New York Life Retirement Announces New Execs

All three will report to CEO David Castellani.   

Murphy’s new position is as Managing Director and Head of Sales, where he will manage a team of 17 sales directors representing all of New York Life Retirement Plan Services’ product platforms, including bundled corporate 401(k) plan services, stable value investment only, DB pension management, Taft-Hartley, and executive benefits. Previously, he led the firm’s Northeast sales practice for most of the last eight years. Chris Messina, formerly in small-plan 401(k) sales, will be moving to fill the Northeast sales role. Before joining New York Life, Murphy served in senior sales and client service positions at American Express, Putnam Investments and Diversified. He is a graduate of Brown University. 

Rice’s new position is as Managing Director and Head of Marketing. She joined New York Life in April 2010 as Director of Web Strategy, managing the firm’s e-platform strategy and solutions. Rice, who has more than 13 years in the financial services industry, is also the founder of Ringel Rice LLC, a strategy and Web consulting firm. She spent more than a decade at Fidelity in marketing and channel management leadership positions, and has worked in a marketing role at Upromise.com and as a consultant with Mercer Management Consulting. She holds a B.A. from the University of Pennsylvania and an MBA in finance and marketing from Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Management. 

Abend’s new position is as Managing Director of Product Development. She has been with New York Life for nearly 13 years and has been working with the product development team since April of this year. Her addition to the senior leadership team represents an increasing focus at New York Life Retirement Plan Services to develop and refine retirement solutions for today’s changing retirement marketplace.  Previously, she held consulting actuarial roles at Mercer and George Beram & Company (now DIA).She has a B.S. in Mathematics and Economics from the University of Massachusetts. She is a member of the American Academy of Actuaries, and she is an Enrolled Actuary under ERISA.