Deals & People January 12, 2012

Prudential Makes Total Retirement Solutions Leadership Changes

Prudential Retirement, a business unit of Prudential Financial, has announced leadership appointments in its Total Retirement Solutions (TRS) area.
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Sean McLaughlin has been appointed as vice president, Client Relations & Business Development, TRS, effective February 1. McLaughlin will report to George Castineiras, senior vice president, Total Retirement Solutions, and lead sales, key accounts, consulting services, sales support, education and enrollment. He currently serves as vice president, Strategy, Planning, Communications and Risk Management.  He joined Prudential Retirement following a career with McKinsey & Company, a global management consulting firm.   

Yong Lee has been promoted to Chief Operating Officer of MullinTBG, its nonqualified business, reporting to Castineiras. He will be responsible for MullinTBG’s overall corporate strategy and oversee the company’s operations, administrative, financial and sales functions, including efforts to capitalize on key distribution channel opportunities.  Lee was formerly MullinTBG’s Chief Information Officer.  

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Dan Banis, formerly interim general manager of MullinTBG has been appointed head of Strategy and Planning.  In this new role, Dan will report to Lee and be responsible for MullinTBG Advisors, compliance, plan design specialist, and analytical services teams.   

“These leaders will help Prudential Retirement deliver on its promises to provide plan sponsors and participants with the products and services they need to retire with certainty and security,” said Castineiras.   

Among the changes not announced, Mike Shute, former CEO of MullinTBG, and Jim Clary, former President of MullinTBG, are now sales consultants. 

Castineiras told PLANADVISER the moves were a way to retain the expertise of these individuals, as they were in a point in their career where they were looking at other opportunities to see what else they can do. He said Shute is very excited about the future and is currently working on an initiative the firm will announce during the second half of the year.

In October, Prudential Retirement announced the reorganization of some business lines, including MullinTBG’s non-qualified business, into the TRS area (see "Marcks Discusses Pru Retirement Changes"). Castineiras told PLANADVISER, the changes announced today are part of the ongoing evolution of this reorganization.  

The personnel changes are designed to support new opportunities and innovations for the firm. Castineiras outlined three areas of focus for Prudential Retirement’s TRS group that consider the shifting retirement landscape -- from mostly defined benefit plans to defined contribution plans for employees’ retirement savings: 

  • Allow consulting about how to get DB’s off balance sheets and reduce risk; 
  • Make MullinTBG’s non-qualified business a differentiator for the firm by integrating Prudential’s IncomeFlex guaranteed income solution for qualified plans and Mullin’s G-Plus income solution for non-qualified plans. Castineiras said TRS wants to create a deeper alignment in designing a qualified DC plan and non-qualified DC plan that can duplicate benefits of a DB for retirement plan participants; and 
  • Create participant engagement models that will drive the right outcomes. Castineiras notes that the industry spends a large amount of money every year to educate participants, but the results are not changing. 

“I’ve been in industry over 20 years, and would argue that participant behavior hasn’t shifted. It’s an exciting time where an industry that’s been viewed as a commodity will shift so that we will see strong differentiators going forward. This is the most excited I’ve been in my career,” Castineiras stated.

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