Lacey Leaves (k)larity for Transamerica

In his role as vice president and director of the Business Development Group, Lacey will be overseeing the key account team, providing input on product development, and helping with the company’s overall strategy in the adviser marketplace, he told PLANADVISER.

In December, Lacey said, he was approached by Jason Crane, senior vice president and national sales director, about a job opening in the business development group (see “Crane Gets New Transamerica Sales Job“). Although it came out of the blue, Lacey says, “I felt like I had some success as an adviser and was exciting about a new challenge.”

Lacey is selling his practice to Joshua Itzoe, with Greenspring Wealth Management of Towson, Maryland.

“I had always thought that maybe I’d go back [to Transamerica],” he says, having worked there from 1998 to 2004 in sales and saying it was a “familial environment.” He left the company to be an adviser, eventually founding The (k)larity Group in 2007.

Lacey takes on a role previously held by Kelly Michel, former senior vice president of Institutional Sales and Business Development for Transamerica. Michel was promoted in December 2010 to serve as senior vice president for business development for Employer Solutions & Pensions for the AEGON companies under Kent Callahan (see “Transamerica Retirement CEO to Head New Unit of AEGON Companies”). Michel’s role was divided into two; Lacey is assuming the business development piece and Jim Kais was recently named vice president and director of Institutional Sales and Special Markets (see “Transamerica Hires Kais for Sales Post”).