Deals & People May 30, 2008

Pacific Life Names Morris Chairman of Board

James T. Morris, president and CEO of Pacific Life Insurance Company, will now serve as chairman of the board for both parent companies of Pacific Life.
Reported by

The election to chairman of both the Pacific Mutual Holding Company and Pacific LifeCorp boards is effective immediately.
As chairman, Morris succeeds Thomas C. Sutton, who has served as chairman of the board since 1990. Sutton retired as CEO of Pacific Life in April 2007, ending a 43-year career with the company. He will remain as a director of both Pacific Mutual Holding Company and Pacific LifeCorp’s boards.

“Tom Sutton has been an invaluable mentor to me and he will continue to be a valuable resource as a board member,’ Morris said.

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Morris joined Pacific Life as an assistant actuary following his 1982 graduation from the University of California, Los Angeles. After holding a number of significant positions in a variety of areas, he was promoted to executive vice president of the Life Insurance Division in 2002. In 2005, Morris was elevated to executive vice president and chief insurance officer and in 2006, assumed the role of chief operating officer. In April 2007, following Sutton’s retirement, Morris was named president and CEO of Pacific Life.

“Jim Morris has a 26 year history with Pacific Life,’ said Sutton. “During this time, he has increasingly been involved and responsible for the growth of the company. The directors of our boards are impressed with Jim’s leadership style and business acumen and this appointment reflects our complete confidence in his ability to lead Pacific Life and its family of companies.’

Data & Research May 29, 2008

Plans Continue to Embrace Target-Date Funds

A new report says target-date investments of the future are likely to be offered in “multiple flavors″ according to the participant’s risk tolerance.
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The report from MassMutual’s Retirement Services Division, Participants Embrace Target Retirement Date Investments, said providers are now developing conservative, moderate, and aggressive portfolios for the same target retirement date. The report examined the use of target retirement date investments as the default option for retirement plans with automatic enrollment.

Plans will also be offering customized versions of the target-date product, but that trend comes with a danger, MassMutual says. “However, customized target retirement investments risk losing one of their prime advantages—simplicity,” the report says.

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According to MassMutual, some investment managers have been adding alternative assets, such as real estate investment trusts (REITs), emerging market funds, inflation-protected securities, and commodities to target-date offerings.”Such investments can be risky on their own; however, some money managers say that a judicious use of alternative assets can instead reduce risk in a diversified portfolio, while enhancing returns,” the report notes.

The report indicated a continuation of efforts to build a relevant target-date benchmark is also on the horizon. Current approaches include comparison with Morningstar or Lipper peer groups, a custom peer-group benchmark, a custom index benchmark, and target-date fund indexes, MassMutual said.

“Target retirement date investments will likely continue to grow in popularity among retirement plan providers, along with automatic enrollment programs,’ the report says. “Target retirement date investments offer an easy-to-understand and easy-to-manage approach to retirement saving, especially within the context of automatic enrollment programs.’

The report is available at http://www.massmutual.com/behavior. A free registration is required.

See Target-Date Funds Might Overshoot Equity Target.

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