Retirement Industry People Moves

Art by Subin Yang

J.P. Morgan Asset Management Hires New Global Head of Broker Relationship Management

J.P. Morgan Asset Management has hired Carissa Biggie as managing director and global head of broker relationship management. Biggie will be based in New York and reports to Kristian West, head of the firm’s investment platform team, which is focused on building and managing investment capabilities, maximizing return on investment and leveraging the scale of J.P. Morgan.

In this new role, Biggie will work to develop and strengthen relationships and optimize partnerships with external counterparties across asset classes, including equities, fixed income, liquidity, alternatives and solutions. She is tasked with taking a holistic view of how broker relationships are managed.

Biggie joins J.P. Morgan from Prudential Financial, where she covered top global financial institutions for the enterprise strategic relationship management team. Previously, she spent 16 years with Goldman Sachs Asset Management in a variety of roles, including as a global relationship manager overseeing all broker relationships in trading. Prior to that, she was a project manager for J.P. Morgan Asset Management’s alternatives business.

Mercer Appoints New West Market Wealth Business Leader

Mercer has named Rob Ridge west market business leader, wealth. Ridge will focus on expanding Mercer’s wealth capabilities in this growth market. Based in Denver, he will report to Mustafa Faizani, west market CEO.

Ridge brings more than 20 years of experience in retirement consulting, having led a wide variety of consulting engagements including defined benefit, defined contribution and retiree medical projects and studies. 

Ridge joined Mercer in 2005 as an associate and was most recently the wealth office business leader for the mountain states region, where his primary focus was developing and leading retirement consulting relationships. Prior to joining Mercer, Ridge worked as an actuarial analyst for Buck Consultants. He holds a bachelor’s degree in mathematics from the University of Colorado at Denver. 

Two Advisory Teams Managing Nearly $400 Million Join Cetera

Cetera Financial Group, one of America’s largest networks of financial professionals, has announced that two financial advisory teams managing nearly $400 million combined are among its latest affiliations. Minnesota-based Sonnenfeld Financial Group and San Diego-based Lincoln Capital Inc. have joined regions within Cetera Advisor Networks.

Sonnenfeld Financial Group serves clients from offices in Edina and Winona, Minnesota. The firm is led by Terry Sonnenfeld, president, who has been an investment adviser representative for nearly 30 years. The team oversees $150 million in assets under administration, providing investment management and retirement services, and joins AdvisorNet—one of the largest regions within Cetera Advisor Networks.

Lincoln Capital joins via Summit Financial Networks, a region of Cetera Advisor Networks. The team of four financial professionals manages $245 million for individuals, families and businesses, pairing customized financial planning services with investment management. 

BNY Mellon Wealth Management Expands New York Tri-State Region with Four New Hires

BNY Mellon Wealth Management expands its New York Tri-State region with four new additions including Wing Wilson as regional fiduciary manager, Leighton Cameron as senior wealth manager, Marcy Morgan as principal in private banking and Scott Rickman as client strategist. Wilson, Cameron and Morgan are based in New York City, and Rickman is based in Greenwich, Connecticut. They all report to John Ippolito, regional president, New York Tri-State.

Wilson leads the fiduciary business for New York Tri-State, as well as manages the delivery and fiduciary oversight of advisory-based services to clients. Cameron provides comprehensive wealth management advice, including managing portfolios and providing strategic planning and advice for ultra-high-net-worth clients. Morgan works with high-net-worth and ultra-high-net-worth clients to develop and implement a strategic plan for managing credit and treasury management solutions. Rickman works with ultra-high-net-worth clients including founders, executives, multi-generational families and non-profits on their comprehensive wealth needs.

With more than 15 years of financial services experience, Wilson returns to BNY Mellon Wealth Management from Citi, where she served as senior vice president, trust officer. She originally joined BNY Mellon in 2017 as vice president, senior fiduciary specialist. Prior to that, she was a vice president, senior trust officer at J.P. Morgan and a paralegal at Hill, Ullman & Erwin, PC. Wilson earned a bachelor’s of science degree from Mercy College.

Cameron joins BNY Mellon Wealth Management from TIAA, where he was a senior portfolio manager. Before that, Leighton was a vice president, portfolio manager at U.S. Trust and a financial analyst, airport customer service finance at Delta Air Lines. He also served as an intern at J.P. Morgan. Cameron earned a bachelor’s degree in business administration from Georgia State University. He is also a CFA charter holder.

Morgan has 20 years of experience in financial services and joins BNY Mellon Wealth Management from First Republic Bank, where she was a managing director. Before that, she served as managing director and head of equity financing, specialty finance group at Wells Fargo Private Bank. Morgan also worked as a managing director and private banker at Deutsche Bank. She earned a bachelor’s degree from Fairleigh Dickinson University and an M.B.A. from Fordham University.

Rickman brings over 20 years of financial services experience and joins BNY Mellon Wealth Management from J.P. Morgan Chase Bank, where he served as a private client adviser. Prior to that, he worked in wealth management at Merrill Lynch Private Banking and Investment Group and UBS. Rickman earned a B.S. from Boston University, an M.S. in Taxation from University of Miami and an M.B.A. from Boston College. He is also a CIMA professional. Rickman is an active member of his community and assists with events at Greenwich Hospital, Bruce Museum, Pequot Library and Family & Children’s Agency.

Wise Rhino Group Announces New Partnership

In response to record demand for valuation and M&A Services, Wise Rhino Group announced that it has entered a partnership with Greg Koleno of Zuna Holdings, based in Portland, Oregon.

The partnership will allow WRG to further support retirement and wealth advisory, TPA and industry technology firms with business valuations and diagnostics and M&A advisory services.

