Retirement Industry People Moves

TIAA Appoints New Corporate 401(k) Role

Melissa Kivett

TIAA appointed Melissa Kivett to the newly created role of executive vice president of corporate retirement solutions and business development, beginning May 15, according to a Tuesday announcement.

Kivett will be responsible for identifying, managing and growing distribution channels and sales pipelines, according to the New York-based firm.

“She will be responsible for the key products we will leverage for strategic growth in the 401k market, bringing a holistic lens from product to client development, with a focus on building partnerships to fuel our position in the market,” Colbert Narcisse, chief product and business development officer at TIAA, wrote in an internal memo to staff.

TIAA created the new role for an increased focus at the firm on products, partnerships and distribution to the 401(k) corporate retirement market, according to a spokesperson. TIAA has historically served the nonprofit, 403(b) retirement market.

Before joining TIAA, Kivett was a managing director and head of enterprise strategic relationship management at Prudential Financial.

Voya Expands Workplace Solutions Teams With Ritter, Bandani

Kurt Ritter

Voya Financial announced this week two new positions to support the growth of its workplace solutions distribution team, which includes retirement plans and services. Kurt Ritter has been hired as vice president and consultant relations director, and Blake Bandani has joined Voya as a sales director for the emerging market team.

Ritter is responsible for helping drive the sale and retention of retirement clients across all of Voya’s workplace solutions businesses by establishing and nurturing key relationships with premier national and regional consultants. He joins Voya from MissionSquare Retirement, where he was a relationship manager in consultant relations. He will report to Lori Commerford, vice president and head of intermediary relations at Voya.

“In addition to Voya’s culture aligning with what motivates me in my career, Voya provides ‘cutting edge’ wealth and health solutions for consultants and plan sponsors, and I look forward to being part of the team,” Ritter said in a statement.

Blake Bandani

Bandani will be responsible for selling 401(k), 403(b), HSA nonqualified plans and emergency savings accounts to employers with less than $50 million in assets, according to Voya’s announcement.

Bandani joins Voya from Hunnex & Shoemaker, where he provided support and guidance for financial advisers and plan sponsors on qualified retirement plans. Previously, he served as a retirement plan internal wholesaler at MassMutual, where he helped expand the market presence of MassMutual’s 401(k), 403(b) and 457 products with emerging market wholesalers, financial advisers and third-party administrators.

“Having partnered with multiple recordkeeping vendors in my past role as a TPA sales representative, it was clear to me that Voya is a top-tier provider in the retirement plan space,” Bandani said in a statement. “With the recent acquisition of Benefitfocus, solidifying Voya’s dedication to group retirement plans and benefits, I knew this was the right move for my career.”

Drennen Moves to Fairpoint Wealth

Mike Drennan

Fairport Wealth, a Cleveland, Ohio-based Hightower Advisors business, has hired Mike Drennen as its chief wealth officer, where he will be taking on the executive leadership responsibilities previously overseen by Matt Logar, who was named CEO in April.

As chief wealth officer, Drennen will lead a team overseeing the advice, growth, marketing and training functions of the firm, including more than 30 direct reports across Fairport’s five offices. Drennen will also contribute to the strategic direction of the organization, according to the firm.

“Mike brings tremendous experience in supporting advisers and empowering them with the counsel and resources needed to grow their practices while inspiring families,” Fairport Wealth CEO Logar said in a statement.

Drennen previously worked at Chicago-based Hightower Advisors as an executive director on the adviser engagement team, partnering with advisory firms across the country. Prior to joining Hightower, he was vice president of business consulting at Carson Group and spent eight years at Fidelity Investments.

“I have worked with the entire Fairport team for the past few years and have gotten to see first-hand their level of experience, care and impact they all have on the lives of their clients, and I am honored to be able to join such a passionate group,” Drennan says.

Since becoming a Hightower business in 2017, Fairport has made acquisitions to grow to five offices: Cleveland; Buffalo, New York; Chicago; Harrisburg, Pennsylvania; and Princeton, New Jersey. The firm has nearly doubled in size from 32 employees to more than 50 and increased the number of households under advisement from about 700 to almost 2,000, according to the announcement.

Modern Wealth Names Former Goldman VPs to Investment, Growth Positions

Stephen Tuckwood

Registered investment advisory Modern Wealth Management has hired two Goldman Sachs Group vice presidents.

