Benefits industry newsmakers: Alegeus, ArmadaCare, CFP Board, Pentegra Retirement Services

News from AALU/GAMA, The Rural Broadband Association, Teledoc Health, Carillon Tower Advisors.

News from Collective Health, Mercer Global Advisors, One80 Intermediaries, Actuarial Risk Management, Valkyrie, and more. (Photo: Shutterstock)

These employee benefits and retirement industry professionals will likely mark the year 2020 as one of change, growth and success. Here’s the news that’s crossed our desk lately.

Valkyrie and Actuarial Risk Management (ARM) announced they have formed a strategic alliance. ARM and Valkyrie’s collaboration brings actuaries and data scientists together as an advisory team aimed at offering customers a better means of assessing risk, using data forensics and predictive analytics.

Pentegra Retirement Services announced that Rob Fiorentino and Brian Lynch have joined the organization as Head of the Internal Sales Team and as Regional Director Mid-Atlantic, respectively. Fiorentino spent over 20 years with AllianceBernstein Investments in various roles. Lynch spent the last few years with Franklin Templeton Investments as a Strategic Account Manager.

One80 Intermediaries announced that it has acquired National Underwriting Services. Founded in 1985 and headquartered in the San Antonio, TX area, National Underwriting Services is a specialty underwriter of medical stop loss coverage for self-funded employers across the United States.

NTCA–The Rural Broadband Association and Teladoc Health announced a partnership to bring behavioral health services to more than 40,000 individuals enrolled in NTCA’s Group Health Program (GHP) medical plan.

Mercer Global Advisors announced the acquisition of M.J. Smith and Associates, Inc. in Denver, Colorado. M.J. Smith serves around 490 households, with AUM of approximately $910 million. Mark J. Smith CFP, CPA/PFS, CIMA founded M.J. Smith in 1983 and will be joining Mercer Advisors along with his 11 staff members.

Collective Health has appointed Max Mancini as its Chief Technology Officer, to oversee the company’s software development and technical operations. He joins Collective Health from Automation Anywhere and previously held senior roles at Apple and eBay.

The Board of Directors of Certified Financial Planner Board of Standards, Inc. (CFP Board) announced it has elected Kamila McDonnough, CFP as its 2021 Board Chair-elect. McDonnough is president and partner of GRID 202 Partners, a registered investment advisory firm in Washington, D.C., and North Carolina. Prior to joining GRID 202 Partners, she was a wealth manager with Rutledge Financial Partners and a financial advisor with Dimensional Fund Advisors.

Carillon Tower Advisers announced that it will acquire a financial risk analytics platform from Blaylock Van, and hire industry veteran Steve Singleton as Head of Risk. Singleton, Director of Equities/Quantitative Research at Blaylock Van LLC and Chief Investment Officer at its subsidiary SPI Strategies, and his team, Omur Munoz, Dmitriy Aronov, and Yolanda Dolores will join Carillon.

ArmadaCare announced it has appointed David Miller to Chief Revenue Officer, effective August 17. Miller will oversee sales, channel/partner development, lead generation and account management. He has previously held executive positions at The Zero Card, Emerge Diagnostics, Nueterra Global Alliance, Hospitals International, and Humana.

Alegeus announced a partnership with HealthSherpa, to integrate HealthSherpa’s technology with the WealthCare platform. Employees will access their ICHRA account through the Alegeus platform and use the HealthSherpa exchange platform to search for, purchase and enroll in their health plan.

AALU/GAMA announced that Josh Caron was promoted to vice president of legislative affairs. He succeeds Armstrong Robinson, who took over as senior vice president of government affairs in June. Jennifer Fox was promoted to assistant vice president of political affairs. Caron will lead AALU/GAMA’s advocacy efforts on Capitol Hill. Fox will oversee the political affairs team and the association’s ambassador program.

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