Retirement Industry People Moves

Voya Adds Account Executive for Large Corporate Market Business

Voya Retirement has hired Allison Dirksen as an account executive for the company’s large corporate market business. 

In this role, Dirksen will be responsible for generating new business and building key distribution relationships in the Midwest. She will be working through all channels within the corporate 401(k) market that serve employers with plans from $75 million up to $1 billion in assets and will remain based in Minneapolis.

“I’m thrilled to be joining the winning team at Voya and am excited to become an integral contributor to the firm’s already impressive large corporate sales success,” says Dirksen. 

“Allison’s commitment to service and solutions has proven great success in helping her clients achieve their retirement goals, which is a natural fit for our team,” says Steve Keating, senior vice president of sales for Voya’s large corporate market.

Dirksen graduated from Morningside College with a bachelor’s degree and Drake University with a master’s in business administration.

Stadion Appoints Vice President of Business Development

Stadion Money Management has announced the appointment of Dan Fay as vice president, business development.

Fay serves as key account manager for Stadion’s independent recordkeepers and also focuses on co-development opportunities with retirement specialists. Beyond this, he helps support the sales efforts of the firm’s retirement products in New England. He is based in Massachusetts and reports to Todd Lacey, chief business development officer.

“We’re seeing increased demand for our retirement products nationwide, which necessitated a hire of this caliber. Fortunately for us, Dan was enthusiastic about joining our team,” says Lacey. “He comes to us with more than 20 years’ retirement experience, strong relationship-building skills and is a proven new business generator. We couldn’t be happier to welcome him to the Stadion family.”

Immediately before joining Stadion, Fay served as senior adviser relations manager at Financial Engines with responsibility for establishing and managing relationships with leading financial adviser and consulting firms. He identified and developed new business opportunities through advisers and consultants, leading to the distribution of the firm’s managed account services by national financial advisory firms.

Fay received a bachelor’s degree in finance from Bentley College.

 
OneAmerica Hires Client Relationship Executives, Nationwide

 OneAmerica has hired four client relationship executives to fill existing retirement service posts, taking on geographically crucial roles to support sales growth, the firm says. 

Industry veterans Christopher Drazen (based in St. Louis) and Paul Worthington (in Sparta, New Jersey) are focused on assisting institutional-sized companies with plan assets over $25 million, while Doug Reber (in Dallas) and Gordon Stiff (in Atlanta) are regionally positioned to serve core plans that focus on small to midsize employers. 

“We are pleased that these four individuals have chosen to join the OneAmerica family,” says Pete Welsh, vice president, distribution, OneAmerica Retirement Services. “The association of such quality individuals with OneAmerica further demonstrates our commitment to the highest level of service to our plan sponsor clients.” 

Worthington, who joined OneAmerica in May from Wells Fargo, serves clients in the New York City metropolitan area, as well as Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, North Carolina, Rhode Island, Vermont, Virginia and Washington, D.C. 

“I’m very excited to join OneAmerica,” says Worthington, calling the company “a premier retirement plan service provider well-positioned to continue growing,” and adds, “my focus on client satisfaction and participant outcomes aligns well with OneAmerica’s solid reputation and culture of providing exceptional service.”

Drazen joined OneAmerica in April, following nearly three years with Transamerica. “Plan design and employee education, combined with an award-winning service structure, is the route to making impactful, positive retirement outcomes. It can certainly help employers with this task, and I look forward to working with clients in this role,” says Drazen.

Reber has been involved with financial services companies in a variety of roles, bringing three decades of experience, including 18 years at American Century Investments. He serves clients in parts of four Southwestern states. 

 Stiff brings a wealth of knowledge and experience starting with 10 years at TIAA-CREF, then another nine at Empower, focusing on relationship management.

FPA and PridePlanners to Support Financial Consultants Serving LGBTQ Americans

The Financial Planning Association (FPA) and PridePlanners, an organization committed to serving the needs of financial planners who serve LGBTQ individuals and families, have announced a company integration.

FPA and PridePlanners will provide education and support to financial planners who serve, or are interested in serving, the financial needs of LGBTQ Americans. The integration with FPA is the result of PridePlanners’ dissolution as a separate legal entity.