Stephen Tuckwood will be director of investments for Modern Wealth, and Nicole Bittner will be head of growth operations, the Monterey, California-based RIA said in an announcement. The new hires will work toward building an investment platform and generating client growth through strategic lead generation and development, according to the wealth manager.

Modern Wealth, which launched in April, is focused on acquiring RIAs in key locations across the U.S. with the goal of building a group of specialists who will assist advisers in providing comprehensive financial advice.

“As Modern Wealth is quickly building out its national footprint, Stephen and Nicole will be pivotal in building key functions and teams necessary to maintain our rapid growth,” Gary Roth, co-CEO at Modern Wealth Management, said in a statement.

Nicole Bittner

Prior to joining Modern Wealth, Tuckwood was vice president of alternative investments and manager selection at Goldman Sachs, where he was part of a team responsible for sourcing, performing due diligence on and onboarding external investment solutions for the firm’s asset and wealth management division.

Bittner joins Modern Wealth from Goldman Sachs, where she most recently held the role of vice president of strategic partnerships and commercial engagement. In the role, she facilitated lead generation, client conversion and pipeline management by overseeing ongoing partnerships for financial advisers.

iPipeline Adds General Counsel, People Officer and R&D VP

George McDonnell

Life insurance and financial services firm iPipeline Inc. has added three new hires across its legal, human resources and research and development divisions.

George McDonnell will be general counsel for the Exton, Pennsylvania-based iPipeline, overseeing legal operations including customer and vendor contracting, intellectual property, employment law, privacy and data security and providing advice on strategic corporate planning and decisions. McDonnell joins from PowerPlan Inc., where he was corporate counsel, and reports directly to Deane Price, iPipeline’s CEO. McDonnell previously worked for 10 years as a judge advocate in the U.S. Marine Corps.

Diane Rowell

Diane Rowell has joined iPipeline as chief people officer, leading the firm’s talent and people strategy for attracting, developing, engaging and retaining employees. She joins from Allscripts, a global electronic health records software company, and will also report to CEO Price.

“Diane brings extensive industry experience, a successful track record, and a passion for people and culture that will help us as we continue to grow into the best organization we can be,” CE

Aaron Guidotti

O Price said in a statement. “George’s deep expertise and proven ability to strategically manage a variety of complex legal matters will help us to be well positioned to achieve our business goals.”

iPipeline also announced the addition of Aaron Guidotti as vice president of research and development. Guidotti works with various teams within R&D to ensure projects and releases meet the needs of customers and are smoothly deployed, the firm announced. He joins from Equisoft, where he served as director of wealth technology innovation.

Milliman Hires Falls to Expand Public Pension Consulting Business

Global consulting and actuarial firm Milliman Inc. announced Friday it has hired Ryan Falls as a consulting actuary and statewide public pension system marketing lead.

Falls will focus on continuing to expand and enhance the firm’s statewide public pension consulting business, which already serves many of America’s largest public pension systems.

Before joining Milliman, Falls spent more than 11 years at Irving, Texas-based actuarial consulting firm Gabriel, Roeder, Smith & Co. According to Milliman, he served as the lead actuary advising the Arizona State Retirement System, the Teachers’ Retirement System of Oklahoma, the New Mexico Educational Retirement Board, the Public Employees Retirement Association of New Mexico and the Employees Retirement System of Texas.

Prior to his years at GRS, Falls worked for almost 14 years in Buck Global LLC’s retirement consulting organization, according to his LinkedIn profile. A graduate of Texas A&M University, Falls has 25 years of experience in the actuarial and benefits consulting business, specializing in major public employee retirement systems.

“Ryan is a leader in statewide system plan design and sustainability and has worked closely with plan sponsors on public pension plan reform,” said Matt Larrabee, a principal and consulting actuary with Milliman, in a statement. “Ryan has a reputation for telling systems what they need to hear in an understandable, empathetic manner that matches well with Milliman’s consulting approach.”

Falls’ background also includes actuarial valuations for public pension and retiree health care plans, along with hybrid plan design and asset liability modeling. He has led nine actuarial audits in the past five years, according to Milliman.

“I’ve seen first-hand the monumental effort it takes to manage a statewide retirement system and the impact that has on employees, plan sponsors, and the state as a whole,” Falls said in a statement. “Milliman’s independence, creativity, and its mission to protect the financial well-being of people everywhere is vitally important in public plan design. I’m thrilled to join a leader in the benefits space.”