Retirement Industry People Moves

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Wilshire Consulting President Resigns, COO Named

Andrew Junkin, who has served as president of Wilshire Consulting since 2015, will be leaving to pursue other professional endeavors, the company said. Coinciding with his departure, Wilshire has introduced a chief operating officer role to increase synergy across business lines. Jason Schwarz has been promoted into this role and will oversee Wilshire’s analytics, consulting, funds management and private markets businesses. He will continue to serve as a member of Wilshire’s board and report to Wilshire President John Hindman.

“Andrew has been a wonderful colleague for 15 years, demonstrating strong leadership and supporting our consulting clients through market highs and lows. We wish him the very best,” Hindman says. “As Wilshire’s solutions become more complementary and our business lines more cohesive, it is a natural evolution for one individual to oversee our collective suite of services through the role of COO. Jason is the ideal person for the job, given his depth of expertise, track record of success and tenure within the organization.”

Schwarz, who joined Wilshire in 2005, previously served as president of Wilshire’s Funds Management and analytics businesses. As chief operating officer, Schwarz will oversee the firm’s business activities, ensuring the firm maintains its leadership position in key markets, while seeking new ways to serve clients around the globe. Senior leadership across business lines will report to Schwarz.

The Standard Names Government and Regulatory Affairs Director

Standard Insurance Company announced today that Ryan Chieffo has been named director of Government and Regulatory Affairs.

In his new role, Chieffo will represent The Standard before federal, state and local legislative and regulatory bodies. Chieffo will be responsible for maintaining The Standard’s collaborative relationship with regulators in all jurisdictions as well as with various industry and trade associations.

Chieffo joined The Standard in 2016 as an attorney in the Legal and Compliance division. Before coming to The Standard, Chieffo was an assistant director at the Vermont Department of Financial Regulation and an employee benefits attorney at Perkins Coie LLP.

“I am excited to welcome Ryan to the team,” says Justin Delaney, vice president of External Affairs and Associate Counsel. “He brings a wealth of internal and external experience to his new role at The Standard, and his unique skill set will be an asset to our businesses and regulators alike.”

Chieffo earned a bachelor’s degree in philosophy from Siena College in New York and his juris doctor degree from Georgetown University Law Center in Washington, D.C.

DCIIA Unveils Founding Members of Retirement Research Center

The Defined Contribution Institutional Investment Association (DCIIA) has announced the founding members of the DCIIA Retirement Research Center (RRC) as well as the RRC’s initial research framework focusing on five topic areas, or pillars.

The founding members of the DCIIA RRC are: AB; Alight; Ascensus; Aspen Institute Financial Security Program; Bank of America; BlackRock; Capital Group; Cerulli Associates; Empower Retirement; Franklin Templeton; Goldman Sachs Asset Management / Rocaton; Morningstar; Russell Investments; SPARK Institute; TRAU / TPSU; T. Rowe Price; Vanguard; Voya; and Wells Fargo Asset Management.

“We are excited to take the RRC to the next level in its evolution thanks to the commitment of these founding members,” says Lew Minsky, DCIIA’s president and CEO. “The RRC will play a pivotal role in expanding our ability to foster industry dialogue built on proprietary research, data and analysis. This is a terrific development to share in the midst of celebrating DCIIA’s 10th anniversary.”

“In-depth discussions with our founding members have yielded a clear framework for our research agenda built on five key pillars,” says Warren Cormier, executive director of the DCIIA RRC. “We look forward to collaborating with our members to execute on that agenda as well as sharing practical, actionable insights with the broader industry.”

The RRC research pillars are: issues concerning the retirement savings gap, such as systemic issues, participation and coverage challenges, impact on diverse constituencies, and financial wellness; retirement income; defined contribution (DC) investment solutions such as custom target-date funds (TDFs) and environmental, social and governance (ESG) investments; retirement plan decision-making; and industry profiling.

LCG Announces Multiple Promotions

LCG Associates Inc., has promoted Taylor L. Covey, CAIA, and Cynthia K. Dempsey, CFA, CPA, to vice president, co-director of Private Investments and director of Operational Due Diligence, respectively. Both employees are based out of the Atlanta office. 

