Deals & People July 29, 2016

Retirement Industry People Moves

Innovest Portfolio Solutions Hires New VP; Cavalier Investments Appoints New CIO; Raymond James Partners With Plan Adviser Firm, and more.
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PGIM Appoints New Managing Director  

PGIM, the global investment management business of Prudential Financial Inc., has appointed Cameron A. Lochhead as managing director.

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Lochhead will focus on managing the company’s relationships while collaborating with some of its biggest U.S. clients including the chief investment offices of institutional, pension and retirement plans.

“With headwinds for global growth, policy uncertainties and volatility, our clients are increasingly looking to us for cross-strategy advice to help navigate market risks at home and around the world,” said James Sullivan, head of PGIM’s Institutional Relationship Group.  “The addition of Cameron to our team demonstrates our commitment to further deepening the insight and solutions we bring to our U.S. institutional relationships.” 

Lochhead joins from Russell Investments, where he was a regional director responsible for managing relationships with corporate and state retirement plan sponsor fiduciaries and executives including treasurers, CIOs, and analysts. Previously, Cameron served in various sales management roles at Guggenheim Partners, Internet Securities Inc., and Thomson Financial Services.   

Lochhead will be based in Newark, New Jersey.
  
NEXT: New VP Joins Innovest

New VP Joins Innovest Portfolio Solutions    

Innovest Portfolio Solutions in Denver, Colorado, has appointed Jared Martin as vice president and consultant. Martin will manage the relationships between service providers and plan sponsors while providing ongoing vendor management services for clients. He will deliver investment consulting services to committees, boards and individuals, as well as lead several special projects for retirement plan clients.  

Prior to joining Innovest, Martin was director of relationship management with ICMA-RC. In this role, he was responsible for the overall business relationship and retention of the clients within his territory. Before becoming a relationship manager, Martin spent eight years as financial planning manager with the company. He is on the board of the Colorado Public Pension Coalition (CPPC).     

Founded more than 20 years ago, Innovest is an independent provider of fee-only, investment-related consulting services. It was ranked among the Top 100 Retirement Plan Advisers in 2016 by PLANADVISER. Innovest was also named the Retirement Plan Adviser Team of the Year by PLANSPONSOR in 2014. 

NEXT: Cavalier Investments Appoints CIO

Cavalier Investments Appoints CIO    

Cavalier Investments has appointed Scott Wetherington as chief investment officer. He will lead the research and investment teams in enhancing Cavalier’s process of identifying leading fund managers. Wetherington will also manage the firm’s new Tactical Economic Strategy.    

Wetherington has spent three decades in the industry and has served multiple roles including strategist, manager and analyst.    

Prior to joining Cavalier, Wetherington served as senior portfolio manager and chief investment strategist for Lindner Capital Advisors from 2009 to 2016. At Lindner, Wetherington was responsible for the firm’s process and portfolio allocation models and lead the research and selection process for mutual funds and ETFs. Previously, Wetherington worked for ING Investment Management as a portfolio manager, overseeing active management of a multi-billion-dollar fixed income accounts.   

“Scott’s decades of experience as a strategist, manager and analyst adds a diversity of perspectives that few in the industry can offer, and we are thrilled that he is joining our executive team,” says Gregory A. Rutherford, chief executive officer of Cavalier Investments. “Scott’s proven commitment to rigorous research and exhaustive due diligence, and his defensive-first approach align with our aim to deliver relative returns in up markets, protect against losses in down markets, and minimize trading costs through all cycles.”

NEXT: Raymond James and Next Retirement Solutions Partner

Raymond James And Next Retirement Solutions  Partner

 

Raymond James Financial Services (RJFS) has joined forces with Next Retirement Solutions, a team of experienced institutional retirement plan consultants and financial advisors, according to Bill Counsman, RJFS’s Western regional director.

   

“As a group, we continue to innovate in order to provide the very best services for our clients,” says Paul Neuner, managing director-partner of NRS. “By partnering with Raymond James, we felt the environment was conducive to implement new ideas and better serve these important relationships. We believe with the support provided by Raymond James we can not only add offices and team members, but also provide greater customization and depth and breadth of services to our clients.”

 

Next Retirement Solutions, formerly known as Neuner Retirement Services, is an independent firm offering securities through RJFS.

 

Compliance July 29, 2016

DOL Offers Grants to Develop Retirement Plans for Low-Wage Workers

The Department is offering $100,000 in funding through the Portable Retirement Benefits Planning program.
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The Department of Labor (DOL) is offering $100,000 in grants to facilitate research into retirement plans for low-wage earners. The grants are being administered through the new Portable Retirement Benefits Planning grant program and are being overseen by the Women’s Bureau.

“These grants are a continuation of the U.S. Department of Labor’s ongoing efforts to support innovation aimed at increasing the availability of retirement savings options and making such benefits more portable,” says Sharon Block, senior counselor to the Secretary of Labor and principal deputy assistant secretary for policy at the DOL. “Such efforts are critical to ensure that more Americans can enjoy retirement security in this changing economy.”

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The DOL notes that the program seeks to assist those workers who have traditionally lacked access to an employer-provided retirement benefits program (including independent contractors) or are otherwise less likely to have income from pensions or assets. Changing work arrangements in the high- and low-tech sectors place a greater importance on need for millions of workers – whether they are employees or independent contractors – to be able to take benefits from job to job to ensure greater retirement security. 

The department will award two to four grants between $25,000 and $75,000 each to nonprofit organizations that will be charged with the task of assessing the challenges and barriers unique to low-wage earners with little to no retirement savings. The DOL also wants the organizations to research or develop new, portable retirement vehicles and identify legal constraints before implementing such retirement programs.

The DOL notes that one out of three workers do not have access to a retirement savings plan. Among workers at companies with 50 or fewer employees, half do not have access to a retirement savings plan, and more than three-quarters of part-time workers do not have such a benefit.

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