Retirement Industry People Moves – 2/16/24

Alerus Adds Retirement Sales Consultant

Ashley Avaregan

Alerus Financial Corp. announced on February 15 it hired Ashley Avaregan as a retirement sales consultant.

He is responsible for retirement plan sales in California and works closely with financial advisers to develop tailored retirement plan solutions for their clients, according to a press release.

Avaregan has nearly 30 years of experience in the financial services industry, with expertise in partnering with small and midsized organizations to provide defined contribution plans and managed account services. Before joining Alerus, he spent six years as a regional sales director for Mutual of Omaha, where he was responsible for retirement plan sales in California, Hawaii and Nevada.

Avaregan reports to Wade Dykema, director of retirement and benefits sales.

Vestwell Names Pair of Regional Vice Presidents  

Phil Kennedy

Stephen McNeill

Vestwell hired Phil Kennedy and Stephen McNeill to the roles of regional vice president, effective February 5, a company spokesperson confirmed.

Kennedy is responsible for leading product consulting in the Rocky Mountain territory, while McNeill leads the Pacific Northwest.

Keaton Beams also joined Vestwell as a sales strategy team senior associate. Beams was previously an associate strategic plan analyst at Empower. He reports to April Mellas, vice president of sales and strategy.  

Pennsylvania RIA Names Managing Director

Elizabeth Fugler

Registered investment adviser Logan Capital Management announced it hired Elizabeth Fugler as managing director of institutional sales and client service.

Fugler will help grow and strengthen the firm’s institutional client base and expand existing relationships, according to a February 13 announcement.  

Logan Capital Management hired Fugler because she has more than 20 years of experience leading business development in the asset management space, said a company spokesperson by email.

Fugler was hired to build Logan’s visibility and broaden its institutional consultant relationships.

“As demand grows for our various domestic and international managed portfolios there is an opportunity to work with a significantly larger number of consulting firms,” the spokesperson said.

Fugler reports to Logan Capital Management’s founding principals, Dana Stewardson and Stephen Lee.  

Wagner Law Group Bolsters Taft-Hartley Group

The Wagner Law Group announced Peter Hutchinson has joined the firm as a partner in its Los Angeles office, bolstering the Taft-Hartley retirement plans practice.

Hutchinson will “spearhead” Employee Retirement Income Security Act retirement plan collections litigation and other ERISA litigation matters, advise Taft-Hartley plans and work with the firm’s union trust fund clients, according to a spokesperson.

Wagner Law hired Hutchinson due to growth in its Taft-Hartley practice.  

“We need more dynamic lawyers to help support the practice,” the spokesperson said.

Prior to joining Wagner, Hutchinson worked at a California law firm and in Washington, D.C. as an attorney for the Service Employees International Union as a legal adviser to member Carol Waller Pope of the Federal Labor Relations Authority.