“Both Taylor and Cynthia play a vital role in and have made significant contributions to LCG’s research process. They have worked successfully across the firm to ensure a thorough, sound due diligence process that continues to put our clients’ goals first,” says Edward F. Johnson, president and chief executive officer.

Covey joined LCG in 2007. His consultant responsibilities include investment strategy development, manager due diligence, special research projects and providing investment advice to clients. In his role as co-director of private investments, Covey co-leads LCG’s private investments research as well as due diligence and collaborating with clients to implement their private investment allocations. He serves on LCG’s Investment and Risk Management Committees. Covey began his career in the investment industry as an investment analyst at LCG. 

Covey is a chartered alternative investment analyst (CAIA) charterholder. He graduated from the University of Tennessee with a bachelor’s degree in finance.

Dempsey joined LCG in 2016. Her responsibilities include leading, coordinating and conducting initial and ongoing evaluations of operational policies and procedures of alternative investment managers. She serves on LCG’s Risk Management Committee. Previously, Dempsey was a partner, director of Investor Relations at Bay Point Advisors LLC responsible for leading the marketing and sales activities, including developing new client relationships, creating marketing materials and positioning of the product’s strategy. Prior to working at Bay Point Advisors, Dempsey was a senior portfolio specialist for Fixed Income at Citadel Asset Management and ING Investment Management.  

Dempsey is a CFA charterholder and is a member of the CFA Society of Atlanta. She is also a certified public accountant (CPA). Dempsey graduated with a bachelor’s in accounting from the University of Alabama, where she was a presidential scholar.

Transamerica Adds Workplace Solutions Executives

Transamerica has hired four new client executives in the company’s Workplace Solutions division. Michael Fenton Jr., Randy Johnson, Kristina Lichak and Michael Santangelo cover mid-market defined contribution (DC) retirement plans in various territories across the country.

Fenton is a chartered retirement plan specialist and holds a bachelor’s degree from Assumption College. His territory includes Massachusetts and Connecticut, and he reports to Jamie Swasey, manager of Client Executives.

Johnson joins Transamerica with 25 years of experience in retirement plans and relationship management. He earned his bachelor’s degree from the University of North Texas. He reports to Michele Laffert, senior manager of Client Executives.

Lichak holds a bachelor’s degree from DePaul University in Chicago. Her territory includes Illinois and Indiana and she reports to Scott Noll, senior manager of Client Executives.

Santangelo manages plan relationships in Virginia, Maryland, and Washington, D.C., and reports to Swasey. He is an accredited investment fiduciary and holds a bachelor’s degree from Stephen F. Austin State University.

Southeast Regional Sales Director Joins BPAS

BPAS announced that John Lutz has joined the organization as its regional sales director managing the Southeast territory.

“John brings extensive industry experience to BPAS,” says Elizabeth Kaido, vice president of Sales with BPAS Plan Administration & Recordkeeping Services. “With his demonstrated expertise, combined with our full suite of defined contribution plan offerings, actuarial services, an open architecture HSA and collective investments for advisers, John is well positioned to help us expand our presence in the Southeast region. We’re thrilled to welcome John to the BPAS team.”

“I’m excited to join the BPAS organization. We’re a unique option because our costs are never leveraged by investment selection, and our administration is always integrated across trust, custodian, trading and recordkeeping. These features eliminate so many fiduciary liabilities and day to day recordkeeping headaches; I know business owners are looking for this kind of solution,” Lutz says. “I look forward getting out there to share the BPAS story.”

Lutz is an alumnus of Ohio University and holds a Series 7 License.

LeafHouse Announces COO

LeafHouse Financial has named Chad Brown as chief operating officer.

As COO, Brown’s responsibilities will include national operations and services. Chad will be in charge of company alignment and development strategies to assist our investment offering for industry partners and clients.

Brown has over 20 years of industry experience with Nationwide Financial, Transamerica, and most recently Ascensus. He has managed sales and business activities for retirement recordkeeping services. His experience includes leading teams of retirement professionals. Brown brings to LeafHouse practice management experience focused on portfolio design in the defined benefit (DB) and defined contribution (DC) plan markets.

“Chad will heighten LeafHouse’s credibility and will help enable us to take the next step in our evolution to make a disruptive change in the retirement space,” says Neal Weaver, CEO at LeafHouse. “LeafHouse will expand its next phase of innovation under his guidance.”