CUNA Adds Eight to Sales Staff

The consultants were hired in the fourth quarter of 2013 in two recruiting waves and are charged with building relationships with retirement-focused advisers in the small plan market, according to Bill Feldmaier, CUNA Mutual Retirement Solutions director of intermediary sales.

“We decided to decentralize our internal sales team in Great Bend, Kansas, after a study last summer indicated 75% of our internal wholesalers’ time was being spent on administrative duties,” Feldmaier says. “Our eight [sales consultants] are now located throughout the country expanding relationships with advisers, while their administrative duties have been picked up by six divisional sales coordinators in Great Bend.” 

Three sales positions and a sales leadership position remain open. When all open sales positions are filled it will represent a 50% increase in sales staff for CUNA Mutual Retirement Solutions, Feldmaier says.

Sales consultants new to CUNA Mutual Retirement Solutions include:

• Kristin Mesgleski, Eastern Division –  Mesgleski covers greater New York City, New Jersey, eastern Pennsylvania and Delaware. She previously worked for the Glading Group, Schwab Retirement Services, Ameriprise Financial, Transamerica Retirement Management and Fidelity Investments.

• Ashlee Vingle, Western Division – Vingle will cover Washington state, Oregon, Alaska, Idaho, Montana, California, Nevada and Hawaii. She previously worked for Morgan Stanley Smith Barney and Bank of America Merrill Lynch.

• Jim Keenehan, Eastern Division – Keenehan works with advisers in the District of Columbia, Maryland, Virginia, North Carolina and South Carolina. He joined CUNA Mutual Retirement Solutions from Goldman Sachs, where he worked on the defined contribution investment only (DCIO) team covering the New England and other territories.

• Trey Wallace, Western Division – Wallace has worked with business owners, plan sponsors and financial advisers as a retirement plan consultant with ING and Nationwide. He will cover advisers in Texas, Oklahoma, Missouri, Arkansas and Kansas.

• Elice Lee, Eastern Division – Lee covers Florida, Illinois, and southern Wisconsin and has prior experience with Prudential Financial and Genworth Financial Services, Inc.

• Trent Schrader, Eastern Division – Schrader covers the states of Kentucky, Tennessee, Alabama, Georgia, Mississippi and eastern Louisiana. He previous worked for A.G. Edwards and Genworth Financial Services, Inc.

Sales consultants promoted from within CUNA Mutual Retirement Solutions include:

• Mickie Morley, Eastern Division – Morley covers Massachusetts, Connecticut, Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Rhode Island, upstate New York, western Pennsylvania and northeast Ohio. She has more than nine years of experience in the financial services industry in sales and management.

• Ashley Klein, Eastern Division – Klein’s territory covers the north central U.S., including Minnesota, North Dakota, South Dakota, Nebraska, Iowa, northern Wisconsin, Michigan, Indiana and western Ohio.  Klein spent three years in a similar role with CPI Qualified Plan Consultants before being promoted to this role.

The sales consulting team reports to Pete Wesner, senior manager of internal sales. More information on the new hires and the open sales positions is available at www.cunamutualrs.com.