Retirement Industry People Moves

Mercer has appointed Anna Dant as practice leader for Mercer’s Health Business. In this role she will lead Mercer’s Cincinnati team in its Health & Benefit consulting and broking efforts. Dant will report to Andrew Rosenberg, Health & Benefits office business leader for Indiana and Ohio.

“We are thrilled to welcome Anna to Mercer,” says Rosenberg. “Her experience in various health leadership roles will be an excellent addition to the Cincinnati health team.” 

“Anna’s skills and background will help us continue to provide our clients exceptional service and solutions in Southwestern Ohio and Northern Kentucky,” adds Dave Beckett, sales leader in Cincinnati.

Prior to joining Mercer, Dant was with Aetna where she served as vice president, Client Management.  She has also served as a senior consultant at Willis Towers Watson for more than 10 years. Dant received her Bachelor of Arts degree at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign.

Wells Fargo Builds Multi-Asset Solutions Team

Wells Fargo Asset Management (WFAM) has announced that Dan Morris has joined the firm as global head of Portfolio Solutions within the Multi-Asset Solutions team. Morris will report to Nicolaas Marais, president of WFAM and head of Multi-Asset Solutions, and will focus on designing solutions for clients that seek retirement income strategies, wealth preservation, and downside risk protection. Based in London, Morris comes to Wells Fargo from Schroders, where he was head of U.S. Portfolio Solutions.

Also joining the team are Martijn De Vree and Frank Cooke, who will report to Morris. De Vree joins from Insight Investment, where he was a senior solutions expert, and Cooke joins from Mercer in Hong Kong, where he served as a senior investment consultant. In July, Jonathon Hobbs joined the firm from BlackRock and also reports to Morris. De Vree and Cooke are based in London, and Hobbs is based in San Francisco. 

“The addition of Dan, Martijn, Frank, and Jonathon to our team is a significant step forward as we build out our innovative Multi-Asset Solutions team. These leaders bring a depth of experience to the platform that will play a crucial role in creating unlock moments for clients,” says Marais. “We are building a team that strives to be a best-in-class problem-solving partner, dedicated to creating solutions that address the complex and changing needs of our clients.”

The goal of the Multi-Asset Solutions team is to help investors increase, protect, and generate income from capital. The team oversees product development and research to offer solutions across asset classes, geographies, and investment products. These products incorporate traditional balanced, target-date, global tactical allocation, global income, absolute return, alternative risk premia, and inflation-sensitive strategies.

At Schroders, Morris worked with clients to understand their investment objectives, translating them into actionable portfolios and strategies, and he also provided liability-driven investing solutions to U.K. clients. Before his tenure at Schroders, Morris led the London Investment Strategy team at Towers Watson, where he advised clients on asset allocation, hedging, and downside protection strategies. Morris holds a degree in mathematics from the University of Nottingham, U.K., and is an associate of the Institute of Actuaries, U.K.

At Insight Investment, De Vree was previously a senior solutions specialist, where he designed and delivered bespoke liability-driven investments (LDI) and risk-management solutions for pension plans. He started his career as an investment consultant at Towers Watson. De Vree earned a bachelor’s degree in business and economics and a Master of Laws degree in financial law, both from the Erasmus University Rotterdam. He also earned a master’s degree in economics from the National University of Singapore. He is on the Board of Examiners and fellow of the Institute and Faculty of Actuaries and has earned the right to use the Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) designation. 

Cooke was a senior investment consultant at Mercer in Hong Kong, focusing on asset allocation and capital markets modeling for Asia Pacific. He started his career at Towers Watson as an investment consultant. Cooke earned a Bachelor of Business Science in actuarial science from the University of Cape Town. He also earned the right to use the Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) designation. 

Hobbs is the head of U.S. Portfolio Solutions for the Multi-Asset Solutions team, where he designs and implements outcome-oriented investment portfolios. Previously, he led the client solutions office in San Francisco and was co-head of Liability Driven Investments in North America with BlackRock. Before joining BlackRock, he was a financial and actuarial adviser with Ernst & Young LLP. Hobbs earned a bachelor’s degree in actuarial science and finance from Drake University, has earned the right to use the Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) designation, and is a fellow of the Society of Actuaries.

Ascensus to Acquire Polycomp

Ascensus has entered into an agreement to acquire Polycomp Administrative Services, Inc. (Polycomp). The retirement plan design and benefit plan administrative services firm will immediately become part of Ascensus’ retirement division.   

Polycomp, which has offices throughout California in Roseville, Woodland Hills, and San Diego, provides client-specific solutions and services for self-directed IRAs, qualified plans, and prevailing wage trusts.

“Polycomp is nationally recognized as a leader in retirement plan consulting and administrative services,” states Shannon Kelly, Ascensus’ president of retirement. “The climate of mutual trust and purpose that they’ve created is attractive not only to its clients, but also to its associates—many of whom have been with the firm for more than 10 years. Ascensus gladly welcomes these new associates and the expertise they can share with our clients to help them prepare for the future.”

