Retirement Industry People Moves

Art by Subin Yang

American Century Selects Chief Marketing Officer

American Century Investments has named Erik Schneberger as chief marketing officer (CMO) for the global asset management firm. In this new role, Schneberger will lead the teams currently responsible for channel marketing, brand, marketing operations, value-add, client events, corporate communications and digital.

Schneberger reports to American Century Chief Client Officer Joe Schultz, and is based in New York.

“Erik brings significant industry experience and a track record of success to his role as CMO,” says Schultz. “Throughout his career, he’s demonstrated leadership in brand and digital strategy, an ability to develop quality teams and a strong understanding of client needs in this dynamic space. Erik will lead efforts to build upon our success aligning firm-wide marketing resources with our client relationship and engagement activities.”

Prior to joining American Century Investments, Schneberger served as head of marketing for OppenheimerFunds. In that role, he reshaped brand strategy and the marketing function’s operating rhythm to better support the firm’s outcomes. His responsibilities included brand strategy, advertising, digital strategy, creative services, public relations, client insights and channel marketing. His various teams focused on promoting the firm’s thought leadership and investment strategies across retail, high net worth and institutional channels. 

Before his tenure at OppenheimerFunds, Schneberger oversaw the digital, creative, multimedia and marketing operations functions at Neuberger Berman. Previously, he was the head of digital strategy for OppenheimerFunds. Earlier in his career, he served in several roles across the financial services and management consulting industry with GE Money, BearingPoint and AON Hewitt. Schneberger earned his master’s degree from the University of Connecticut and his bachelor’s in computer information systems from the Indiana University Kelley School of Business.

GW&K Adds Members to Advisory Team

GW&K Investment Management (GW&K) announced a key promotion and addition to its advisory sales team.  

Brian King has been promoted to vice president, national sales manager at the firm, and Charles Kace has been hired as vice president, relationship manager, national accounts. “These appointments demonstrate our commitment to strategic partnerships with both advisers and clients,” says Thomas Powers, co-president of GW&K.

A veteran sales and relationship manager, King manages the sales efforts for GW&K’s advisory business channel and has had a long tenure with the firm.  Most recently, he was responsible for new business development and relationship management on the national accounts team. Previously, he spent several years at AMG Funds, LLC, where he was a senior portfolio specialist with a focus on GW&K Strategies. Prior to AMG Funds, he had spent seven years as a GW&K regional sales director responsible for new business development in the Midwest region. King graduated from the College of the Holy Cross with a bachelor’s degree. He has also earned the CFA designation.

Kace joins the firm as a member of GW&K’s national accounts team, where he is responsible for relationship management.  He began his career at Eaton Vance Distributors, Inc., where he held a variety of positions over 14 years.  Most recently, Kace was an intermediary regional sales consultant at Robert W. Baird where he was responsible for developing relationships for the eastern U.S. Kace earned a bachelor’s degree from Ohio University.  He also holds the Series 6, 7, 63 and 65 licenses with FINRA. 

Alight Solutions Announces New Partnerships EVP

Julie Devine has joined as Alight Solutions as executive vice president of Strategic Channels & Partnerships.

Devine will lead a team responsible for building stronger commercial relationships and new go-to-market alliances. This includes broker and carrier communities and partners such as Workday, Cornerstone, Wipro, retirement advisers, third party evaluators, industry analysts, and the firms in Alight’s Partner Network. Most recently Devine served as head of client success and strategic partnerships at Maxwell Health/Sun Life Financial Services. Earlier in her career, she worked at Highroads, a SaaS startup offering health plan product management services to large businesses. Prior to that, Devine was a human resources (HR) consultant at Mercer.

T. Rowe Price Builds Up Target-Date Team

T. Rowe Price has announced transitions in its Multi-Asset division.

Jerome Clark, CFA, who co-manages T. Rowe Price’s multi-asset target-date strategies, will step away from day-to-day portfolio management effective as of January 2021. Following this 15-month transition period, Clark will remain with the firm and focus on strategic initiatives for the Multi-Asset division and target-date franchise. He will continue as a member of the firm’s Multi-Asset Steering Committee and will remain on the Asset Allocation Committee through January 1, 2021. Clark has spent his investment career at T. Rowe Price and was the first portfolio manager of T. Rowe Price’s target-date funds when the firm’s Retirement Funds launched in 2002. He joined the company in 1992 and a quantitative analyst in the Fixed Income division and later served as portfolio manager of the U.S. Treasury Long-Term Bond Strategy from 1998 through 2003.

Wyatt Lee, CFA, co-portfolio manager of the firm’s multi-asset target date strategies with Clark, will become head of Target Date Strategies, a new role with oversight of the full target-date team, effective October. Lee has worked as a target-date portfolio manager since 2013 and specifically as co-portfolio manager of the Retirement Funds since 2015.  He also serves on the firm’s Multi-Asset Steering Committee and its Asset Allocation Committee. Lee has 22 years of investment experience, 20 of which have been with T. Rowe Price.

Kim DeDominicis will be promoted to portfolio manager of the target-date portfolios, reporting to Lee, effective October 2019. She has been an associate portfolio manager of the target-date portfolios since 2015 and a member of the Multi-Asset Division since 2007. DeDominicis has 20 years of investment experience and 19 years with T. Rowe Price. She will also continue as lead manager of T. Rowe Price’s College Savings Plan investment portfolios.

Andrew Jacobs van Merlen, CFA, will join the target-date team as a portfolio manager, also reporting to Lee, effective January 2020. Jacobs van Merlen is currently an associate portfolio manager in the Multi-Asset Division. He has 16 years of investment experience and 19 years with T. Rowe Price.

These new roles are an extension of the investment the Multi-Asset Division has made to the functions supporting the firm’s target-date portfolios over the last several years, including the growth of the group’s multi-asset investment analyst, technology, research and development, portfolio specialist, and analyst teams.

Wells Fargo Board of Directors Names CEO and President

The Board of Directors of Wells Fargo & Company has named Charles Scharf as the company’s chief executive officer and president, and a member of the Board of Directors, effective October 21. Scharf was chairman and CEO of Bank of New York Mellon. 

In March, the board appointed C. Allen Parker as interim CEO and president and a member of the board. Parker will continue to serve in these roles until Scharf joins the company, and will thereafter support the transition as a key member of the company’s leadership team and general counsel.

Prior to his role at BNY Mellon, Scharf was CEO of Visa, Inc., and before that, was managing director of One Equity Partners, the private investment arm of J.P. Morgan Chase & Co. He also served as chief executive officer of Retail Financial Services at J.P. Morgan Chase and chief executive officer of the retail division of Bank One Corp. Scharf has been CFO of Bank One Corp., CFO of the Global Corporate and Investment Bank division at Citigroup, and CFO of Salomon Smith Barney.

Scharf will continue to be located in New York. He serves on the Board of Directors of Microsoft Corporation. Scharf is also a member of the Business Council, Chairman of the New York City Ballet and a member of the Board of Trustees for Johns Hopkins University.