Deals & People June 24, 2016

Retirement Industry People Moves

Beaumont Capital Management hired director of Quantitative Research, and Ellen Lander’s advisory firm joined Global Retirement Partners.
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Beaumont Capital Management (BCM) hired Eric Biegeleisen, CFA, for the new role of director of Quantitative Research, effective June 16, 2016.

In addition to leading the quantitative analysis, Biegeleisen will also manage several future investment portfolios created for BCM. Biegeleisen’s deep analytics experience will expand BCM’s capabilities and investment strategies at a time of significant growth in the firm. BCM’s assets under management and administration have experienced a threefold increase over the past two years to more than $2.8 billion.                        

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“Eric will oversee and lead our quantitative team focusing on the development of new rules-based investment strategies and continue to serve as a thought leader in the industry. With Eric on board, we are better positioned to capitalize on areas that align with our defensive approach and commitment to comprehensive research.” says Dave Haviland, managing partner and portfolio manager of BCM.

Biegeleisen joins BCM from Broadmeadow Capital, LLC, which he co-founded in 2014 and served as chief investment officer and portfolio manager. Previously, Biegeleisen worked for Windhaven Investment Management as a senior investment analyst and then director of research, specifically leading the firm’s quantitative modeling, product due diligence and portfolio structuring.

Biegeleisen earned his B.S. in electrical engineering from Trinity College in Hartford, Connecticut, an M.S. in electrical engineering from the University of Southern California and an MBA from Boston University’s Questrom School of Business. Biegeleisen also became a CFA charterholder in 2011.

NEXT: Ellen Lander’s firm joins Global Retirement Partners

Global Retirement Partners (GRP), a registered investment adviser (RIA) and Office of Supervisory Jurisdiction (OSJ), recently welcomed Ellen R. Lander and her firm, Renaissance Benefit Advisors (RBA) of Jamison, Pennsylvania, to the GRP network.

RBA joins GRP from NFP and manages more than $2B in retirement plan assets.

Lander is a principal of RBA, a retirement plan consulting firm which specializes in helping retirement plan sponsors meet and manage their fiduciary responsibilities. RBA's services include plan design, fiduciary management, plan investment consulting, compliance and regulatory support services, fee benchmarking, fee negotiations and provider search services.

Lander highlighted GRP’s leadership, visionary thinking, brand recognition, and the quality of the other retirement advisers as some of the key reasons she joined GRP.

“We are incredibly excited to add someone of Ellen’s caliber to GRP,” says Geoff White, managing partner of Global Retirement Partners. “She brings a wealth of industry knowledge, leadership, and dedication to client service that serves as the standard for retirement planning.”
Compliance June 24, 2016

Overpaid Former Plan Participant Found to Be a Fiduciary

A federal court said that by not repaying the overpaid funds, the former participant has breached her ERISA fiduciary duties.
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The U.S. District Court for the District of New Jersey has ruled that a former participant in the Lucent Technologies Inc. Pension Plan’s (LTPP) sponsored by Alcatel-Lucent USA Inc. (ALU), became a plan fiduciary under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) because she retained control over plan assets she was not entitled to and breached her fiduciary duties by not returning the assets to the plan.

Prior to 2012, Pamela Neely received payment from the LTPP in satisfaction of the benefits to which she was entitled. In November 2012, the LTPP mistakenly paid Neely an additional amount of $233,691.92 to which she was not entitled. The LTPP notified her of the error and demanded return of the overpayment by written letters sent on January 16, 2013, and February 15, 2013. However, Neely has not returned the overpayment.

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The court said there was evidence that Neely possessed $207,645.17 of the overpayment as of October 1, 2013, and found the plaintiffs in the case were entitled to default judgement in that amount.

In her court opinion, U.S. District Judge Madeline Cox Arleo noted a plan fiduciary is anyone who “exercises any authority or control respecting management or disposition of [plan] assets.” She cited other case law that found “ERISA ‘defines fiduciary not in terms of formal trusteeship, but in functional terms of control and authority over the plan,’” and “The plain language of this statute encompasses those who knowingly and unlawfully retain plan assets to which they are not entitled.”

Neely’s counterclaims were dismissed in part because she “acted culpably as she has been served with the Complaint, exhibited a history of dilatory behavior, and has failed to participate in this litigation since July 2015 in violation of multiple Court orders.”

The opinion in Alcatel-Lucent USA Inc., et. al. v. Samueal Borlabi, et. al. is here.

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