BlackRock has hired Nancy Everett as managing director, head of U.S. fiduciary management solutions, a new position. She was previously chief executive officer of Promark Global Advisors, previously known as General Motors Asset Management.
"I am delighted that Nancy will be joining BlackRock," said Laurence Fink, chairman & CEO. "I can attest firsthand that she brings to her new role a wealth of experience and a strong track record in the development of industry leading practices within the public and corporate pension sector. Nancy's background and vision regarding the creation of truly client-centric investment and risk management solutions, including outsourcing, will greatly enhance and further distinguish BlackRock's portfolio offerings for institutional clients."
Prior to joining Promark in 2005, Everett spent 26 years with the Virginia Retirement System, with her last position as chief investment officer of the defined benefit plan.
Natixis Hires Two for Retirement Strategy Group
Natixis Global Advisors has hired two key staff members for its retirement strategy group, completing its plan to round out the unit. Natixis said the hires were critical since retirement-related gross sales are up 24% from a year ago.
Paul M. Davidson and Charles N. Johnson have both joined Natixis as vice president, retirement strategy. In this role, they will work with financial advisers to provide information to plan sponsors and individual investors.
Davidson will cover the South Central region of the nation out of Dallas, while Johnson will serve the Western region out of San Francisco. Both report to Matt Coldren, executive vice president and head of the retirement strategy group. Davidson and Johnson each have more than 17 years of experience in the financial services industry.
"We consider retirement a key component of our overall growth strategy," said David Giunta, president and chief executive officer of Natixis Global Associates. "NGA has participated in segments of the retirement market for many years, and in 2008, we launched a focused growth initiative to strengthen our presence in this rapidly expanding market. This effort has enhanced the diversification of our distribution model and provided consistent net flows."
Coldren added that Natixis has steadily increased its retirement team "to meet the dramatically growing demands of the retirement marketplace."
Delaware Investments Expands Distribution Team
Delaware Investments has added one regional manager and an external wholesaler to its third-party retail distribution team that serves financial intermediaries throughout the country.
Brett Wright, an 18-year veteran of the financial services industry, has joined the company as Western division sales manager, primarily focused on the broker-dealer channel. Wright comes to the firm from ING Investment Management, where he led key accounts in the independent broker-dealer group. Wright has also worked at AXA Equitable, Merrill Lynch and Lord Abbett.
Joining as a wholesaler in the West Virginia/Virginia territory is Alan S. Markfeld, who also hails from ING. His 21-year career spans the financial services arena from banking to insurance to asset management.
"Brett and Alan bring a wealth of experience and a disciplined, process-oriented sales approach to Delaware," said Jeff Klepacki, head of third-party distribution at the firm. "In today's competitive environment, that's an important part of success," Klepacki said.
Confluence Selects Smith As VP of Product Creation
James "Skip" Smith has joined Confluence as vice president of product development, responsible for the management and development of all products in the Confluence Unity fund administration platform.
Smith has more than 20 years of financial services, operations and technology experience and was most recently senior vice president and division chief operating officer at Fiserv. Before that, Smith was a senior technology and operations executive with JPMorgan Chase, a technology management consultant at RSGI and a technical operations leader at PricewaterhouseCoopers.
"Skip Smith has a proved track record of driving results for financial services technology businesses through product innovation," said Kirk Botula, executive vice president and chief operating officer of Confluence. "He is a strong leader whose skills, which include growing financial technology company revenues by extending the value of their products, fit will in our organization."
Former Fairholme Duo Launch GoodHaven Capital
Larry Pitkowsky and Keith Trauner, former portfolio managers at the Fairholme Funds, have formed GoodHaven Capital Management, an investment firm with a go-anywhere mandate. The firm will initially offer separately managed accounts for high-net-worth individuals, institutions and retirement accounts and launch a no-load mutual fund in the second quarter.
"Larry and I are looking forward to a long and profitable partnership with our fellow investors and clients," Trauner said. "We believe that our disciplined and go-anywhere approach will allow us to take advantage of a few carefully chosen opportunities."
