Retirement Industry People Moves – 9/22/23

Thought Leader Toland Leaves TIAA to Start Annuity Consultancy

Tamiko Toland

Tamiko Toland, a former manager director at TIAA, has launched an independent consulting practice to work with advisers on leveraging annuities to meet retirement income needs. Toland Consulting LLC will provide consulting on both defined contribution in-plan income, as well as retail annuity offerings, Toland says.

The former head of lifetime income strategy and market intelligence at TIAA says she started out with a focus on individual retail annuities, but her knowledge and interest for in-plan guaranteed income has grown over time.

“I learned a lot at TIAA, and I’m thankful for the experience there,” Toland says. “It rounded out the in-plan piece for me in particular. There really is an intersection between the two businesses [of retail and in-plan annuities].”

Prior to TIAA, Toland was director of retirement markets for CANNEX Financial Exchanges Ltd. She says she will seek to educate a range of retirement industry players—including product manufacturers, distributors, advisers and plan sponsors—about helping participants manage retirement savings.

“People like Social Security, but they also see the need for more to meet their expenses,” she says. “There are different ways of trying to close the gap, and if they want certainty, they’re going to want an annuity. … It’s not a chicken in every pot, which is to say there’s not an annuity in every bank account. But it is appropriate for a lot of folks.”

Bryn Mawr Trust Appoints Hopkins as Director of Private Wealth Management

Jamie Hopkins

WSFS Financial Corp., the parent company of Bryn Mawr Trust, announced Jamie Hopkins has been named senior vice president and director of private wealth management, effective October 1, after his departure from Carson Group as managing partner of wealth solutions. Carson and Hopkins announced his departure from the firm last week, but had not given details on his landing spot.

“I am extremely excited to be joining such an amazing team at Bryn Mawr Trust that puts clients first and is a leader in our community,” Hopkins said in a statement.

Hopkins will lead Bryn Mawr Trust’s private wealth management business. Hopkins serves on various advisory boards, including the fintech company IncomeLab, and was formerly a national trustee member of NAIFA. Prior to joining Bryn Mawr Trust, Hopkins served as managing partner at Carson Group.

“We are thrilled to welcome Jamie to lead our Private Wealth Management teams. His extensive experience, dynamic leadership and dedication to client success align perfectly with our values and mission,” Arthur Bacci, Bryn Mawr Trust chief wealth officer and interim CFO, said in a statement. “His vision, innovative mindset and strategic acumen will strengthen our Wealth division and reinforce our ability to deliver unparalleled wealth management solutions.”

First Eagle Investments Announces Miller to Lead New High-Yield Municipal Credit Team

First Eagle Investments announced the establishment of a high-yield municipal credit team. John Miller will join First Eagle in January 2024 as head and CIO of the new team, reporting to Mehdi Mahmud, First Eagle’s president and CEO.

“Municipal bonds are an important part of the investment toolkit for all types of retail and institutional investors, and particularly for the financial advisers we serve,” said Mahmud in a statement. “We believe our new high yield municipal credit team, under John’s leadership beginning in January 2024, will represent a strong complement to our current investment offerings.”

The high-yield municipal credit team expands the range of differentiated investment solutions First Eagle provides clients alongside its global value, small cap, and alternative credit.

Miller has spent nearly three decades working in municipal bonds. Beginning in 2007, he was head of municipals at Nuveen, overseeing approximately $190 billion in assets under management, and had direct portfolio management responsibility for about $35 billion, including the flagship $18.3 billion Nuveen high-yield municipal bond fund. After 27 years with Nuveen, he departed the firm on June 1.

TIAA Hires a Senior Consultant Executive, Promotes 2 Internally

Dustin Benton

Ciaran Murphy

Heather Peters

TIAA this week announced significant changes to the company’s sales and consultant relations team made in recent weeks to position the company to expand distribution of its guaranteed lifetime income default products, according to a memo provided by the firm.

Since the final week of August, TIAA has appointed Heather Peters as senior director of consultant relations; promoted Ciaran Murphy to senior director and lifetime income research specialist; and promoted Dustin Benton to director of consultant relations from transition specialist, wrote David Swallow, TIAA’s head of consultant relations and lifetime income default solutions, in the memo.

“The consultant relations and lifetime income default solutions team is continuing to drive positive results and is helping put TIAA Retirement Solutions on the path to exceed key goals for 2023,” Swallow said in a statement. “Today I am announcing changes designed to keep the momentum going. This will better position our team to support the full suite of lifetime income default solutions, grow a new opportunity pipeline for recordkeeping mandates, and continue to provide top level support to our consulting partners.”

Swallow’s memo was distributed to the sales and consultant relations group, key partners and the retirement solutions leadership team at TIAA.