Retirement Industry People Moves

Art by Subin Yang

Schroders Makes Promotions and Hires to Distribution Team

Schroders has announced changes to its distribution team, as part of the firm’s strategy to enhance its North American distribution platform.  As part of these changes, Marni Harp has been promoted to head of Institutional Consultant Relations for the U.S. and Scott Garrett has joined the firm as an institutional sales director, focused on Taft-Hartley.

Harp brings over two decades of experience in the investment industry and will be responsible for overseeing the firm’s relationships with local and global investment consultants and their institutional clients.  She joined Schroders in August 2016 to lead coverage of investment consulting firms in the firm’s western region. Harp is based in Los Angeles and will report directly to Marc Brookman, deputy CEO of North America. 

As an institutional sales director, Garrett will be responsible for new business development and relationship management for Taft-Hartley clients in the U.S. He joins from Systematic Financial Management, where he was a senior vice president and was responsible for developing and maintaining client relationships with Taft-Hartley, public funds, foundations and endowments and corporate plans. Garrett will be based in Southern California and will report to Rock Wilkinson, head of U.S. Institutional Sales. 

Niles Lankford Group Rebrands to Latitude

Niles Lankford Group Companies, a third-party retirement plan administration group, has changed its name to Latitude Service Company Inc.

A leading third-party retirement plan administration firm specializing in quality retirement plan administration, Latitude has offices nationally and serves more than 2,500 employer-sponsored plans.

“Latitude is as much an idea as it is a destination. It reflects our national presence as well as our flexibility in crafting retirement plan solutions that meet each client’s needs,” says CEO Brad Lankford.

Latitude operates as Latitude Retirement and unifies the branding of Niles Lankford Group (NLG), Pension Systems (PS), Retirement Systems of Arizona (RSA), and Retirement Systems of California (RSC). In addition to providing plan consulting and administration services, the company offers actuarial, compliance, payroll integration and fiduciary services to help employers achieve their goals with less work and lighter responsibilities.

Franklin Templeton Names PM on Emerging Markets Team

Franklin Templeton has appointed Nicole Vettise as senior vice president, institutional portfolio manager, within the Franklin Templeton Emerging Markets Equity (FTEME) investment team. Reporting to Manraj Sekhon, her primary responsibility will be to support FTEME’s full suite of strategies for clients in Europe and North America. Vettise is based in London.

Vettise brings over 20 years of experience in the investment industry and joins the firm from Blackrock, where she managed a team of product strategists for a range of equity strategies including natural resources and thematic funds. Prior to this, she was institutional portfolio manager, emerging markets and natural resources, at RBC Global Asset Management and previously worked at J.P. Morgan Asset Management. Vettise has also held communication and investor relations roles in Asia, Europe and London.

Vettise obtained a BSc qualification in European studies from the Institute d’Etudes Politiques in Grenoble, France, and the University of Hull and is a CAIA Charterholder.