Frank Moore has joined CPI Qualified Plan Consultants as a retirement plan consultant in the Birmingham, Ala., consulting office. Moore will work with plan sponsors and financial advisers on their qualified and non-qualified retirement plan programs.
Moore has worked in the retirement and financial services industries for 20 years, including a position with a national third-party administration firm, a prominent wirehouse and one of the nation's largest mutual fund companies.
In 2007, Moore served on the Investment Company Institute's Bank, Trust and Recordkeeper Advisory Committee.
Kendall Chance, national sales director, and Christina Gregory, regional manager for the Southeast at CPI Qualified, said, "Frank Moore's presence in the area expands our focus in this important part of the territory, giving us the ability to provide more extensive consulting services to both plan sponsors and financial advisers."
Confluence Promotes Botula to President, Evans to Chair
Confluence promoted Kirk Botula from executive vice president to president. Botula will still retain the function of chief operating officer as well. In addition, Confluence founder Mark Evans has been promoted from president and CEO to chairman and CEO.
Evans said that since Botula joined Confluence in 1995, he has fostered a culture of product innovation, operational excellent and client service.
"Kirk is a proven leader whose strategic insight, operational savvy and commitment to innovation have been indispensable in establishing Confluence as a global leader in fund administration automation," Evans said. "As president and chief operating officer, Confluence will benefit even further from his leadership, talent and experience to execute our plans for product innovation and growth."
In his new role, Evans will continue to drive the strategic vision of Confluence to provide technology innovation and automation, form strategic partnerships to continue Confluence's expansion around the world and raise awareness about the company.
Old Mutual Names Former Legg Mason Exec as CEO
By the end of the month, Peter Bain will take over as president and CEO of Old Mutual Asset Management, a measure that would permanently replace the role left vacant following Tom Turpin's departure in September.
Last fall, the U.S.-based asset management arm of U.K. headquartered Old Mutual disclosed that Turpin had resigned to pursue other opportunities after eight years with the firm. At the time, Old Mutual said that due to the "announcement of [its] intention to instigate a partial initial public offering," Turpin had decided that it was "the right time to pursue other professional and personal interests."
During the interim, Old Mutual Group Chief Executive Julian Roberts awarded day-to-day operations to Chief Operating Officer Linda Gibson until its new CEO was put in place. With Bain's Feb. 22 start date, Gibson will resume her prior executive position at the Boston-based subsidiary.
"This appointment is a key milestone for Old Mutual's growth plans," Roberts said. "We are confident that he has the right qualifications and experience to drive Old Mutual's success and growth strategy."
Such experience can be seen during Bain's 10-year stint at Legg Mason that began in 2000. During his time at the Baltimore-based asset management firm, Bain worked as a senior executive VP and was head of affiliate management and corporate strategy. His tenure ended in 2009.
Also, prior to Legg Mason, Bain was a mergers and acquisitions banker for Berkshire Capital and Merrill Lynch.
LPL Fin'l Attracts Surge Of New Advisors in 4Q
"Thawing" market conditions helped LPL Financial realize a surge in net new advisers in the fourth quarter, and the company is confident it can continue.
The San Diego-based company added 427 advisers in the fourth quarter to give it a total of 12,444. Robert Moore, the company's chief financial officer, said that 206 of those advisers were added as a result of LPL's acquisition of National Retirement Partners, but the 227 net new advisers added organically represent a "very very very good" boost on a quarterly basis.
"We have indicated over time that adding 400 net new advisers annually is a good operating assumption," Moore said. "That translates into 100 per quarter. So, on a quarterly basis, we more than doubled that in the fourth quarter."
Moore said the surge in advisers was caused by "thawing" economic and market conditions.
"Through the first three quarter of last year, the entire industry saw a subdued level of advisers in motion relative to our expectations and previous historic conditions," he said. "But the fourth quarter saw a lot of people coming out of that. Between that, and improvements in our service offering, things came together quite nicely for us in the quarter in terms of attracting advisers." LPL expects to add 100 to 150 net new advisers in the first quarter.
"Based on our pipeline and expectations going forward, we suggest more normalizing conditions," he said.
In its first public earnings results since going public late last year, LPL reported that fourth-quarter net income increased 6.2% from a year earlier to $44.7 million, or 42 cents per diluted share.
