Retirement Industry People Moves

Seyfarth Shaw LLP has announced that S. Bradley Perkins has joined the firm’s Labor & Employment department and ERISA [Employee Retirement Income Security Act] and Employee Benefits Litigation group as a partner in San Francisco. Perkins arrives from the Pacific Maritime Association (PMA) where he served as senior counsel.

Perkins focuses his practice in the areas of employee benefits fiduciary advice, litigation under the Employee Retirement Security Act of 1974 (ERISA), and litigation involving fraudulent and abusive health care providers. He has represented clients in a wide range of ERISA matters in court and in arbitration, including complex class actions and single-plaintiff lawsuits. He has handled matters involving individual pension and welfare benefit claims, severance pay claims, executive compensation disputes, benefit discrimination, and claims regarding plan design and fiduciary responsibility. In the class action realm, he has defended various types of claims, including claims for benefits and claims for breach of fiduciary duty, including 401(k) fee and proprietary fund litigations. In addition, Perkins has experience representing health care plans and payers in health care reimbursement and provider billing litigation involving claims under ERISA, RICO [Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act] , and state law, including the California Insurance Frauds Prevention Act.

“Our team has worked closely with Brad for many years during his time at the PMA and are thrilled to officially welcome him to the firm,” says Laura Maechtlen, chair of Seyfarth’s Labor & Employment department. “He has a tremendous reputation of handling high-stakes employee benefits litigation and brings with him a keen understanding of the growing health care fraud issues facing employers today.”

A regular writer and speaker, Perkins is a member of the International Foundation of Employee Benefits Plans and the American Benefits Council. He currently serves as a contributing editor to “Employee Benefits Law” and its annual supplements, and he serves as a management co-chair of the Subcommittee on Liability Issues Unique to Welfare Plans of the Employee Benefits Committee of the ABA Section of Labor and Employment Law. Perkins received his J.D. from The George Washington University Law School where he was senior articles editor of “The George Washington Law Review.” He earned a B.A., cum laude, from Duke University.

Qualified Plan Advisors, a division of Prime Capital Investment Advisors, has announced plans to open its first Florida operations later this spring. Qualified Plan Advisors currently serves a number of clients in Florida. 

Tyler Olson will assume the title of managing director–Florida Operations and will be leading Qualified Plan Advisors’ Retirement Advisory business in Florida.  “Tyler has a 14-year track record of building a world-class retirement business based out of Overland Park, Kansas. We couldn’t be more thrilled that he has agreed to relocate to Florida and continue our buildout of retirement practices across the United States,” says Glenn Spencer, Qualified Plan Advisors CEO.  Qualified Plan Advisors will have 15 offices spanning coast-to-coast from Northern California to Florida. 

Qualified Plan Advisors will establish temporary offices in St. Petersburg and plans to be in permanent space by the end of the summer. 

Principal Promotes Patterson to Lead Full-Service Retirement and Investor Business

Principal Financial Group has announced that Jerry Patterson will become the next senior vice president leading the full-service retirement and individual investor businesses for Retirement and Income Solutions (RIS) effective early second quarter. After 32 years with the company, senior vice president, Greg Burrows, announced his intentions to retire at the end of July 2018.

Burrows joined Principal in 1986. Over his career, he’s worked in several U.S. locations, Argentina and Japan, running businesses and helping provide retirement solutions to people around the world. He has also been a leader in the retirement industry, educating governments and regulators in many markets on retirement-related issues and trends.

Patterson is currently the senior vice president of RIS and has responsibility over individual investor, retail annuity, bank and full service payout. In his new position, he’ll continue to report to Nora Everett, president of RIS.

He brings more than 17 years of experience at Principal. Prior to joining Principal, he worked for a number of financial and insurance companies in management and marketing roles. Patterson joined Principal in 2001 as chief marketing officer for our Life and Health businesses. He spent time in New York as the chief operating officer of Nippon, Life Benefits, prior to moving into his current role in 2012. An internal and external search is underway to find his successor for the retail annuity, bank and full service payout businesses.

