Petko to Head Fund Sales For Transamerica Capital
Transamerica Capital has hired Michael Petko as executive vice president, national sales manager for the Transamerica IDEX Mutual Funds.
"Mike brings energy and passion to Transamerica Capital, and I look forward to his leadership in helping us grow our mutual fund business," said Lon Olejniczak, the firm's managing director and chief distribution officer.
Petko was previously with Evergreen Investments as senior vice president and sales manager for the Western Division, in charge of the broker/dealer channel. Before that, he was Evergreen's regional vice president for Southern California. He has also held sales executive positions with Equitable/AXA and Allstate.
"My aim for the Transamerica IDEX brand is to capture a bigger part of financial professionals' mindshare through our product innovation, disciplined investment processes and depth of expertise," Petko said. "Our culture fosters an entrepreneurial spirit, and I specifically want to capitalize on the power of the people behind our funds."
Zargaj Becomes VP at
John Hancock's New Unit
John Hancock has hired Michael Zargaj as vice president, head of product and marketing, in its new division, John Hancock Retirement Income and Rollover Solutions. He reports to Senior Vice President and General Manager David Longfritz. He previously was a senior editor with Standard & Poor's Financial Communications, where he was a member of the senior management team providing marketing tools to client companies. Before that, he was managing editor for Liberty Publishing and also worked for Jones Co., wealth management and financial planning boutique.
"As we develop integrated lifetime income solutions for individuals facing retirement, the product and marketing function is an important one, and we are pleased to have Mike fill that role," Longfritz said. "I have known and worked with Mike for many years and know he has both the product expertise and, importantly, knowledge of the sales process, to be immediately successful in helping us build out product and related marketing systems."
GAMCO Names Mullady
Division President, COO
GAMCO Investors has promoted Agnes Mullady to president and chief operating officer of its closed-end funds division, a newly created position. She will continue to serve as vice president of Gabelli Funds and as treasurer of all of Gabelli's investment companies.
Doug Jamieson, GAMCO president, said, "Agnes' appointment underscores the terrific growth opportunities Gabelli has witnessed in our closed-end fund area, where there are eight funds with assets in excess of $6 billion."
Allen to Help Manage
Another Parnassus Fund
Parnassus Investments has tapped Ben Allen to help manage the Parnassus Fixed Income Fund. As co-portfolio manager, he joins Todd Ahlsten.
"I am very excited for fund shareholders that Ben Allen will be joining me to manage the fund," Ahlsten said. "Ben brings to the table strong analytical skills in both the credit and equity markets that can further expand our portfolio construction opportunities."
Allen began his career at Parnassus as an intern in 2004 and joined fulltime in 2005 as a senior research analyst. He will continue in that role as well as in serving as a portfolio manager for the Parnassus California Tax-Exempt Fund.
Before joining Parnassus, Allen was with the venture capital and the investment banking divisions at Morgan Stanley.
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