for long-term, part-time employees in 401(k) plans were published in November 2023.

In addition to student employees, the guidance addresses when plans can exclude other part-time employees from a 403(b) plan if they do not meet the long-term part of the requirements.

“A 403(b) plan that is subject to ERISA may continue to retain a part-time employee exclusion for part-time employees who do not qualify as ERISA LTPT employees,” the IRS wrote. “Excluding part-time employees who do not qualify as ERISA LTPT employees will not cause the plan to violate the section 403(b) consistency requirement … which prevents a plan from selectively applying the part-time employee exclusion to some, but not all, part-time employees.”

The guidance continues: “Because the eligibility rules for ERISA LTPT employees under section 202(c) of ERISA are new statutory requirements, plans would not be selectively applying the part-time employee exclusion by continuing to exclude from making elective deferrals part-time employees who do not qualify as ERISA LTPT employees.”

David Levine, a principal in Groom Law Group, said the guidance “provides more clarity as to the interaction of the 20-hour rule with the long-term, part-time rule” regarding ERISA 403(b) plans.

The notice also states that an employer with an ERISA 403(b) plan can exclude so-called ERISA long-term, part-time employees from determinations about whether matching contributions satisfy nondiscrimination requirements.

The notice also announced that the final regulation the Treasury Department and the IRS plan to issue for 401(k) plans on long-term, part-time employees will apply no earlier than to plan years beginning on or after January 1, 2026.

Treasury and the IRS stated that the agencies are accepting public comments on Notice 2024-73, comments which should be submitted in writing on or before December 20.

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