Retirement Industry People Moves

AssetMark Appoints New Chief Investment Officer

AssetMark, a provider of wealth management and technology solutions for financial advisers, announced it has appointed Christian Chan as chief investment officer. In this role, Chan will oversee the investment management and research teams responsible for the full suite of AssetMark-managed solutions, representing $24.7 billion in assets under management.

Chan will drive the continual innovation of the AssetMark investment platform, overseeing the management and creation of client-centric, outcome-oriented investment offerings across asset classes. He has over 25 years of investment experience in asset management, most recently at Allspring Investments (formerly Wells Fargo Asset Management), where he managed over $25 billion in assets.

Chan will be based in AssetMark’s Concord office and will report to David McNatt, AssetMark’s executive vice president of investment solutions.

AIG Names New Chief Investment, Risk, Underwriting Officers

American International Group Inc. has announced that Sabra Purtill has been appointed executive vice president and chief investment officer for its life and retirement business, to be rebranded as Corebridge Financial Inc. following its initial public offering. In her new role, Purtill will report to Kevin Hogan, executive vice president and CEO, life and retirement, and she has joined the life and retirement executive leadership team.

“Sabra has made significant and valuable contributions to AIG in her roles as chief risk officer and, previously, deputy chief financial officer. Her risk and capital markets expertise, as well as decades working in senior roles in the insurance industry, make her a great fit for this leadership position,” says Peter Zaffino, chairman and CEO, AIG.

Purtill has been AIG’s chief risk officer since July 2021, before which she served as its deputy chief financial officer overseeing Treasury, rating agency relations, investor relations and corporate development. Prior to joining AIG in 2019, Purtill was with the Hartford Financial Services Group, Inc., where she served as senior vice president, investor relations and treasurer. She was also managing director, investor relations and communications at Assured Guaranty Ltd., and prior to that was a corporate finance officer at ACE Limited, now known as Chubb Limited. Purtill holds an M.A. from Georgetown University and a B.A. with high honors from The University of Virginia.

AIG has also announced that Tom Bolt has been named executive vice president and chief risk officer, AIG, effective immediately. He replaces Purtill in the role. Bolt will report to Peter Zaffino and has joined the AIG executive leadership team.

Bolt has served as chief underwriting officer, general insurance, since 2018. He joined AIG from Berkshire Hathaway Specialty Insurance, where he was president and CEO of the U.K. and Southern Europe, and a member of Berkshire Hathaway International Insurance Ltd.’s board of directors. Prior to that, Bolt was director of performance management at Lloyd’s of London and managing director of Marlborough Managing Agency at Lloyd’s. Before joining Lloyd’s, he spent 25 years at Berkshire Hathaway in a variety of senior executive roles. Bolt holds an M.M. in marketing and finance and a B.A. in English literature and economics from Northwestern University.

In addition, AIG has named Kean Driscoll as chief underwriting officer, general insurance, effective immediately. He will report to David McElroy, executive vice president and CEO, general insurance. Driscoll has served as global chief underwriting officer, property and agriculture since 2019, and as global head of reinsurance strategy, general insurance since 2020. 

A founding member of Validus, he served as CEO of Validus Re from 2012 until he joined the AIG General Insurance chief underwriting office in 2019. He has more than 25 years of experience as a reinsurance underwriter, and previously held leadership roles with Quanta Re and Zurich Re N.A. (Converium). Driscoll holds a B.A. in literature from Colgate University and an MBA from Columbia University, where he graduated with honors.

Verus Adds Two Senior Consultants in Chicago

Verus, an investment consulting and outsourced CIO provider, has announced that it has expanded their professional staff to support its growing Midwest client base with the addition of Tim McEnery, managing director and senior consultant, and Samantha Grant, senior consultant. The move follows the firm’s expansion in May 2020 to Pittsburgh, where it now has a team of five professionals.

“Tim will serve as the head of the office and, working closely with Samantha, will help us to more effectively serve our growing Midwest clientele,” says Verus CEO Jeffrey MacLean. “This decision to invest in Chicago, coupled with our decision to expand our footprint in Pittsburgh, solidifies our strategic plans to have a national footprint to serve clients in all regions of the country.”

Prior to joining Verus, McEnery spent 15 years with Aon, where he served as the primary consultant on several of the firm’s discretionary and non-discretionary client relationships. He worked with a wide range of institutional investors with portfolios that ranged in size from $100 million to $95 billion in assets and included public retirement systems, corporate pension funds and non-profit institutions including endowments, foundations and faith-based organizations.

Grant joined Verus from Marquette Associates, where she led several client relationships and served as a member of the firm’s investment committee as well as its traditional investment manager search, impact and defined contribution committees. Previously, she led the firm’s U.S.-focused capital markets research and U.S. equity manager due diligence. Grant earned both a B.S. in business administration and an MBA from Florida A&M, and is a member of the board of the Southside YMCA in Chicago.

LIMRA Hires Two Industry Executives to Join Research Leadership Team

LIMRA has announced the hiring of Bryan Hodgens and Keith Golembiewski to lead its distribution and retirement income research programs and strategic initiatives, respectively. They will report to Alison Salka, senior vice president and director of LIMRA member benefits and research.

In his new role, Hodgens will be responsible for developing and executing the research strategy for both the distribution and retirement income research programs. Under his leadership, LIMRA’s distribution and retirement income research divisions will continue to conduct research focused on providing best practices to address the emerging business challenges facing LIMRA members.

Over the past 20 years, Hodgens has served in executive positions at financial services companies including AIG, Wells Fargo Advisors and Asset Growth Partners. Most recently, he was senior vice president and head of LPL Financials’ Retirement Plans and Financial Planning Group. In this role, he established and led the internal and external sales teams, driving double-digit growth during his tenure.

As senior director of LIMRA’s strategic research program, Golembiewski will lead research efforts on enterprise-wide initiatives, including the direct-to-consumer market, industry scenario planning and a targeted program of topical insights for members.

With more than 20 years of experience in strategic research and competitive intelligence at leading insurance companies, Golembiewski joins LIMRA following a 10-year tenure at Prudential Financial. In his last role, Golembiewski served as director of synthesis and knowledge management, with responsibility for developing Prudential’s enterprise knowledge management platform and driving awareness of market insights to better achieve the organization’s strategic goals.