Deals & PeopleFebruary 3, 2010

McDermott to Head Goldman Sachs Institutional DC Unit

Goldman Sachs Asset Management (GSAM) announced that Bill McDermott has joined GSAM as Head of the Institutional Defined Contribution business.

Reported by PLANADVISER staff

In this role, McDermott will oversee GSAM’s institutional sector, which supports Fortune 500 corporations and other large organizations, according to a company statement. He will report directly to Jim McNamara, Managing Director and head of GSAM’s Global Third Party and U.S. Institutional Distribution businesses, responsible for all defined contribution lines of business for GSAM.

McDermott was previously Executive Vice President, Corporate Markets, at AXA Equitable Life Insurance Company (see “AXA Equitable Appoints Fidelity Exec as Head of Corporate Retirement Planning“). Prior to AXA, he spent 12 years in executive management at Fidelity Investments, where he was responsible for growing large corporate market and client solutions groups.

Earlier in his career, McDermott was a partner with Hewitt Associates and held business development roles at Metropolitan Life. McDermott earned his bachelor’s degree from Villanova University.

The announcement said the Goldman Sachs Asset Management Retirement Services Group seeks to extend GSAM’s thinking in defined benefit investment policy design to the defined contribution market, with a diverse offering that includes investments across traditional, exotic beta, and alternative investments.