“Since Polycomp doesn’t sell or recommend investments to our clients, we can focus our efforts on client objectives and collaborating with other experts in the accounting, financial planning, and investment fields,” says Donna Harmon, Polycomp’s chief operating officer. “Becoming part of Ascensus and gaining access to all of its resources will allow us to continue to provide the highest level of expertise in retirement plan design and compliance administration.”

“The acquisition of Polycomp is an excellent proxy to our diversified growth strategy, as Polycomp’s solutions span not only our core retirement third-party administration markets, but also the self-directed IRA, trust administration, and compliance areas,” says Raghav Nandagopal, Ascensus’ executive vice president of corporate development and M&A. “In addition to these adjacencies, we continue to aggressively pursue acquisition opportunities in college solutions, health solutions, benefit administration, and other logical areas.”

Consultant Named ASPPA President 

The American Society of Pension Professionals & Actuaries (ASPPA) inaugurated Adam C. Pozek, QPA, QKA, CPFA, as the new president of the organization during the October 22 opening session of the 2017 ASPPA Annual Conference in National Harbor, Maryland.

January 1, 2018, will mark Pozek’s first day as ASPPA president. He succeeds 2017 President Richard A. Hochman, JD, APM. 

“It’s an honor to work with an organization so dedicated to helping millions of American workers,” says Pozek. “As ASPPA president, I will work with the rest of its leadership to continue to provide top-tier education for retirement plan professionals and advocate for the employer-based retirement system that provides working Americans with a path to a dignified retirement.”

Pozek is a partner at DWC–The 401(k) Experts, an independent consulting and third-party administration (TPA) firm. At DWC, Pozek works with clients and financial advisers across the country to help design and maintain the retirement plans they offer to their employees. In addition to his partnership at DWC, Pozek is co-editor-in-chief at the Journal of Pension Benefits. He has served on various committees within the industry, including the IRS Advisory Committee on Tax Exempt & Government Entities. 

“There is a direct correlation of client satisfaction and knowledgeable consultants,” says Keith Clark, managing partner of DWC–The 401(k) Experts. “Adam has made education and training of our team at DWC a priority with ASPPA designations, conferences, and seminars as the foundation.”

Pozek has a long history with ASPPA, having served in various roles including president of two local chapters, General Conferences co-chair and chair of several Government Affairs subcommittees. Adam also serves on the Board of Directors of the American Retirement Association.

“Given Adam’s leading role in the retirement plan consulting industry, we are very fortunate to have him leading the organization that represents America’s retirement plan consultants and administrators,” says Brian Graff, executive director of ASPPA.

RLG Employs Senior Counsel for Regulatory Expertise

The Retirement Law Group (RLG) announces the addition of Dean Scoular as senior counsel to the RLG team. Scoular will operate out of Kansas City, Missouri where RLG’s “sister” company, Pension Resource Institute (PRI), has been headquartered since 2010. 

RLG provides counsel relating to the intersection of the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA), tax and securities laws and regulations. RLG attorneys serve the needs of financial institutions, including asset managers, broker-dealers and registered investment advisers (RIAs) as well as retirement plan recordkeepers, third-party administrators (TPAs) and plan sponsors. 

Scoular’s hiring will help RLG support its clients’ growing needs for regulatory expertise – particularly those arising from Department of Labor (DOL) investigations and Internal Revenue Service (IRS) audits and plan corrections. He will also be helping RLG grow its presence in the employee stock ownership plan (ESOP) market. 

“We are excited to bring an attorney of Dean’s caliber into our firm,” says Jason C. Roberts, founder and managing partner of RLG and CEO of PRI. “Dean’s 20 years of experience as a benefits attorney, as well as his 14 years of experience prior to becoming an attorney, including his time at IRS, will not only strengthen our ability to serve the needs of current RLG clients, we anticipate Dean will be well-positioned to develop relationships with new clients both in and around Kansas City and nationally.” 

Scoular has experience with qualified plans including employee stock ownership plans (ESOPs), non-qualified plans, health and welfare plans, church plans and governmental plans. According to Scoular, “My experience in private practice, including time spent at three AmLaw 150 law firms, as in-house counsel for one of the country’s largest plan recordkeepers, and as an employee plans specialist with the IRS have given me a unique perspective that allows me to evaluate and communicate employee benefit issues from all angles.”

Scoular says the opportunity to work with Roberts was an important factor in his decision to join the firm: “Jason has a terrific reputation in our industry, and I look forward to helping RLG expand their Employee Benefits practice into all areas of Employee Benefits, including ESOPs,” he says.

Baystate Hires Financial Services Representative to Increase Market Share

Baystate Financial announced the addition of a financial services representative to its expanding enterprise. Daniel St. Jean is an established financial professional with more than 16 years of financial experience.

At Baystate, St. Jean will focus on expanding market share by providing a full spectrum of financial advisory services, including retirement planning, estate conservation, protection planning and business succession, to a clientele of professionals, corporations, entrepreneurs, young medical professionals and multi-generational families.

“We at Baystate Financial have continued to raise the bar for our associates while maintaining the highest standards of excellence when it comes to business ethics, our services and products, and our dedication to our clients,” says Dave Porter, managing partner. “I’m very excited to add Dan to our team.”