Retirement Industry People Moves

President Obama has appointed Babette A. Ceccotti to serve as a member of the Advisory Committee of the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation (PBGC).

She will serve as a member representing the interests of employee organizations. “Babette has extensive experience in employee benefits and bankruptcy, making her a valuable addition to the Advisory Committee,” says PBGC Director Tom Reeder. “We look forward to working with her on ways to preserve pensions and enhance retirement security.”               

Ceccotti is a retired partner from Cohen, Weiss and Simon LLP in New York City, where she focused on employee benefits and bankruptcy. In the firm’s employee benefits practice, she represented unions and employee benefit plans in matters under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) and the Federal Employees Health Benefits Program.

Additionally, Ceccotti represented labor organizations and employee benefit plans in numerous business bankruptcy cases in the airline, automotive and other industries.

Ceccotti was appointed by President Clinton to serve on the National Bankruptcy Review Commission from 1995 to 1997. She is a conferee of the National Bankruptcy Conference.

Ceccotti received a Bachelor of Arts from Clark University and a Juris Doctor from New York Law School.

Jeffrey A. Sumner has joined Lockton's employee benefit team as a senior vice president and client adviser in the company's Philadelphia operation.

Sumner will work with Lockton clients on employee benefits programs, compensation strategies, retirement plans, and compliance issues. He will focus on business development and leading client teams.                

Prior to joining Lockton, Sumner was a vice president with Tompkins Insurance, a broker in Philadelphia, advising clients on employee benefits issues. He began his career as a consultant with Unum, an insurance carrier. He is a graduate of Ursinus College in Philadelphia. 

Prudential Retirement, a business of Prudential Financial, Inc, has named Jamie Kalamarides head of its newly created Full Service Solutions business, which delivers retirement plan solutions for public, private and non-profit organizations.

Kalamarides’ new role combines retirement plan recordkeeping and administration with full service investments. In addition, Kalamarides will continue as CEO of Prudential Bank and Trust. This move comes as Jamie McInnes, current head of Prudential Retirement’s defined contribution, defined benefit and nonqualified recordkeeping and administration business, has accepted a new role with Prudential’s International Insurance Division.

Kalamarides has more than 20 years of experience managing retirement plan platforms and investment solutions. He has deep knowledge of the full service business and is a highly respected advocate in Washington, D.C., for new approaches to solving financial security challenges.

Phil Waldeck, currently head of Pensions and Structured Solutions, will take on an expanded role and become the head of the Investment and Pension Solutions business, bringing the Pension Risk Transfer, Structured Settlements and Stable Value teams together as one integrated business.

The appointments are effective September 5.

Willis Towers Watson has appointed Kemp Ross as global head of Delegated Investment Solutions in the company’s Investment business, effective immediately.

The new role follows growing demand for the company’s investment outsourcing services, which now has approximately $75 billion in assets under management.

Kemp joins from Aon Hewitt, where he’s held various roles since 2008; most recently, he was senior partner, head of Solutions and Operations for Investment. Prior to this, Kemp worked at Mercer for 15 years, most recently as the Chicago Retirement business leader.

Kemp is an actuary by background and has a B.S. in mathematics from Carnegie Mellon University and an M.S. in applied statistics from North Carolina State University. He will remain based in Chicago and will report to Chris Ford, global head of Investment at Willis Towers Watson.

White Oak Advisors, LLC appointed Kristie Brenner as practice leader for Plan Service Provider and Outsourced Chief Investment Officer (OCIO) Searches and Benchmarking projects.

Since its founding, White Oak Advisors has consistently conducted searches for service providers and OCIO firms. Recent increases in inquiries and activity have led White Oak to establish a dedicated professional for the oversight and management of these services as an extension of their Plan Consulting and Advisory Practice.                

Prior to joining White Oak Advisors, Brenner served as a retirement plan consultant for more than 20 years and has been in the employee benefits industry more than 25 years. Brenner has worked with clients who have complex retirement plan structures and investment pools including various defined contribution and defined benefit plans along with foundations and endowments.

White Oak is a boutique retirement plan consulting and advisory services firm which specializes in plan design, fiduciary committee leadership services, plan investment consulting, compliance and regulatory support services as well as provider search services.

Milliman, Inc. has hired two Taft-Hartley consultants to its Employee Benefits practice.

John Donohue and Tom Carrabine will focus on bolstering the firm’s expanding Taft-Hartley business across the United States.

Previously, both John and Tom were leading members of the Taft-Hartley team at John Hancock and before that New York Life.

TIAA Global Asset Management appointed Brian Nick as chief investment strategist for TIAA Investments.

Based in New York, Nick will work closely with the investment management team to analyze market data, identify trends and provide insights on events driving market activity.               

He will share his perspectives on global market trends, equities and fixed income markets outlook, and other investment analysis, through presentations to individual and institutional investors, and by contributing thought leadership content to TGAM.com/insights.

Nick brings extensive knowledge of global macroeconomic conditions, capital markets, alternative investments and tactical asset allocation to TIAA Investments. Formerly with UBS Wealth Management Americas, Nick was head of tactical asset allocation and led the firm’s efforts in developing its tactical investment strategies and portfolio concepts. Prior to UBS, he was responsible for tactical asset allocation modeling and capital market assumptions as head of alternatives strategy and investment strategist at Barclays Wealth. He was also a markets analyst at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York.