Prior to ZUNA, Greg led both M&A transaction teams at several boutique investment banks, National Retirement Partners acquisition efforts and practice management and is responsible for facilitating over 20 advisory firm transactions including of advisory firms the sale of NRP to LPL Financial in late 2009.

Cohen & Steers Appoints DCIO Specialist for Northeast U.S. Territory

Cohen & Steers Inc. has named Eric Kristenson to the role of vice president, defined contribution investment only specialist for the Northeast U.S. territory. His hire is part of the firm’s growing emphasis on the $11 trillion defined contribution market, where Cohen & Steers provides investment management services to qualified retirement plans. Kristenson reports to Charlie Wenzel, senior vice president and head of defined contribution.

Kristenson joins Cohen & Steers with more than 20 years of retirement consultant experience, including 13 years at Oppenheimer Funds. He previously held retirement consultant roles at Principal Financial Group, Fidelity Investments and Canby Financial Advisors.

abrdn Further Expands Institutional Team

Global asset manager abrdn has announced the hiring of Eric Lareau as senior director of institutional business development. Reporting to Eric Roberts, head of U.S. institutions, Lareau is based in Boston.

The latest move in abrdn’s active institutional and consultant relations team expansion, Lareau’s appointment follows the twin hirings of senior directors Jackie Carr and Elizabeth Kaicher earlier this year. He brings to abrdn a diverse background raising assets across equities, fixed income and multi-asset strategies, as well as relationship management success serving a range of institutional sub-segments, advisers and consultants.

Lareau joins abrdn after almost ten years in similar senior roles with Chartwell Investment Partners and Barings, having spent earlier time in his career with Principal Financial Group, Hermes and Merrill Lynch.

A graduate of Merrimack College, he is also active in the Boston community, volunteering with Lazarus House Ministries and as a founder of the Defeat Cancer Classic, an annual fundraising drive benefitting The Jimmy Fund and Dana Farber Institute for Cancer Research.

Securian Financial Selected as Recordkeeper for WELLthBUILDER Pooled Employer Plan

Strategic Retirement Partners, a retirement plan consulting services firm, has selected Securian Financial as the pooled plan provider and recordkeeper for their WELLthBUILDER Pooled Employer Plan.

Created by the federal SECURE Act, PEPs allow unrelated companies and organizations to band together to create a single 401(k) retirement plan for all their combined employees. PEPs offer employers the potential to offload their retirement plan’s fiduciary and administrative responsibilities while combining their purchasing power with other employers to negotiate lower plan fees.

According to the firms, the WELLthBUILDER PEP offers broad and flexible plan design capabilities so each individual employer can select provisions best suited for their needs. Securian Financial will serve as the pooled plan provider and ERISA 3(16) fiduciary, while Strategic Retirement Partners will provide ERISA 3(38) investment management and consulting services for the platform.

Manulife Investment Management Names New Global Head of Retirement

Manulife Investment Management has announced Aimee DeCamillo has been appointed global head of retirement. DeCamillo will be accountable for the strategy, growth and overall success of the organization’s global retirement business.

DeCamillo will work closely with teams around the world to ensure the nuances of local markets are represented in a strategic global approach that reflects best practices and drives opportunities for collaboration and leverage across regions. DeCamillo will also collaborate with Manulife Investment Management’s public and private markets investment teams to develop investment solutions for the global retirement platform. She reports to Paul Lorentz, president and CEO, Manulife Investment Management and is based in Boston.

DeCamillo has extensive retirement leadership experience, most recently serving as chief commercial officer on the executive leadership team at Jackson Financial, a NYSE-listed life insurance and annuity company. Prior to that role, DeCamillo was president and head of retirement plan services for U.S.-based asset manager, T. Rowe Price. She also spent several years in various leadership roles at Bank of America and Merrill Lynch.

In addition to her work in the retirement industry, DeCamillo has been an active leader in the U.S. retirement market through her work with multiple industry associations, including the LIMRA/LOMA Secure Retirement Institute, where she served as chair of the board, and the SPARK Institute, where she was a governing board member. DeCamillo has also played major roles with diversity initiatives at prior firms and within the financial services industry.

J.P. Morgan Asset Management Hires New Global Data Science Head

J.P. Morgan Asset Management has announced that it has hired Arezu Moghadam as managing director and global head of data science. Moghadam will be based in New York and reports to Kristian West, head of the firm’s investment platform team.

In this role, Moghadam will lead the development of artificial intelligence and machine learning methods that will help drive innovative solutions for data-driven investment decision-making, improved client engagement and operational effectiveness. 

Moghadam joins J.P. Morgan from Point 72, where she was head of quantitative analytics for its market intelligence unit. Previously, she was lead quantitative investment researcher for Stone Ridge Asset Management. She has also held roles in Oppenheimer Funds’ Global Multi Asset Group and Goldman Sachs’ Global Portfolio Solutions. Moghadam has a Ph.D. in Computer Science and master’s of philosophy degree in computer science from Columbia University.

TIAA Appoints Chief Digital and Client Experience Officer

TIAA has appointed Jessica Austin Barker as chief digital and client experience officer.

Barker will join the firm in early June, bringing more than 20 years of professional experience. Her prior firms include Intuit, Mint, Credit Karma, TurboTax and Mailchimp. At TIAA, she will lead the digital, client experience, financial wellness and advice and analytics teams. She will report to President and CEO Thasunda Brown Duckett and join the company’s executive committee.

Most recently, Barker served as vice president, consumer group customer experience, at Intuit. Previously, she was a segment leader for Intuit’s flagship TurboTax product.

Earlier, Barker held roles in marketing and business development for Intuit, and she began her career with Deloitte Consulting. She holds a bachelor’s degree in marketing and finance from the University of Texas at Austin. She is actively involved in giving back to her community, including serving as an adviser to Support Young Athletes, a youth-led charity organization.