Retirement Industry People Moves

Ralph Ferraro has been named senior vice president, head of Product, for the Retirement Plan Services (RPS) business of Lincoln Financial Group.

Ferraro is based in Radnor, Pennsylvania, and reports to Jamie Ohl, President, RPS.

Prior to joining RPS, Ferraro held the position of senior vice president, head of Product, with Voya Financial, Inc., where he was responsible for the profitability and product management of small/mid corporate and institutional markets. Earlier in his career, Ferraro held executive positions with CitiStreet, LLC. Ferraro earned a Master of Business Administration degree in Finance from Seton Hall University and a Bachelor of Arts degree in History from Princeton University. He holds series 6, 7, 24 and 26 FINRA registrations.

Another addition to the Product and Solutions Management Team is Aziz Syed, who has been named vice president, Stable Value Leader, and will report directly to Ferraro. Syed joins Lincoln with more than 20 years of experience in financial leadership roles. He holds a Master of Business Administration degree from Bentley University and a Bachelor of Science degree in industrial engineering and economics from the University of Wisconsin.

“As we continue to grow the RPS business at Lincoln, having industry veterans like Ralph and Aziz will help us build and offer products designed to ensure that all of the participants we serve will be able to have the retirement they envision” says Ohl.

Sharon French joined Oppenheimer Funds as head of Beta Solutions.

In this role, French will be responsible for growing the firm's smart beta business by building on the success of Oppenheimer Factor Weighted ETFs as well as developing new multi-factor products to help meet client demand. French will be based in New York and will join the firm's Senior Leadership Team, reporting directly to Art Steinmetz, chairman and CEO of OppenheimerFunds. 

French joins OppenheimerFunds from BNY Mellon, where she was senior strategic advisor to the CEO and president of Investment Management, focusing on ETF and multi asset business growth. Previously, she served as president of F-Squared Capital. Before that, she was head of Private Client & Institutions at BlackRock for its iShares business. French spent nearly a decade at AllianceBernstein, and held prior roles at mPower, Smith Barney, and Chase Manhattan Bank.

Vince Lowry, lead portfolio manager for the Oppenheimer Revenue Factor Team, and his team will report to French.

TIAA Global Asset Management announced that Erin Donnelly has been appointed managing director and head of Defined Contribution Investment Only (DCIO).

In this role, Donnelly leads a unified DCIO business that combines the teams of both Nuveen Investments and TIAA Investments. The combined DCIO team will deliver a wide range of investment capabilities from TIAA Global Asset Management, including the full array of strategies and products from TIAA Investments and Nuveen.

"TIAA Investments and Nuveen have a long history of serving the retirement needs of investors with high-quality investment solutions and innovative products," says Rob Leary, CEO of TIAA Global Asset Management. "Bringing our teams together under Erin's leadership will provide a single point of access for advisers, consultants and plan sponsors who seek our high-performing mutual funds to help meet the investment goals of their clients."

Prior to this newly created role, Donnelly served as managing director of Business Development in Nuveen Wealth Management. Previously she spent nearly 15 years at Merrill Lynch, where she was managing director and head of Global Funds and Insured Solutions.

She will lead a recently expanded team of more than 20 dedicated DCIO professionals focused on meeting the growing adviser, consultant, and plan sponsor demand for TIAA Global Asset Management investment solutions in the 401(k), 403(b) and 457 marketplaces. The organization intends to add additional resources to support the retirement adviser and consultant needs in the middle and larger segments of the market.

“Through a unified business and dedicated DCIO resources, we can now offer—as never before—a complete suite of high-quality, high-performing investment strategies that meets the unique needs of the DCIO clients,” says Donnelly. 

David A. Berger has joined The Segal Group as a vice president and associate actuary.

Berger has more than 25 years of experience helping clients with their retiree health and retirement plans. Most recently, he was at Aon Hewitt where he served as the primary retirement consultant to several large organizations. His projects included asset/liability modeling and total retirement studies.

Berger is an Associate of the Society of Actuaries (ASA), an enrolled actuary (EA) and a Fellow of the Conference of Consulting Actuaries (FCA). He received a Bachelor of Science, Economics and Management and Applied Mathematics from Centre College of Kentucky and a Master of Arts, Economics from the University of South Florida.

