Deals & People December 22, 2023

Retirement Industry People Moves – 12/22/23

Ascensus and FuturePlan add regional and sector sales heads; InVesti snags sales head from IPX Retirement; EBRI taps Segal executive for board of directors; and more.

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Ascensus, FuturePlan Expand Retirement Sales Teams

Ascensus LLC announced new hires to its retirement sales team as well as its fully-owned third-party administrator, FuturePlan by Ascensus.

Justin Sabol

Ascensus’s retirement distribution team has brought on Justin Sabol as regional vice president for the eastern region, and Kate Whitmore as vice president of business development for pooled plans.

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Sabol joins Ascensus from OneAmerica Financial Partners Inc., where he was regional sales director in eastern Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and Delaware. In his new role, he will also cover New Jersey and Delaware, and report to Anthony Bologna, divisional vice president of retirement distribution in the eastern region.

Business development leader Whitmore joins Ascensus from Transamerica Retirement Solutions, where she was director of pooled plan sales.

Kate Whitmore

In the new role, she will focus on expanding Ascensus’ pooled retirement plan offerings, working specifically with advisers to drive existing programs and find new ones, according to the announcement. She will report to Mindy O’Connor, head of business development, retirement.

Ascensus reported in September that it topped $1 billion in assets among its 30 PEPs.

In a separate announcement, FuturePlan by Ascensus noted the addition of a regional vice president to the sales team.

Nick Kennedy will oversee Pennsylvania, western New York, southern New Jersey, Maryland, Delaware, Northern Virginia, and D.C., while reporting to Mark Wiggins, divisional vice president.

He joins the firm from Ameritas, where he was regional sales director for qualified plans.

InVesti Adds National Sales Manager

InVesti has hired a new national sales manager for its retirement plan recordkeeping and services business from IPX Retirement.  

Lee Tenney

Lee Tenney is also now part of InVesti’s senior management team and will be focused on creating sales strategy and growing the business, a spokesperson confirmed.

Tenney joins after holding a role as head of sales and distribution for IPX Retirement, and before that as director, external retirement consultant with Allianz Global Investors.

“We are confident that Lee is the perfect fit for a company that is offering a unique suite of products and services that can transform the financial experience of both participants and financial service providers,” co-founder and CEO Thomas Hansen wrote in a LinkedIn post.

EBRI Names Tami Simon to Board of Directors

The Employee Benefit Research Institute has named a senior executive at benefits and human resources consultancy Segal to its Board of Directors Executive Committee.

Tami Simon

Tami Simon, global corporate consulting business leader, will join the board after serving as a member of EBRI’s Board of Trustees, according to an announcement from the Institute.

At Segal, Simon works with businesses, nonprofits, associations and higher education institutions on organizational and workforce needs, according to her company biography.

Segal was a founding member of the nonprofit EBRI, which was formed in 1978.

SEI Asset Management Head Stepping Down

The head of SEI Investments Company’s asset management division, Wayne Withrow, will be stepping down effective February 28, 2024, with a company search to replace him begun both internally and externally, according to an announcement.

Wayne Withrow

Withrow will be departing from the role of executive vice president and head of global asset management, in which he focused on strengthening SEI’s asset management offerings, capitalized on market opportunities, and worked to grow the division, according to the announcement.

He joined SEI in 1990 as a vice president in the company’s legal department and later held roles as Chief Information Officer, head of SEI’s investment managers’ business and head of its adviser division.

“Wayne’s focus on aligning our asset management businesses globally over the last 12 months has reinforced the foundation from which we believe we can drive future growth,” CEO Ryan Hicke said in a statement. “His contributions and depth of knowledge across our three pillars of expertise—technology, operations, and asset management—have not only helped drive our success, but also nurtured our culture.”

SEI is not changing any of its reporting lines in connection with the announced change.

 

Client Service December 21, 2023

Vestwell Raises $125M to Further Small Plan Push

The Series D funding round will be used to expand retirement programs for small and emerging businesses, including state-facilitated plans.

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Vestwell has raised $125 million in a Series D fundraising round led by Lightspeed Venture Partners, the digital recordkeeper announced Thursday.

Vestwell Holdings Inc. will use the funding to support small and emerging businesses that have benefited from regulatory tailwinds, such as the SECURE 2.0 Act of 2022, according to the announcement. The funding will also go toward expanding Vestwell’s work on state-savings-program initiatives while creating other savings programs for partners, employers and savers using Vestwell and for financial institutions using their recordkeeping services as a white label product, the firm noted. Last week, Vestwell announced it was backing Delaware’s state-sponsored auto-IRA program.

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Along with Lightspeed, funding came from Fin Capital, Primary Venture Partners and FinTech Collective, as well as newcomers Blue Owl and HarbourVest, according to Vestwell.

As part of the funding round, Justin Overdorff, a Lightspeed partner with a background in business development, has joined Vestwell’s board of directors, and Logan Allin, managing partner and founder of Fin Cap, will remain a board director since co-leading Vestwell’s Series C funding round.

Room for Growth

According to a recent report from Evalueserve called “Changing Dynamics of US Small Plan Retirement Market,” the small employer segment remains underpenetrated, with a significant number of private sector workers being deprived of retirement benefits.

A significant number of private sector workers within these smaller enterprises find themselves without access to essential retirement benefits, according to the research firm, which offers research, analytics and data management services.

According to data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, 49% of small private sector firms—those with fewer than 49 employees—lacked access to defined contribution plans as of March 2022. Furthermore, small plans make up just 8% of DC assets, per a U.S. Department of Labor publication released in October.

“These employers are still struggling to offer retirement plans to their employees, predominantly owing to affordability issues due to the high cost of retirement plan administration,” Evalueserve stated in the report. “In addition, a lack of awareness about the process of offering a retirement plan is a contributing factor.”

Partnering Up

Several major retirement providers are venturing into the small retirement plan market, the research firm noted, including recordkeepers, retirement plan consultants and DC managed account sponsors.

In May, JPMorgan Chase & Co. partnered with Vestwell to provide greater support for the Everyday 401(k), the financial firm’s small business retirement plan offering. In January, registered investment advisory Carson Group paired up with Vestwell to power a defined contribution retirement offering for advisers. The two firms partner on a program called Carson Complete 401(k), designed to help Carson-affiliated advisers add or scale small and medium retirement plan practices.

“We’re exhilarated to announce our Series D round—our growth has been truly exceptional, and we’re honored to be working with an array of such esteemed investors and partners,” Aaron Schumm, CEO and founder of Vestwell, said in a statement. “We’re also excited to have Justin and Logan on our board as we partner to bring savings to a new level.”

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