Deals & People August 26, 2016

Retirement Industry People Moves

John Hancock Retirement Plan Services Hires New Consultant; T. Rowe Hires New Investment Leaders; Strategic Retirement Adds New Adviser; Mercer Hires New Leader to Boston Team; and more.
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John Hancock Retirement Plan Services Hires New Consultant

John Hancock Retirement Plan Services (JHRPS) has hired Chip Moore to join its Large Plan Consultant Relations team. Moore will focus on building relationships with large national and regional retirement plan consulting and advisory firms.

He brings 30 years of experience in the retirement plan industry. Prior to joining John Hancock, Moore spent a decade as director and field vice president for a major retirement services provider. He has also worked as a consultant and investment adviser.

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“We’re excited to have someone with Chip’s experience join our team, working with consultants who concentrate on large, complex retirement programs,” said George Revoir, vice president of distribution at JHRPS.

Moore earned a bachelor’s degree in political science from Ripon. He also holds FINRA Series 7 and 63 licenses.

John Hancock services more than 57,000 retirement plans and more than 2.7 million participants. 

NEXT: T. Rowe Hires New Investment Leaders

T. Rowe Hires New Investment Leaders

T. Rowe Price has hired Lorie Latham and Michael Davis into newly created positions in its Defined Contribution Investment Only (DCIO) business in the United States. 

In her new role, Latham will consult with key institutional partners on a range of strategy and policy matters. She will also serve as a subject matter expert and thought leader on large-market defined contribution issues. Latham comes to T. Rowe Price from Towers Watson Investment Services (TWIS), where she served as director and defined contribution strategy leader. Latham holds a bachelor’s degree from Wright State University and the chartered financial analyst designation from the CFA Institute.

Davis is the head of defined contribution plan specialists for T. Rowe Price’s institutional business.  In this role, he leads the team responsible for expanding the firm’s reach and strategic engagement capabilities in the U.S. institutional DCIO marketplace.  Most recently, Davis served as director of institutional client relations at Calvert Investments.  Davis holds a bachelor’s degree from the University of Texas and a master’s degree in public policy from Harvard University.

Latham and Davis report to Keith Lewis, head of global investment services, Americas for T. Rowe Price.

“Lorie and Michael are key, senior-level additions to our team and will help enhance the services we provide to our institutional clients in the U.S.  Our clients will benefit from the experience and expertise they bring to these new roles,” Lewis says.

NEXT: Strategic Retirement Adds New Adviser

Strategic Retirement Adds New Adviser

Strategic Retirement Partners, a national retirement plan consulting firm, has hired Kelly Majdan as its newest adviser. She is tasked with servicing clients and expanding business in the Arkansas and Southern Missouri market.

Majdan brings more than two decades of experience in the retirement services field. Her designations include accredited investment fiduciary (AIF) and qualified plan financial consultant (QPFC). She has also been invited to Capitol Hill to advise top Congressional leaders about the future of the retirement savings industry and how proposed laws and regulations could affect American workers’ retirement security.

“We are thrilled to have Kelly join our team,” says Jeff Cullen, managing partner at Strategic Retirement Partners. “Kelly’s passion for this business, dedication to her clients and focus on sound fiduciary practices make her a great fit with SRP. Her 22 years of experience and dedication to employee outcomes fit well with our commitment to the American worker.”

NEXT: Mercer Hires New Leader to Boston Team

Mercer Hires New Leader to Boston Team

Mercer, a global consulting firm in the health and wellness industry, has hired Karen McKechnie as investment business leader for the Boston consulting team.

McKechnie will be responsible for leading Mercer’s investment consulting business in New England.  She will also serve as a senior consultant to Mercer clients, and she will oversee Mercer’s Boston-based investment consulting team.

“Karen has proven capabilities in institutional consulting and relationship development,” says Tom Cassara, senior partner, Mercer Investment Consulting. “We look forward to bringing her experience to our clients based in Boston and New England. Our growth in the Northeast has merited the support of an additional senior leadership role, so we are eager to have Karen lead our efforts in this area and share her expertise throughout the region.”

Most recently, McKechnie served as a vice president with Callan Associates where she specialized in corporate and public defined benefit (DB) and defined contribution (DC) plans, college savings plans, endowments and foundations. Previously, she was an investment consultant with Mercer in London.

NEXT: Mesirow Hires New Managing Director

Mesirow Hires New Managing Director

Mesirow Financial has hired Eugene J. Duffy as the new managing director in the institutional sales and marketing group. Duffy will be responsible for maintaining some of the firm's existing institutional relationships, while developing new institutional business, primarily in the public and corporate sectors.

Prior to joining Mesirow, Duffy served as a partner with a quantitative domestic equity firm, and a national multidiscipline real estate corporation. He also specialized as a regional fixed income investment adviser.

Outside the corporate sector, Duffy also served in several cabinet posts for Maynard Jackson and Andrew Young, two former mayors of Atlanta.

“Eugene’s professional accomplishments and service to the community will be an asset to the team and to our clients,” says Tom Hynes, senior managing director and head of Mesirow Financial’s institutional sales and marketing group. “We look forward to drawing on Eugene’s unique history and distinguished track record to enhance and improve the firm’s existing relationships while creating new alliances and opportunities. We are thrilled to have him as part of Mesirow Financial.”

NEXT: Gramercy Hires New Managing Director

Gramercy Hires New Managing Director

Gramercy Funds Management has hired Chris Tackney as the firm’s managing director and co-head of the Gramercy trading desk. 

Tackney brings more than 20 years of trading and portfolio management experience in emerging markets. He will co-head the trading desk with Managing Director Matt Maloney. Tackney and Maloney will report directly to Robert Koenigsberger, managing partner and chief investment officer.