Lighthouse Investment Partners, LLC (Lighthouse) and Mesirow Financial (Mesirow) announced the signing of a definitive agreement under which Lighthouse is expected to acquire substantially all of the assets of Mesirow Advanced Strategies (MAS), the multi-manager hedge fund division of Mesirow.

A significant portion of the MAS team is expected to join Lighthouse as part of the transition and will continue to provide investment oversight, operational support and client service to the MAS business. This results in a broader and complementary set of resources and talent across the organization and provides greater flexibility in constructing and executing portfolios.

“The combination of Lighthouse’s industry-leading managed account platform and strong track record, coupled with MAS’s strengths in less liquid strategies, such as credit and other lending strategies, creates what we believe is a unique offering of which our clients will benefit,” says Richard Price, chairman and chief executive officer of Mesirow Financial. “We believe this is enhanced by the strong cultural fit of our shared values, including putting client interests first, while acting with intellectual honesty, enthusiasm, accountability, collegiality and humility.”

The transaction is subject to a number of customary closing conditions. Closing is targeted for mid-year. Following the expected completion of the transaction, Mesirow Financial is expected to serve as a distribution partner to Lighthouse.

RMB Announces Office Opening in Minneapolis

RMB Capital (RMB) has announced the opening of a new office in the Minneapolis-St. Paul area to support its growing client base in Minnesota.

Wealth adviser Chris J. Bach, CFA, CFP, was recently promoted to vice president and will head up operations at the new RMB office, located in Bloomington, Minnesota. Bach joined RMB in 2014 while living in Chicago. After years of frequent travel to meet with clients, Bach welcomed the opportunity to move back to the area and help expand RMB’s footprint.

“We’ve had advisers coming back and forth to this area regularly for about a decade and decided it was time to put down roots,” says Dimitri Eliopoulos, RMB partner and managing director. “In a market like Minneapolis-St. Paul, we believe we stand out as an independent firm that blends expertise in financial planning with sophisticated, customized investment solutions. Combining this with Chris’s passion, dedication, and connection to the community should continue to open many doors for us here.”

Outgrowths of RMB’s wealth management business include retirement plan consulting, corporate executive services, and a growing family office services practice, which is partially due to its recent combination with Milwaukee-based Jacobus Wealth Management (JWM). Bach’s father, Peter Bach, CPA, former chairman and CEO of JWM and now managing director at RMB, will assist the new location in a business development role as he splits his time between Milwaukee and Minneapolis.

Prior to joining RMB, Chris Bach served as a senior analyst for HSBC North America Holdings. He holds a bachelor’s degree in finance from Indiana University and is a CFA charterholder and a Certified Financial Planner professional.

OM Asset Management Rebrands as BrightSphere Investment Group

OM Asset Management plc, a global, diversified multi-boutique asset management company, has announced that it will be changing its brand name to BrightSphere Investment Group plc, effective March 26. In addition, Steve Belgrad, who was named as the company’s next president and chief executive officer, has officially assumed those roles on March 2. 

“BrightSphere and our new logo dynamically blend energy and innovation with our commitment to a global, aligned multi-boutique model,” says Belgrad. “Our logo represents the unique and complementary attributes of our Affiliates which combine to create a diversified richer whole. Following the completion of our separation from Old Mutual plc in November, and our management transition, this new brand reflects our evolution to an independent asset management company, focused on our affiliates and their clients, and global opportunities for investment and growth.

“Working together with our high quality affiliates as BrightSphere Investment Group, we will continue to evolve and enhance the ways we support affiliate growth initiatives and invest for the future, while diversifying our business through additional investments in boutique asset management firms,” Belgrad continues. “Our business is well positioned to execute on a range of opportunities in the global investment marketplace, and I am honored to lead our team at the Center as we work to create long-term value for our shareholders.”

On March 26, as part of the rebranding process, the company’s New York Stock Exchange ticker will change to BSIG from OMAM. In addition, its CUSIP will become G1644T109. OMAM’s debt issues will also assume new tickers: the 5.125% Notes Due 2031 will change to BSA from OMAA and the 4.800% Notes due 2026 will change to BSIG 26 from OMAM 26.

Also on March 26, the BrightSphere Investment Group corporate website will become www.bsig.com and the company’s email will shift to @bsig.com.