Retirement Industry People Moves – 2/28/25

Principal appoints head of retirement solutions; benefits attorney joins Wagner Law Group; Variant Investments appoints head of institutional sales; and more. 

Segal Group Promotes Yost to Head of Thought Leadership and Insights 

Megan Yost announced in a LinkedIn post that she has joined the Segal Group as senior vice president and head of thought leadership and insights. Yost moves to the parent company from her role as a senior vice president and engagement strategist at Segal Benz (formerly Benz Communications), which was acquired by the Segal Group in 2019. 

Yost is a recognized thought leader in benefits communications, particularly in the areas of retirement, financial wellness and employee engagement.  

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Before joining Benz Communications, Yost spent 10 years at State Street Global Advisors, where she was head of defined contribution experience. She was also an executive committee member of the Defined Contribution Institutional Investment Association. 

Attorney Joins Wagner Law’s D.C. Office 

Joni Andrioff

Joni Andrioff has joined Wagner Law Group’s Washington, D.C. office as counsel. 

Andrioff is an expert in employee benefits and executive compensation law with more than 35 years of working with employers, service providers and fiduciaries under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act. She also brings experience in all aspects of tax-qualified retirement benefit plans, including design, administration, funding, correction and termination of both defined contribution and defined benefit plans and employee stock ownership plans. 

Andrioff has served in leadership positions in various bar and professional organizations, most recently as president of the American College of Employee Benefits Counsel.  

Variant Investments Appoints Head of Institutional Sales 

Variant Investments announced the appointment of Christopher Neill as head of institutional sales as it continues to expand into the institutional market. 

Neill brings 25 years of experience in institutional sales, business development and client relationships with institutions, intermediaries and high-net-worth families. He reports to Ryan Warren, director of investor relations. 

Before joining Variant, Neill was head of institutional relationships for Aptus Capital Advisors. Prior to that, he was director of institutional sales for Jensen Investment Management. 

Voya Hires Sales Director for Wealth Solutions Team 

John Robertson

Voya Financial has hired John Robertson as a sales director for the firm’s solution sales team, covering emerging markets in the western part of the Central Region.  

Robertson is responsible for selling 401(k), 403(b), health savings accounts and nonqualified plans, as well as Voya’s ESOP products to employers with up to $50 million in assets. 

Before joining Voya, Robertson served as a regional vice president at John Hancock for almost 18 years, covering multiple states and supporting advisers and plan sponsors with their clients and employees’ 401(k) needs. Prior to that, he worked as a financial adviser at Northwestern Mutual and rose to a retirement plan specialist role before moving to the wholesale business. 

Chavez-DeRemer’s Secretary of Labor Nomination Advances to Full Senate

The Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions cleared President Donald Trump’s nominee to head the Department of Labor, advancing her to a full Senate vote.

The U.S. Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions voted Thursday to advance Lori Chavez-DeRemer’s nomination for secretary of labor to the full Senate.

The committee voted 14 to 9 to advance Chavez-DeRemer, with Senators Maggie Hassan, D-New Hampshire; Tim Kaine, D-Virginia; and John Hickenlooper, D-Colorado, joining Republican committee members to support President Donald Trump’s nominee to lead the Department of Labor. Senator Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, was not present but voted “yes” by proxy, with the unanimous consent of the other committee members.

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The three Democratic members’ support offset a “no” vote from Senator Rand Paul, R-Kentucky. Paul previously criticized Chavez-DeRemer for her support, as a member of the House of Representatives representing Oregon’s 5th congressional district, of the Protecting the Right to Organize Act of 2023, which sought to make it easier for workers to unionize.

However, Chavez-DeRemer largely walked back her support for the legislation in last week’s nomination hearing, saying she no longer supports the aspect of the PRO Act that would have overturned state right-to-work laws, which currently exist in 27 U.S. states.

Chavez-DeRemer did, however, express support for the Butch Lewis Act, passed as part of the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021, which allows the Department of the Treasury and the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation to provide grants to multiemployer defined benefit pension plans.

The nomination now moves to the Senate floor for a confirmation vote, for which no timeline has yet been set.

The Senate HELP Committee also held a nomination hearing Thursday for Keith Sonderling, nominated to serve as deputy secretary of labor.

A nomination hearing for Daniel Aronowitz, Trump’s nominee for assistant secretary of labor to lead the Employee Benefits Security Administration, has yet to be scheduled.

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