In this new role, Tackney will work with Maloney to manage a dynamic trading desk that encompasses performing and distressed corporates, sovereigns, equities, credit default swaps and currency hedges. Together, they serve as key members of the portfolio management team.

“I am very excited to be a part of this seasoned EM team,” Tackney says. “Gramercy has an excellent reputation, driven in part by its commitment to delivering attractive risk-adjusted returns and I look forward to playing an active role.”

Prior to joining Gramercy, Tackney served as head of trading at Greylock Capital. Before Greylock, Tackney was senior portfolio manager for emerging market corporate bonds at Schroder Investment Management with responsibility for global EM corporate investments. He received his master’s degree in finance and economics Finance from New York University Stern School of Business and his bachelor’s degree in economics from Bucknell University. He is also a CFA charter holder.

NEXT: Newport Group Grows Sales Team

Newport Group Grows Sales Team

Newport Group, an independent retirement services firm, has hired Jeff Hornsby as a regional director. He will be responsible for developing business relationships and identifying market opportunities to promote Newport Group’s retirement plan recordkeeping and administration services to third-party intermediaries.

He will cover Georgia, Florida, Alabama, Tennessee and Mississippi. He will report to Senior Vice President of Institutional Sales Micah DiSalvo.

“Jeff is a welcome addition to Newport Group,” DiSalvo says. “His experience in providing independent advice to retirement plans and plan sponsors, in areas such as fiduciary oversight, investment due diligence, fee benchmarking, and education, all further strengthens our team as we continue to grow.”

Hornsby has nearly 15 years of experience in the retirement services industry, with an emphasis on retirement plan sales. Most recently, he was a partner at Retirement Fund Management, an Atlanta-area advisory firm working directly with plan sponsors. Previously, he held similar financial advisory positions with Greenspring Wealth Management, 1st Global, Enterprise Fund Distributors, and AXA Advisors.

Hornsby earned his bachelor’s degree from LaGrange College in Georgia. He is an accredited investment fiduciary and chartered retirement plan specialist.

Compliance August 26, 2016

Clients Have More Time To Enact Tax-Free Rollovers

The IRS has eased the timeline for investors hoping to avoid taxes and penalties while moving money plan-to-plan or to an individual retirement account. 
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The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) introduced a new self-certification procedure designed to help recipients of retirement plan distributions who inadvertently miss the 60-day time limit for properly rolling these amounts into another retirement plan or individual retirement account (IRA).

In Revenue Procedure 2016-47, posted this week on IRS.gov, the IRS explains how eligible taxpayers “encountering a variety of mitigating circumstances” can qualify for the waiver, which will effectively extend the 60-day time limit on tax-qualified rollovers and therefore help investors avoid early distribution taxes and penalties stemming from rollover mistakes. In addition, the revenue procedure includes a sample self-certification letter that a taxpayer can use to notify the administrator or trustee of the retirement plan or IRA receiving the rollover that they qualify for the waiver.

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As the IRS explains, normally, an eligible distribution from an IRA or workplace retirement plan can only qualify for tax-free rollover treatment if it is contributed to another IRA or workplace plan by the 60th day after it was received. In most cases, taxpayers who fail to meet the time limit could only obtain a waiver by requesting a private letter ruling from the IRS.

A taxpayer who missed the time limit will now ordinarily qualify for a waiver if one or more of 11 circumstances, listed in the revenue procedure, apply to them. They include a distribution check that was misplaced and never cashed, the taxpayer’s home was severely damaged, a family member died, the taxpayer or a family member was seriously ill, the taxpayer was incarcerated or restrictions were imposed by a foreign country.

“Ordinarily, the IRS and plan administrators and trustees will honor a taxpayer’s truthful self-certification that they qualify for a waiver under these circumstances,” IRS says. “Moreover, even if a taxpayer does not self-certify, the IRS now has the authority to grant a waiver during a subsequent examination. Other requirements, along with a copy of a sample self-certification letter, can be found in the revenue procedure.”

NEXT: Important implications for retirement readiness  

IRS says this is an important, if modest, step towards boosting retirement readiness in the U.S.

State Street Global Advisors' Megan Yost, head of defined contribution (DC) participant engagement, agrees wholeheartedly with that assessment. Speaking recently about the importance of easing the rollover process with PLANADVISER, she said regulators, providers and plan sponsors are all coming into alignment on this important issue.

“I was just invited to discuss this topic at a meeting of the ERISA Advisory Council,” Yost explains. “The council is exploring ways to make plan-to-plan transfers easier. They are gathering feedback from a lot of different perspectives, from plan sponsors, advisers, lawyers, providers, academic, etc. They are bringing together everyone who is a part of the DC ecosystem and who will have to participate in building real solutions.”

Yost said her firm and others she speaks with are thrilled that distribution and rollover questions are getting more attention.

“Looking across everything we heard during the ERISA Advisory Council meeting, most people across the industry really think keeping money in plans and simplifying the process of consolidating accounts are important for the future,” she noted. “Everyone is looking at ways they can contribute to this end goal—which is so critically important because none of us can do this unilaterally. It’s a fairly complex issue and even more complex than I think a lot of people assume on the surface. There is a lot of operational complexity to be taken into account if we want to improve portability, and then there is also the task of marrying the processes with the user perception and experience.”

Yost says the DC retirement industry overall considers a solution to this problem to be critical. “In terms of specific recommendations we think are absolutely necessary for the next 10 years, first and foremost we need to see the automation of the rolling of savings from one employer plan to another via new collaborations among recordkeepers and investment companies. Tied to this, we should see the simplifying, standardizing and digitizing roll-in application paperwork, and it should be made very easy to find and access roll-in documentation,” she concludes.  

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