Retirement Industry People Moves

BPAS and F&M Trust Link Regional Retirement Plan Businesses

BPAS will partner with F&M Trust for its retirement plan business across southern Pennsylvania.  

BPAS began working with F&M Trust in 2007 on various retirement plan opportunities, providing recordkeeping, administration, and trading/custody services to bank clients. F&M Trust began to see differences among platforms and started getting requests for a higher level of plan consulting and HR outsourcing capabilities. This change has led clients to migrate to the F&M Trust/BPAS partnership.

“Having worked with BPAS for many years, we kicked the tires thoroughly,” says Ronald Froeschle, director of Retirement Plans at F&M Trust. “We felt good transitioning our DC and DB plans because of our overall comfort level with the BPAS people, expertise, and flexibility. We are excited to enhance our retirement plans through this partnership and consolidate the rest of our client plans as well.”

When all client plans are converted, the F&M Trust/BPAS partnership will serve approximately 50 qualified plans.

According to Paul Neveu, president of BPAS Plan Administration & Recordkeeping Services, “The focus of corporate trustees has shifted over the last decade. There has always been a focus on investments and fiduciary processes, but now we see more emphasis on outcomes—working with participants and retirement plan committees to drive key success measures for each plan. Our partnership with F&M Trust is a great example of this. We appreciate the expertise and commitment that F&M Trust brings to client relationships, as well as their open dialogue and constant evaluation of the plan sponsor and participant experience. We look forward to growing our partnership in the coming years as an extension to the range of banking and investment services that F&M Trust brings to the marketplace.”

Grant Thornton Brings in Advisory Services Principal

Grant Thornton LLP has named Jim Peko as the national managing principal of its Advisory Services practice. In this role, he will oversee the strategic direction and operations of the firm’s advisory-services offerings.

Peko succeeds Srikant Sastry, who led Advisory Services for the past five years of his 15-year tenure with the firm and has most recently served as national managing principal of the firm’s Transaction Services practice, where he guided a wide range of clients through a variety of complex transactions.

In addition to building and expanding Transaction Services as a key offering for Grant Thornton, Peko has served as a member of the firm’s Partnership Board for the past 20 months. He is also a member of the board of directors for the American Bankruptcy Institute, and is a chartered financial analyst, a certified insolvency and restructuring adviser and certified in distressed business valuation.

Peko received a master’s degree in finance from Fordham University and a bachelor’s degree in economics and accounting from St. Peter’s College.

Nuveen Updates Portfolio Management Group for Two Funds

The Nuveen Real Estate Income Fund and Nuveen Diversified Dividend and Income Fund have updated their portfolio management teams.

Effective September 3, Nathan Gear will be named to the funds’ current portfolio management teams and will focus on the portions of the funds managed by Security Capital Research & Management Incorporated. Each fund’s investment objectives, investment strategies and management philosophies remain unchanged.

Gear is an executive director of Security Capital Research & Management Incorporated where, as a senior member of the Investment Analysis Team, he leads the fundamental analysis and pricing of REIT fixed income senior securities. Prior to joining Security Capital in 2006, he was involved in the underwriting and analysis of real estate loans for JPMorgan. Gear received his bachelor’s degree with honors from Pensacola Christian College and is a member of the Chartered Financial Analyst Institute.

Trinity Names Asset Management SVP, Among Other Hires

Trinity Real Estate Investments LLC appointed hospitality industry veteran Christopher Ford as senior vice president of Asset Management.

Ford joins Trinity from Host Hotels & Resorts, Inc., where he most recently served as senior vice president, Asset Management Europe and Asia. In his new position, he is responsible for operational oversight of Trinity’s investment portfolio. Ford will work closely with Vice President of Development Craig Lovett, who manages the execution of Trinity’s capital improvement initiatives. Both executives report directly to Managing Partner Greg Dickhens, who oversees Trinity’s asset management functions.

In addition to Ford, Trinity has incorporated a number of strategic hires over the past year. Most recently, Drew Wallace joined the firm as director of Asset Management from Davidson Hotels & Resorts, and Ana‑Cecilia Aguilar joined as an associate from JLL Hotels & Hospitality Group. Both Wallace and Aguilar will report to Ford.

Prior to joining Host Hotels & Resorts in 2006, Ford served as vice president of Finance, North America at The Ritz-Carlton Hotel Company, L.L.C. He also spent 15 years working in various roles at Marriott International, Inc. Ford received a bachelor’s degree in accounting from the University of Kentucky, a master’s degree from Georgetown University, and a master’s in real estate from Johns Hopkins University.