Deals & People August 11, 2023

Retirement Industry People Moves

Newfront hires Sakata, Nelson to retirement services team; Bartlett joins Choreo as SVP of advisers; startup AdvisorCheck taps former RIA head Tam for CEO; and more.

Reported by


Newfront Adds Sakata, Nelson to Retirement Services Team

Miki Sakata.

Newfront Insurance Services LLC, an insurance and retirement solutions firm, has hired Miki Sakata  as a retirement plan consultant and Zach Nelson as an account executive on the retirement services team.

Sakata joins from Three Bell Capital and will add tax-exempt expertise to Newfront’s team, according to an announcement. Nelson joins Newfront after almost two decades with Fidelity Investments, where he was most recently a managing director. He will work on client experience with a focus on enhancing the service model a

Want the latest retirement plan adviser news and insights? Sign up for PLANADVISER newsletters.

Zach Nelson.

nd scaling the service practice.

“Both Zach and Miki bring stellar reputations and years of experience to our accomplished, data-driven team,” Greg Kaplan, Newfront’s retirement services practice leader,  said in a statement.

Newfront has 800 employees operating in offices throughout the U.S., with headquarters in San Francisco.

“Newfront Retirement Services is well-known within the industry for its comprehensive and innovative consulting approach,” Sakata said. “I’m excited to bring our best-in-class solutions to my clients.”

Bartlett Joins Choreo From Creative Planning

Craig Bartlett.

Registered investment adviser Choreo Advisors has named Craig Bartlett senior vice president of advisers, according to a spokesperson.

Bartlett joins the financial planning and wealth management firm from Creative Planning, where he was director of wealth manager support and head of adviser success. He will be based in Minneapolis.

“I’m delighted to start the next chapter of my career with Choreo,” Bartlett said in a statement. “The chance to join the team and play a part of its very exciting growth story was an opportunity that was impossible for me to pass up.” 

Choreo has more than 185 employees in 39 locations managing $14.8 billion in assets, according to its website.

AdvisorCheck Names Tam CEO Ahead of Seed Funding Round

Adriel Tam.

AdvisorCheck, an investment management and resource analytics company and consumer-focused technology platform owned by AIMR Analytics Inc., has named Adriel Tam CEO.

The firm made the announcement as it opened a seed funding round in August and on the heels of seed funding of $1.8 million earlier this year. Tam joins from a role as CEO and co-founder of registered investment advisory Viridian Advisors, which had almost $1 billion AUM when it was acquired by Edelman Financial Engines in 2021.

“We currently are tracking over two thousand visitors a day on our site, and I want to see these numbers significantly increase for the benefit of consumer transparency and advisor advocacy,” Tam said in a statement. “I believe strongly in the value a good financial adviser and their team can add to every investor. Our next round of funding will take us from a proof of concept to a market disruptor.”

Principal Names Goosay Managing Director of Global Fixed Income

Michael Goosay.

Principal Financial Group has named Michael Goosay managing director of global fixed income and portfolio manager on select strategies for its asset management division.

Goosay will build on the firm’s multi-sector fixed-income investment strategies and solutions, according to an announcement. He will also be portfolio manager on Principal fixed income’s flagship short-term income, core, core plus and US/global multi-sector strategies and associated products.

“Michael’s experience, leadership, and creativity will further bolster our already strong global fixed income capabilities,” Kamal Bhatia, Principal’s global head of investments, said in a statement. “We look forward to his leadership and overall contribution in helping best serve our clients worldwide,”

Goosay joins Principal after 14 years at the Goldman Sachs Group Inc.’s asset management division, where he was head of global pensions and multi-sector fixed-income portfolio management. Prior to that role, Goosay held senior positions at Drake Management LCC, JPMorgan Chase & Co., Prudential Financial Group and GE Asset Management.

Principal Asset Management’s fixed-income platform has $135.7 billion in assets under management across fixed-income sectors with global investment centers and more than 110 investment professionals.

RPAG Promotes Taylor to SVP of Business Development

Jess Taylor.

Retirement Plan Advisory Group promoted Jesse Taylor to senior vice president of business development, according to a company spokesperson. 

Taylor is responsible for sales, marketing and partnerships of its technology and resources to retirement plan advisers, RIAs and broker/dealers.

“With Jesse’s leadership, RPAG—which broke away from former owner NFP in May 2023—continues to launch new systems and solutions, as well as develop enhanced customization and data aggregation features,” a spokesperson wrote by email. “Jesse’s leadership at the firm, as well as his innovative ideas, have led RPAG to transform its branding, as well as its technology offerings.”

Taylor will serve on RPAG’s senior leadership committee, reporting to Nick Della Vedova, RPAG’s president.

Taylor has worked at RPAG since 2010, formerly serving as director of marketing, and has led sales and business development since 2020.

Voya Financial Promotes Thompson to Chief HR Officer

Branningan Thompson.

Voya Financial Inc. has promoted Brannigan Thompson to executive vice president and chief human resources officer, reporting to CEO Heather Lavallee, effective August 16.

