Benefits industry newsmakers: HERO, IRIC, OneDigital, Origin

Change is a constant in the employee benefits and retirement industry, though it might not seem that way to those in the middle of it. But observing and reporting from the periphery, I can see the energy of companies and people moving, evolving, growing. Here’s a sampling of recent industry news about acquisitions, awardwinners and new hires.

Virgin Pulse, a provider of tech-enabled wellbeing solutions, announced its intent to acquire Denver-based consumer activation company, Welltok. The company says that Welltok brings a broad portfolio of clients and capabilities and complements Virgin Pulse’s digital-first platform with its database and additional communication channels.

Vestwell, a cloud-based digital recordkeeping platform, announced it hired Rob Molchon as its Chief Technology Officer and promoted Ryan Anderson to Chief Product Officer. Both roles will report directly to the firm’s CEO, Aaron Schumm.

• Molchon was previously the Senior Vice President of Engineering at Integral Ad Science. Molchon will be taking over duties for Vestwell’s previous CTO, John Skovron, who will be retiring in 2022.
• Anderson joined Vestwell in 2019 as the firm’s senior vice president of product and design and is responsible for leading and facilitating Vestwell’s product roadmap. Prior to that, he was the Chief Product Officer at Advizr.

Quantum Health, a consumer health care navigation and care coordination company, recently announced its new CEO Zane Burke. He assumes the role from Quantum Health founder and CEO Kara Trott, who continues in her leadership role as Board Chair. Burke was most recently CEO of Livongo Health.

Origin, a financial wellness provider, announced that it has hired Chad Schneider as head of broker partnerships. Schneider joins from Jellyvision, where he was the VP of strategic alliances for the SaaS employee communication platform. Previously, he was the chief sales officer at Code SixFour and was a group manager for Aflac Broker Sales.

OneDigital Investment Advisors, a registered investment advisor focused on corporate retirement plans, announced Saumen Chattopadhyay as its chief investment officer. In this new role, Chattopadhyay will lead OneDigital’s portfolio management and due diligence team. Most recently, he was the chief investment officer of the Carson Group.

The Institutional Retirement Income Council (IRIC), a non-profit think tank for the retirement income planning community, recently announced the appointment of Michelle Richter as executive director. Ms. Richter, a 20-year retirement industry veteran, becomes IRIC’s second executive director and succeeds Robert Melia, who is retiring. Ms. Richter is the founder of Fiduciary Insurance Services, LLC, a strategic consultancy and Registered Investment Adviser, and will continue in that role.

The Health Enhancement Research Organization (HERO) recognized outstanding contributions by workplace professionals within the health and well-being industry during the HEROForum21 annual conference:

• Bill Whitmer Leadership Award: Ray Fabius, MD, co-founder of HealthNEXT.
• Mark Dundon Research Award: Rachel Henke, PhD, Senior Director of Research at IBM Watson Health.
• Jerry Noyce Executive Health Champion Award: Joseph Kenner, MBA, President and CEO of Greyston.
• Heart of HERO Award: Julie Andrews, Global Wellness and Special Projects Manager at HP.
• Healthy HERO Award: Rebecca Orenstein, Director of Operations for Graduate Medical Education at UPMC.

READ MORE:

• Benefits industry newsmakers: Buck, MedEncentive, CareFirst, MedStar Health, Cigna, Evernorth, Definiti, andros, CloudPay
• Benefits industry newsmakers: ARA, CFP Board, DPL Financial Partners, Employee Navigator
• Benefits & retirement newsmakers: ARA, Cigna, HUB, Lockton Dunning Benefits, Mercer Global Advisors, Sun Life Financial