Retirement Industry People Moves

Corebridge Taps Muderrisoglu to Head Investor and Rating Agency Relations 

Isil Muderrisoglu.

Retirement solutions and insurance provider Corebridge Financial has name Isil Muderrisoglu head of investor and rating agency relations, reporting to Chief Financial Officer Elias Habayeb.

Muderrisoglu joins from Equitable Holdings Inc., where she was head of investor relations. At Equitable, she also held roles across strategy, mergers & acquisitions and corporate finance, including chief financial officer for the individual retirement business. Josh Smith, director of investor relations, will remain part of the team and report to Muderrisoglu, according to a company announcement.

Houston-based Corebridge, which has more than $370 billion in assets under management and administration, was part of AIG before being spun off in an initial public offering in 2022.

“Corebridge has made significant progress against the strategic initiatives and financial goals established at the time of the IPO,” Habayeb said in a statement. “With Isil’s broad financial experience and deep industry expertise, we look forward to expanding our external stakeholder engagement, including equity and fixed income investors, and rating agencies.”

TIAA Promotes Houser to Expanded Institutional Head of Sales Role

Michael Houser.

TIAA has promoted Michael Houser to head of institutional sales, leading a team focused on growing market share in each of the not-for-profit retirement plan market segments: higher education, health care, government, primary and secondary schools and enterprise sales.

The promotion comes as TIAA seeks to execute the firm’s five-year strategy to grow not-for-profit retirement plan market share, joining all sales directors that support these plans under institutional sales, it announced internally in an August 16 memo.

Houser will report to Ben Lewis, head of institutional strategic sales and consultant relations.

Houser was previously a senior director of consultant relations at TIAA, and the company plans to backfill the position, a company spokesperson said by email, adding that Houser’s new role is “an expanded position.”

“The charge of the team is to win new recordkeeping relationships and to retain all existing relationships. [Houser] will work closely with Tim Pitney and the lifetime income default solutions team to bring TIAA’s lifetime income solutions to more plan sponsors and more individuals,” the spokesperson wrote in an email.

Houser joined TIAA in February 2022, following more than two decades at Fidelity Investments.

AI-Backed Tifin Amp Names Gagliano CEO as Founder Nair Steps Aside

Sal Gagliano.

Artificial intelligence-driven fund distributor Tifin Amp named Sal Gagliano as CEO, replacing founder Vinay Nair, who will continue as executive chairman.

Nair, an entrepreneur and former Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania professor, founded Tifin with the model of leveraging AI for wealth management and investing for advisers, consumers and workplaces.  

Gagliano joins from Broadridge Financial Solutions, where he was most recently senior vice president and general manager of the marketing and regulatory communications business, with prior roles as division chief operating officer and head of strategy for the asset management segment, and as vice president of strategy for the global sales and marketing team.

Charlie Shaffer.

Tifin Amp also announced the addition of Charlie Shaffer as president and chief revenue officer. Shaffer was most recently global head of distribution at Russell Investments and previously held roles as head of distribution for Voya Investment Management and global head of distribution at Credit Suisse Asset Management.

“I am thrilled to join the TIFIN AMP team as we strive to modernize distribution for the asset management industry,” Gagliano said in a statement. “Our unique data, innovative AI capabilities and strong talent will enable us to help asset managers more effectively drive sales.”

Voya’s Penland Named to DC Alternatives Association Board

Kirk Penland.

Voya Financial Inc.’s Kirk Penland, senior vice president for nonqualified markets, has been added to the board of directors of the Defined Contribution Alternatives Association.

Penland will join the nonprofit board to further its work of educating the retirement industry on using alternative investments within defined contribution plans. The DCALTA’s current board is comprised of retirement plan advisers, asset managers and servicers, and ERISA attorneys.

“The retirement plan landscape is constantly evolving with regulatory mandates, product innovation and new approaches to investment strategies,” Penland says. “With the right resources and information, access to alternative solutions within a retirement program could help plan participants achieve their long-term retirement goals.”

At Voya, Penland’s group works with industry investment firms to provide alternative investments to nonqualified deferred compensation plans. Prior to Voya, Penland was CEO of Pen-Cal Administrators Inc., which designs and administers employee and executive benefit plans. Voya acquired Pen-Cal in 2018. 

Wedbush Securities Names Jeff Smits VP of Investments

Jeff Smits.

Wedbush Securities, a subsidiary of Wedbush Financial Services, has named Jeff Smits vice president of investments to work out of the firm’s Newport Beach, California office.

Smits will be reporting to Doug Ireland, a senior vice president and market manager. Prior to joining Wedbush, Smits began his career at Morgan Stanley, then moved to Stifel Nicolaus and most recently worked for seven years as a financial adviser at Edward Jones.

“Wedbush provides opportunity and growth that best allows me to serve my clients and plan for their financial futures,” Smits said in a statement.

Wedbush, which is headquartered in Los Angeles and has 900 employees, provides private and institutional clients with securities brokerage, wealth management, and investment banking services.