Thompson will be responsible for human resources, corporate responsibility and the Voya Foundation and will direct strategy for attracting, retaining and developing world-class employees and incentivizing them, according to an announcement. He also will serve on Voya’s executive committee.

Thompson has been on Voya’s HR team for 23 years, joining from predecessor company ING in 2000.

“During Brannigan’s two decades at Voya, he has earned the trust and confidence of leaders across our organization, with a remarkable track record of success in key roles across the HR function,” Lavallee said in a statement. “Whether as an HR partner to our businesses or as talent development leader, where he has positively influenced the careers of numerous Voya executives, including me, Brannigan has played a key role in defining and advancing the Voya culture.”

Before being named co-lead of Voya’s HR team in May, Thompson was senior vice president of HR, workplace, corporate functions and talent and leadership. He began his career as an executive compensation consultant for Towers Perrin, which is now Willis Towers Watson.

Voya has 7,200 employees serving 14.7 million individual, workplace and institutional clients through health, wealth and investments.

Compliance August 11, 2023

NYC Pension Funds File to Dismiss ESG-Related Lawsuit

Attorneys are seeking to dismiss allegations that retirement funds were jeopardized due to divestment from securities of fossil fuel companies.  

Reported by

New York City pension funds on Monday filed a motion to dismiss a lawsuit that alleged three of the five funds jeopardized the retirement security of plan participants, due to the plans’ divestment from securities of certain fossil fuel companies.  

The pension funds’ attorneys argue in the brief filed to New York State Supreme Court Justice Andrea Masley that dismissal is appropriate because the plaintiffs face no injury and lack standing to bring the complaint before the court.

For more stories like this, sign up for the PLANADVISERdash daily newsletter.

The complaint, Wayne Wong et al. v. New York City Employees’ Retirement System et al., was filed in May.

“Plaintiffs are wasting the Court’s time,” the motion argues. “The Court should swiftly end that drain on resources by dismissing the Complaint, with prejudice, for lack of standing.”

The plaintiffs allege fiduciary breaches for failing to administer the pension funds solely in the interests of the plan’s participants and beneficiaries and for the exclusive purpose of providing retirement benefits. The city funds’ attorneys cite fatal failings they claim require the complaint’s dismissal.

“Regardless of standing, Plaintiffs have not stated any cause of action for multiple independent reasons, including that their Complaint rests entirely upon three demonstrably false contentions and, furthermore, they make the critical concession that the Plans might be able to maintain an appropriate investment mix without buying back any fossil-fuel stocks whatsoever,” the motion to dismiss contends.

Those contentions are:

  • Fossil-fuel stocks have fared well in recent history.
  • Pension plans’ divestment decisions were made without analysis of whether the decisions were consistent, as a financial matter, with their fiduciary duties; and
  • Climate-change-related financial risks are unrelated to prevalent financial risk-reward considerations.

The motion states that “each … is flatly contradicted by public filings and the very news reports upon which Plaintiffs rely.”

In 2021, the pension funds’ boards of trustees divested an estimated $4 billion from securities related to fossil fuel-producing companies.  

When the lawsuit was filed in May, the New York City Employees’ Retirement System held pension plan assets valued at $77.5 billion; Teachers’ Retirement System of the City of New York held $64 billion; and the Board of Education Retirement System of the City of New York held $5.9 billion, according to the complaint.

The defendants’ motion for dismissal argues that allowing the case to proceed would constitute a break with established case law and legal precedent

“Permitting courts to overrule public pension funds’ discretionary investment decisions would run afoul of clear precedent reserving such investment judgments to the publicly accountable officials legally charged with administering the funds,” the motion adds. “Allowing this suit to proceed would open the door to countless such challenges by numerous unharmed plaintiffs who hold different beliefs about how fund assets should be invested, with no perceptible limit on such lawsuits and no check against vexatious litigation.”

The motion also lambasts the plaintiffs’ complaint for its reasoning.

“[Plaintiffs’] legal theory is premised on the radical, absurd notion that courts may force public pension funds to invest in a particular industry if it performs well enough—whether that be mainstream media companies, cryptocurrencies, global hedge funds, or fossil-fuel producers,” the motion states. “Of course, Plaintiffs do not cite any decision in which the courts of this state have overruled public pension funds’ discretionary judgments about which companies or industries to invest in or which to avoid.”

The plaintiffs include conservative nonprofit Americans for Fair Treatment and four individuals: a subway train operator, a public school teacher, a school secretary and an occupational therapist in an elementary school, according to the complaint.

In 2018, the NYC pension funds’ trustees set a goal to prepare a five-year strategy to sell assets in fossil fuel reserve holdings.

The defendants are represented by Corporation Counsel of the City of New York, senior counsels at the New York City Law Department and attorneys with the Groom Law Group, Chartered, based in Washington, D.C. The plaintiffs are represented by attorneys with law firm Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher LLP, based in Los Angeles.

A request for comment to Americans for Fair Treatment was not returned. The New York City comptroller’s office declined comment.  

«