Deals and People March 4, 2016

Retirement Industry People Moves

International growth equity investors joined Delaware Investments; RiskFirst appoints new leadership team.
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A team of international growth equity investors has joined Macquarie Group’s Delaware Investments from UBS Asset Management.

Based in San Diego, California, and led by Joseph Devine, the chief investment officer, the team specializes in international small-cap, emerging markets, and emerging markets small-cap equities, and reports bringing approximately $300 million in assets (as of March 1) under management to Delaware Investments.

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“This team is a strong fit with our multi-boutique platform and plays an important role in meeting the needs of clients seeking more global exposure and active management in inefficient markets,” says Shawn Lytle, president, Delaware Investments.

Most of the team’s members have been together for more than 10 years. Other members are: senior portfolio manager Stephan Maikkula; senior equity analysts Barry Kendall and Thomas Pak; equity analyst James Brandt, and portfolio analyst Jay Su Erickson. Devine will report to Lytle.

Delaware Investments, a member of Macquarie Group, is a global asset management firm.

NEXT: RiskFirst creates leadership team for strategic direction.

A new leadership team, led by chief executive officer Matthew Seymour, has been assembled at RiskFirst.

Seymour has been with RiskFirst since 2009, most recently as commercial director. He has 17 years’ experience in the technology industry, 14 years in FinTech (financial technology). Before coming to RiskFirst, he was co-owner and chief technology officer of FundWorks, a global FinTech serving the investment management industry.

Matthew Bale, chief strategy officer on the team, joined RiskFirst in 2009. Previously, he worked in both the actuarial and investment arenas, most recently in Citi’s insurance and pensions structured solutions group. His experience has guided the evolution of PFaroe into consulting and asset management.

Darren Best, the team’s chief financial officer, came to RiskFirst in 2008. Previously, he  was a qualified actuary, advising on pension fund design, management and reporting, both in the U.K and U.S.

The chief technology officer, Nick Francis, moved to RiskFirst in 2009, after 17 years as technical director of his own technology consultancy, running large projects for blue-chip companies in the U.K. and Europe.

Rob Stuart, general counsel, joined RiskFirst in 2009. Previously, he was an in-house lawyer for a London hedge fund, and general counsel for a multinational insurance and reinsurance company.

With experience in financial services, and the actuarial and technology industries, the team will set the company’s future strategic direction, drive growth into new markets and maintain the U.S. and U.K. standing of PFaroe, the risk management platform for the pension industry.

Benefits March 4, 2016

Growing Millennial Generation Reshapes Health Care Consumption

Just like the Baby Boomers and Gen Xers before them, Millennials are slowly reshaping basic assumptions about the workforce and employer-provided health benefits. 

Reported by

New research from Aon Hewitt presents some impressive figures about the U.S. Millennial generation, expected to represent 70 million workers by 2030.

Each year Aon Hewitt teams up with the National Business Group on Health and The Futures Company to poll more than 2,300 U.S. consumers, leading to the “Consumer Health Mindset Study,” now in its fifth annual edition.

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According to Aon Hewitt, the substantial research effort clearly shows Millennials view integrated health and wellness programs as an important attraction and retention tool for employers. In addition to an employer focus on physical and mental/emotional wellness, Millennials further ranked “social wellbeing” in the top two areas for employer support and resource allocation—more than any other generation.

Millennials are also looking for the traditional health care and retirement planning services their parents’ and grandparents’ generation demanded. In fact, more than half of Millennials (52%) said they believe health and wellness programs offered by their employer make them feel better about their company, compared to just 39% of all other generations.

Countering a narrative often applied to Millennials and the world of workplace health care post-Affordable Care Act, a sizable group (43%) of Millennials said their employer health and wellness programs are “one of the reasons they stay at their job,” compared to less than one-third (32%) of all other generations. Offering a bit of advice to HR, 56% of Millennials said integrated health and wellness programs “would make their employer more attractive to future employees,” and 57% said it would help increase their overall satisfaction with their employer. This compares with 43% for all other generations, Aon Hewitt notes.  

NEXT: Millennials want direct guidance from employers 

The Aon Hewitt report goes on to explain that Millennials are “growing increasingly tolerant of direct guidance and consequences for unhealthy behaviors.” 

A pretty solid majority (56%) of Millennials even said employers should “direct participants to certain facilities/providers for the most appropriate care/cost.” Older generations are clearly more skeptical of this, with just 40% agreeing with that statement.

Even more striking, nearly one-third (32%) of Millennials are supportive of employers imposing consequences for “less-than-healthy conditions,” compared to just 21% of Gen Xers and 14% of Baby Boomers. On a related poll question, 32% of Millennials said they are supportive of requiring higher employee costs for health insurance if employees do not use health awareness tools, compared to just 24% of Gen Xers and 16% of Baby Boomers.

Probably not surprising, Aon Hewitt finds Millennials are more likely to rely on social media networks for health care advice. Millennials show a “great reliance on their social network of family and friends to influence their health actions (41%), compared to 33% of Gen Xers and 23% of Baby Boomers,” the report concludes.

The paper can be downloaded here after a quick registration. 

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