“We are delighted to welcome PridePlanners into the FPA family and know this integration will go a long way to providing all of our members with the support, guidance and resources they need to be prepared to serve the needs of a growing population in our country,” says PA President Frank Paré.

Through the integration, FPA creates a community within the association where former PridePlanner and FPA members can connect and engage in professional development opportunities. PridePlanners will also continue to take part in FPA’s diversity committee, as they have done since 2010, to help develop strategies to create a welcoming environment for financial planners of diverse backgrounds in FPA and the greater financial planning profession. 

“From raising awareness of the unique financial concerns faced by LGBTQ individuals and families to providing our members with an opportunity to connect with—and learn from—each other, I am proud of what PridePlanners has accomplished in its 19-year history,” says Sharon Rich, Ed.D., co-founder of PridePlanners. “I know that with the support of FPA, the financial planning community will have an opportunity to continue what we started, focusing on our LGBTQ clients’ needs, in the years to come.”

AssuredPartners Acquires NIS in $50 Million Deal

Brookfield, Wisconsin, insurance agency National Insurance Services has been acquired by AssuredPartners Inc. in Lake Mary, Florida, for more than $50 million.

NIS provides employee benefits consulting and brokerage services for more than 2,500 public-sector organizations nationwide. It also administers about 600 403(b) plans, health reimbursements, flexible spending accounts (FSAs), employee benefit trusts and retirement incentive payouts for schools, cities and counties.

Under the terms of the deal, all of NIS’ 129 employees will continue to operate out of the same office under the guidance of President and CEO Bruce Miller. The NIS owners also set aside more than $1 million for the non-owner employees, who will receive a portion based on their time of service if they stay on at least one year from the transaction close.

“Because we’re so fortunate, we just wanted to share with those others,” says Terry Briscoe, NIS founder. “The owners are all coming out well on this deal. There are 110 or something other employees who are not involved with that so … we’re trying to be helpful to the employees.”

A separate insurance company, National Insurance Co. of Wisconsin, is being liquidated in a separate transaction, he says. “It will be a separate event. We’ll get there some day,” Briscoe says. “We transferred all the advantages of the insurance company over to the agency before we sold that.”

The acquisition of NIS is expected to broaden AssuredPartners’ reach in the public sector.

“We focus on partnering with agencies with strong management that demonstrate a dedication to growth and building lasting relationships—we have found this with NIS,” says Tom Riley, president and chief operating officer (COO) of AssuredPartners.

Regional Vice Presidents Join Retirement Plan Sales Team at Ascensus

Ascensus has appointed Jeff Simes and Bas Van Rhee as regional vice presidents on the firm’s retirement plan sales team.

In these roles, they will work with financial advisers, third-party administrators (TPAs) and financial institutions—including outsourcing partners and DCIO [defined contribution investment only] sales representatives—to build and maintain Ascensus’ retirement plan distribution networks. Both Simes and Van Rhee will report directly to Anthony Bologna, vice president of retirement sales at Ascensus.

Simes will represent the Northeast region, covering Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island and Vermont. He brings over 20 years of financial services experience in relationship management, business development and sales roles. He most recently served as a regional vice president for CUNA Mutual Retirement Solutions and has also held retirement sales positions at Mass Mutual and The Hartford.

Simes earned his bachelor’s degree from University of Massachusetts and his master’s in business administration (MBA) from Bryant University. He also holds FINRA Series 7, 63 and 24 designations.

Van Rhee will serve the plains territory, which includes Arkansas, Iowa, Kansas, Missouri and Nebraska. He has over 10 years of sales and business development experience in the retirement industry. Prior to joining Ascensus, he served as a regional retirement sales representative for Paychex where he was recognized as the firm’s 2017 district representative of the year.

Van Rhee earned his bachelor’s degree from The Master’s University and his master’s in business administration from University of Redlands. He also holds FINRA Series 6 and 63 designations.

“The extensive knowledge Jeff and Bas bring to the team will push us forward with financial advisers and our customers,” says Jason Crane, head of retirement sales at Ascensus. “We’re pleased to welcome them to our sales team and to leverage their expertise in helping advisers select the right retirement plan for their business owner clients.”