He reports to Deborah Brigham, vice president and actuary, and is based in Segal’s Atlanta office.

Wilshire Consulting, the institutional investment advisory business unit of Wilshire Associates Incorporated, has named veteran consultant Mark Brubaker, CFA, as head of Wilshire OCIO Solutions practice.

Brubaker is a managing director of Wilshire Associates. He joined Wilshire in 1997 and has served as investment consultant to large corporate, endowment and public fund clients out of Wilshire’s Pittsburgh office. He is head of Wilshire’s OCIO Solutions practice and is a member of the Wilshire Consulting Investment Committee and Manager Research Oversight Committee.

Prior to joining Wilshire, Brubaker worked at Westinghouse Electric Corporation, where he was responsible for more than $9 billion in defined benefit, defined contribution and foundation assets. He also worked in the Investment Management and Trust Division of PNC Financial.

Brubaker earned a B.A. in Economics from Yale University and an M.B.A. from Carnegie Mellon University. He also holds a Chartered Financial Analyst designation and is active in the CFA Society of Pittsburgh.

The Retirement Advantage, Inc. (TRA) announced the addition of Josh Henry as regional sales consultant.

Henry's main focus is educating advisers and clients, large and small, on the best plan design for their retirement plan.  He will be covering the Ohio, Indiana, Michigan and Kentucky territory.  Henry will report to Craig Mazzini, National Sales Manager of TRA.

Henry began his career as a plan administrator. According to TRA, over the past 16 years of being active in both a sales and support role, he has become exceptionally skilled at designing and implementing retirement plans. Additionally, Henry will work to effect immediate and sustained growth and market TRA's services.

Henry received a Bachelor of Science in Finance from Franklin University in Columbus, Ohio. He has his FINRA Series 6 License, FINRA Series 63 License and is currently working toward his Qualified 401(k) Administrator (QKA) designation through ASPPA. 

Jeff Eng has rejoined Alliance Bernstein (AB) as managing director of custom defined contribution solutions.

He will be responsible for driving the growth of AB's existing custom target-date offerings and Lifetime Income Strategy solution, while supporting the firm's broader initiative in digital delivery of retirement planning advice.

Jeff originally joined AB in 2001 as a product director in defined contribution (DC), where he was involved in the development and launch of Lifetime Income Strategy, a multi-insurer target-date fund with a guaranteed lifetime withdrawal benefit. The age-based, asset allocation program is designed to help employees convert their savings over time into a stream of guaranteed income that lasts throughout retirement. Prior to rejoining the firm, Jeff was director of Retirement Income Solutions at Russell Investments.

"Our defined contribution business continues to grow and we are excited to have Jeff back on our team. He has an outstanding track record of developing and implementing innovative customized retirement solutions and was intimately involved in launching our Lifetime Income Strategy," says Richard Davies, Global Head of Defined Contribution at AB. 

Livia Quan Aber and Ellen Stone, both distinguished Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) and employee benefits attorneys, will join The Wagner Law Group, effective May 2, 2016. 

Aber, who joins The Wagner Law Group as of counsel, has previously held positions specializing in ERISA and employee benefits at law firms, a financial institution and a consulting company, as well as in the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL). She has vast experience advising employers on a wide variety of employee benefit matters, including the design, drafting and implementation of qualified retirement plans and employee health and welfare benefit plans. She also has significant experience representing employers before the Internal Revenue Service (IRS), DOL and Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation (PBGC) in the resolution of complex compliance and audit issues.

Aber has experience structuring plan terminations and obtaining rulings from government agencies. She has also advised employers on benefit plan matters arising in acquisitions and divestitures.

Stone joins The Wagner Law Group as a senior associate with broad ERISA experience. She has advised clients on a wide variety of issues, including statutory, regulatory, fiduciary, administrative and operational issues with respect to qualified retirement plans, tax-sheltered annuities, nonqualified deferred compensation, and welfare plans. Stone has experience representing clients during IRS audits of employee benefit plans, drafting plan documents and amendments for qualified and nonqualified retirement plans, preparing private letter ruling requests, participating as a court-appointed independent fiduciary and advising on ERISA issues arising from mergers and acquisitions. She also has a robust Estate Planning practice.