Mercer Adds Health and Benefits Consultant in California Office
Mercer has named Chris Rogers as senior health and benefits consultant, based in the Irvine, California, office.
His responsibilities include driving revenue growth for Mercer’s Health business, leading client engagements and developing benefits strategies and solutions to address client issues. Rogers will report to Trisha Tyler, partner and west market health business leader.
“Chris is a proven leader with a deep understanding of key issues facing the health care industry and ways to innovate for the future,” Tyler says. “His breadth of experience will help us further provide trusted advice to our clients while strategically growing our business in this important market.”
Rogers has more than 20 years of experience in employee benefits, including client relationship management, health care strategy design and program management. Before joining Mercer, he worked at Anthem as a strategic client adviser. Prior to that, he served as Aon’s Health & Benefits practice leader for Southern California. Rogers holds a bachelor’s degree from Claremont McKenna College and a master’s from University of California, Berkeley.
Ascensus Names Retirement Plan VP for Western Division
Ascensus has appointed Lori Zeman as division vice presidentof the firm’s retirement plan sales team for the western region.
In this role, Zeman will lead a team of external sales associates alongside Ascensus veteran Anthony Bologna, who will continue to manage the eastern half of the sales organization. She most recently served as a regional vice president for the firm’s Pacific Northwest region, covering Alaska, Washington, Oregon, Nevada, Idaho and Montana.
Zeman brings more than 15 years of financial services experience in relationship management and business development. She earned her bachelor’s degree from Bemidji State University. She also holds her FINRA Series 6 and 63 designations along with her Certified IRA Professional (CIP) designation.
“Lori’s deep understanding of Ascensus and tireless desire to help those around her excel have earned her the respect of colleagues both within our organization and across the industry,” says Jason Crane, head of retirement sales at Ascensus.
BNY Mellon Investment Management has expanded its investment solutions lineup with the introduction of eight exchange-traded funds (ETFs), which are designed to cover the core exposures in a typical asset allocation strategy.
The first three Morningstar-benchmarked equity ETFs (BNY Mellon US Large Cap Core Equity ETF; BNY Mellon US Mid Cap Core Equity ETF; BNY Mellon US Small Cap Core Equity ETF) will commence trading on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE).
In the coming weeks, BNY Mellon expects to launch two additional Morningstar-benchmarked equity ETFs, the BNY Mellon International Equity ETF and BNY Mellon Emerging Markets Equity ETF, followed by three fixed-income ETFs benchmarked against the Bloomberg Barclays Fixed Income indices.
The complete range of BNY Mellon Investment Management’s eight ETFs to be listed on the NYSE are:
Products
Fee Level
Benchmarks
Ticker Symbol
BNY Mellon US Large Cap Core Equity ETF
0.00%
Morningstar US Large Cap Index
BKLC
BNY Mellon US Small Cap Core Equity ETF
0.04%
Morningstar US Small Cap Index
BKSE
BNY Mellon US Mid Cap Core Equity ETF
0.04%
Morningstar US Mid Cap Index
BKMC
BNY Mellon International Equity ETF
0.04%
Morningstar Developed Markets ex-US Large Cap Index
BKIE
BNY Mellon Emerging Markets Equity ETF
0.11%
Morningstar Emerging Markets Large Cap Index
BKEM
BNY Mellon Core Bond ETF
0.00%
Bloomberg Barclays US Aggregate Total Return Index
BKAG
BNY Mellon Short Duration Corporate Bond ETF
0.06%
Bloomberg Barclays US Corporate 1-5 Years Total Return Index
BKSB
BNY Mellon High Yield Beta ETF
0.22%
Bloomberg Barclays US Corporate High Yield Total Return Index
BKHY
The investment adviser for the ETF range is BNY Mellon ETF Investment Adviser LLC, with Mellon Investments Corp. (Mellon) serving as the sub-adviser. Mellon is a BNY Mellon multi-asset investment firm with more than $545 billion of assets under management that provides institutional-quality portfolio construction and risk management.
The ETF range will be available to individual investors and financial advisers through certain authorized broker/dealers (B/Ds) and registered investment advisers (RIAs). As an added benefit to clients, all BNY Mellon ETF assets held on the Pershing platform will be made available with no custody fees where applicable.
American Century Launches Actively Managed ETFs
American Century Investments has launched two actively managed, semi-transparent exchange traded funds (ETFs) using Precidian Investments’ ActiveSharesmethodology: American Century Focused Dynamic Growth ETF (FDG)and American Century Focused Large Cap Value ETF (FLV).
The semi-transparent structure will allow American Century to deliver its actively managed investment strategies in an ETF vehicle without the daily holdings disclosure requirement of fully transparent ETFs. The funds will be available exclusively through Cboe BZX Exchange with Citadel Securities LLC as the lead market maker, serviced by State Street, which is both Authorized Participant Representative (APR) and custodian, and with IHS Markit as the verified intraday indicative value (VIIV) calculator.
“We’re pleased to be the first firm to offer semi-transparent active ETFs to our clients,” says Jonathan Thomas, American Century Investments’ chief executive officer. “Our goal at American Century Investments has long been providing active management solutions that meet their evolving needs.”
Precidian’s ActiveShares patented ETF structure seeks to provide asset managers with the ability to generate excess return without daily disclosure of their proprietary strategies while simultaneously creating significant improvements in tax efficiency, manager flexibility and lower operating costs.
Focused Dynamic Growth (FDG) invests in stocks of early and rapid stage large-cap growth companies with the potential to increase in value over time. The fund is managed by Keith Lee, senior vice president and senior portfolio manager; Michael Li, vice president and senior portfolio manager; Prabha Ram, portfolio manager; Henry He, portfolio manager; and Rene Casis, ETF portfolio manager.
Focused Large Cap Value (FLV) invests in large-cap, high-quality companies the managers believe are temporarily selling at a discount. The fund is managed by Phillip Davidson, senior vice president and executive portfolio manager; Brian Woglom, vice president and senior portfolio manager; Phil Sundell, portfolio manager; Kevin Toney, chief investment officer, Global Value Equity and senior portfolio manager; Michael Liss, vice president and senior portfolio manager; and Rene Casis, ETF portfolio manager.
The Focused Dynamic Growth and Focused Large Cap Value ETFs join American Century’s ETF suite comprised of American CenturyDiversified Corporate Bond ETF (KORP), American CenturyDiversified Municipal Bond ETF (TAXF), American CenturyQuality Diversified International ETF (QINT), American CenturySTOXXU.S. Quality Growth ETF (QGRO) and American CenturySTOXXU.S. Quality Value ETF (VALQ).