Benefits industry newsmakers: Wise Rhino Group, AIG, BerniePortal, TIAA

The employee benefits industry saw new policies, partnerships, promotions, and more in late 2018. Think there’s no good news/? There is in employee benefits. Read on.

Non-profit health system Advocate Aurora Health in Illinois and Wisconsin announced it is increasing its minimum wage to $15/hour by early 2021, with plans calling for $13/hr in mid 2019 and $14/hr in early 2020. More information will come in Spring 2019 in advance of the planned increase.

American International Group (AIG) announced a new surrogacy reimbursement benefit and an enhanced adoption benefit for its U.S. employees effective January 1, 2019:

• AIG will reimburse up to $13,800 of eligible surrogacy-related expenses per child.
• AIG also will increase its adoption reimbursement per child from $7,500 to $13,800.
• The combined lifetime maximum reimbursement amount per employee under the new program is $27,600, which represents a total maximum reimbursement for two adoptions, or two surrogacy arrangements, or one adoption and one surrogacy arrangement.

Assurance, a Top 50 U.S. insurance brokerage, announced the hiring of Greg Sand as a Vice President with a focus on the transportation industry. He will work out of Assurance’s downtown Chicago office. He brings over 16 years of insurance experience and six specializing in transportation.

BerniePortal, the all-in-one HR software platform for small and mid-sized employers, announced it added 86 brokerage partners and more than 15 new integration partners in 2018. It also announced the addition of several new integration partners, including Indeed, MetLife, UnitedHealthcare, InfoArmor, Paycor and Proliant.

CBIZ, a provider of financial and employee business services, announced the hiring of Ellen Boade as Vice President of EFL Associates, expanding the firm’s presence in Denver talent management market. EFL Associates, a CBIZ company, specializes in retained executive search.

Eagle Asset Management, an affiliate of Carillon Tower Advisers and a global provider of equity and fixed-income products for institutional and individual investors, announced that James Camp has been named Managing Director of Strategic Income. His current role includes Portfolio Manager of the Strategic Income Portfolio (SIP) and Portfolio Manager of the Vertical Income Portfolio (VIP), and he continues as Managing Director of Fixed Income.

Go2solution, an insurtech company, announced the appointment of Dimitri Wulich as Chief Operating Officer. He has over 20 years of international experience in financial, insurance and reinsurance sectors. He held holding senior leadership positions at Swiss Re in Risk and Asset Management domains.

Gryphon Investors, a San Francisco-based middle-market private equity firm, announced it has completed the sale of its portfolio company Orchid Underwriters Agency, LLC to TowerBrook Capital Partners L.P. Gryphon initially invested in the Company in November 2014, and will maintain a significant equity position in the Company post-closing. Financial terms of the transaction were not disclosed.

Hotchkiss Insurance, a full-service independent agency, has expanded its employee benefits division with the addition of Chris Hamilton as the employee benefits practice leader and Natalie Cooper as an account executive. They will be based in the Dallas office.

• Hamilton will direct the organization’s employee benefits practice, maintaining best-in-class service standards, while developing additional capabilities.
• Cooper serves clients as a strategic resource in managing their employee benefit programs.

Mercer Advisors, a national RIA, acquired McDermott Advisory Group in Wilmington, Delaware. It has more than $150 million AUM, approximately 150 clients, and was founded in 2006 by Daniel M. McDermott.

Mercer Advisors acquired Bell Wealth Management, a Texas-based RIA firm headed by Colin Bell. Bell serves approximately 125 households with assets under management (AUM) of $200 million. This acquisition brings Mercer Advisors’ total offices to 37 and increases AUM to $15 billion.

The National Association of Plan Advisors announced its inaugural list of Top Women Advisors. More than 500 nominations were provided by NAPA’s extensive list of broker-dealer and RIA Firm Partners. Nominees were asked to respond to a series of quantitative and qualitative questions. Those responses were anonymized and then reviewed by a blue-ribbon panel of industry experts who selected the individuals honored in three separate categories: All-Stars, Captains, and Rising Stars. The list is available at the NAPA site.

The National Association of Plan Advisors announced its list of the nation’s Top Defined Contribution (DC) Advisor Teams. This year’s list, which focuses on firms with at least $100 million in AUA, represents more than $640 billion in DC assets under advisement. The coincident publication of the Top Multi-Office DC Firms highlights the nearly $2 trillion in AUA, more than 187,000 plans supported and more than 25 million participants supported by the actions of these firms. The list is available at the NAPA site.

Standard Insurance Company and Portland State University School of Business announced that Amaradri Mukherjee, assistant professor of Marketing, has been selected to receive The Standard PSU Professorship in Analytics. The professorship is funded by The Standard over the next five years and includes support for applied research.

TIAA announced that United World College-USA, in conjunction with LongView Asset Management, LLC, has adopted a new default investment for their retirement plan with special consideration to environmental, social and governance (“ESG”) criteria. UWC-USA is the first TIAA client to use the Custom Portfolios Model Service to create a socially responsible set of models.

United Benefit Advisors an independent employee benefits advisory organization, welcomed Resecō Insurance Advisors, LLC as a partner. Founded by Greg Prentice, Paul Lee and Todd Newton, with the addition of Steve Hanrahan and Steve Tusa, Resecō Insurance Advisors joins a network of employee benefits advisory firms that serve employers of all sizes across the United States, Canada, England, and Ireland.

United Benefit Advisors welcomed JP Griffin Group as a partner. Founded by a 27+ year veteran of the employee benefits industry, JP Griffin Group is headed by Jeff Griffin. JP Griffin Group is a national employee benefit consulting firm specializing in the design, implementation and management of complex multi-site, multi-state employee benefit

Versant Health, a national managed eye health and vision plan company, partnered with Transitions Optical to create a Vision Loss Simulator. With this tool, viewers can see through the eyes of someone living with glaucoma, cataract, diabetic retinopathy, presbyopia, glare, and macular degeneration and can learn how to prevent eye disease later in life.

Voluntary Disruption, a division of Silverman Benefits Group, a carrier-agnostic independent enhanced benefits firm with a large national footprint announced the hiring of 17-year industry veteran Misty Fussell. Fussell is based out of Columbus, GA. As Senior Account Manager, reporting directly to founder-owner Eric Silverman (eric@voluntarydisruption.com), Fussell will work closely with Voluntary Disruption’s adviser partners and group benefits clients.

Willis Towers Watson, a global advisory, broking and solutions company, announced the appointment of Steve Allan to lead its M&A Advisory and Solutions business within the company’s global Human Capital and Benefits segment. Allan takes over this role having served as M&A leader, U.K. and Western Europe, for the past eight years, as well as leading the company’s Global Services and Solutions (GSS) business in Great Britain since 2016.

Three 401k industry veterans with a combined financial services experience of 85 years have formed Wise Rhino Group — the “advisor’s advisor.” Dick Darian, Bob Francis and Adam Sokolic chose the firm’s name as a symbol of strength, determination and steady intent. In addition, Wise Rhino Group recently announced the hiring of Tom Dickson, formerly the director of the Atlantic Region at 401(k) Advisors.

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