The Principal Financial Group®, one of the nation’s 401(k) leaders1 and total retirement solutions innovator, announces an integrated approach to support retirement plan consultants and independent registered investment advisors (RIAs). Having previously focused on these two channels independently, a unified team now combines the expertise and resources of The Principal to support both consultants and investment advisory firms who service mid-size and large plan markets.
“Although some firms still focus exclusively on one service—plan consulting, provider searches or investment advisory services—many firms have or are developing expertise in all three areas,” said Doug Grove, vice president and national sales director of Retirement Investor Services at The Principal. “In addition, consultants and RIAs would rather work with a limited number of provider relations professionals and they expect those professionals to have broad industry expertise and knowledge. Our unified team is designed to meet the demands of consultants and RIAs and add value to their business.”
The team will focus on three key areas: corporate, non-profit and Taft-Hartley plans and will offer a comprehensive range of solutions including defined contribution, defined benefit, ESOP, non-qualified, investment only and income solutions.
The integrated team is made up of three industry veterans: Chris Blair, Todd Dunaway and Cynthia LeMay; each with more than 20 years of experience in the retirement industry. They will serve as relationship managers for consultants and RIAs, and work closely with sales and service professionals from The Principal located in more than 45 offices nationwide.
“Over the past 18 months, we have worked diligently to build one of the strongest teams in the industry,” said Grove.
The team will be lead by Blair who will also focus on the western region. Before joining The Principal, Blair worked for Union Bank of California in San Francisco as the national sales manager for retirement services. He has also held senior level positions with Charles Schwab & Co.’s retirement business, serving as the national sales director for Corporate and Retirement Services, and as the Western division sales director for New York Life Benefit Services.
Dunaway will focus on the central United States, encompassing the Midwest and South. Dunaway has over 20 years of retirement distribution experience at The Principal. Most recently, he led the company’s RIA practice which brought in over $ 2 billion in assets under management in 2007.
LeMay will focus on the Eastern United States. LeMay was vice president, sales and marketing for Envive, Inc., before joining The Principal. She also worked as senior regional sales manager for Northern Trust Retirement Consulting, where she had significant success in the mid to large institutional retirement sales market. LeMay also held additional senior level positions at Northern Trust including director of Participant Servicing and Defined Benefit manager.
High-quality digital photos of Blair, Dunaway and LeMay are available upon request.
About the Principal Financial Group
The Principal Financial Group® (The Principal ®)2 is a leader in offering businesses, individuals and institutional clients a wide range of financial products and services, including retirement and investment services, life and health insurance, and banking through its diverse family of financial services companies. A member of the Fortune 500, the Principal Financial Group has $311.1 billion in assets under management3 and serves some 18.6 million customers worldwide from offices in Asia, Australia, Europe, Latin America and the United States. Principal Financial Group, Inc. is traded on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker symbol PFG. For more information, visit www.principal.com.