Charlie Nelson, who led the retirement business of Great-West through its integration with Empower Retirement, will join Voya Financial as CEO of Retirement on May 1.
In his new role, the 54-year-old Nelson will oversee Tax-Exempt and Corporate Markets and Retail Wealth Management, which comprise the company's workplace and individual retirement businesses, including 401(k), 403(b) and 457 plans and IRAs. He will report to Alain Karaoglan, Voya Financial's chief operating officer, and join the company's Executive Committee.
Nelson joined Great-West Financial in 1983 and was appointed president of its Retirement Services division in 2008 after serving as the unit’s senior vice president since its inception. Under his leadership, Great-West Financial has grown from the 38th largest record keeper in 1995 to a top-tier retirement plan provider.
Last year the combination of Great-West, Putnam and J.P. Morgan Retirement Plan Services’ large-market record keeping business created a record keeping behemoth, serving nearly 7 million DC participants and more than $400 billion in plan assets, the second-largest record keeper in the nation. In October 2014, the combined entity rebranded as Empower.
Tax-Exempt Markets president Carolyn Johnson, Large Corporate Markets/Retail Wealth Management president Richard Linton and Small/Mid Corporate/Institutional Investment Markets president Richard Mason will report to Nelson. Additionally, Voya COO Alain Karaoglan will serve as CEO of Retirement and Investment Solutions in addition to his COO responsibilities. Jeffrey Becker, CEO of Voya Investment Management, will continue to report to Karaoglan. Johnson will also report to Karaoglan in her role as president of Annuities.
According to a press release, last year Voya's Retirement segment accounted for approximately 40% of the company’s operating earnings.
Nelson’s departure from Great West comes as no surprise to many industry insiders who thought that he and Putnam CEO Bob Reynolds, who took over at Great-West after the JP Morgan acquisition, would have trouble coexisting. The chances of Nelson moving on only increased once Ed Murphy, a longtime associate of Reynolds, was put in charge of Empower-Retirement, with Nelson reporting to him.
Nelson at Voya makes perfect sense as they almost mirror the product and market set that Nelson built with great success at Great-West, including small market 401(k) plans and large market 457 and 403(b) plans. Many speculated that Nelson was in the running to take over when Voya announced that it would go public and Maliz Beams was hired in 2011 from TIAA-CREF. With Beams’ recent departure, Voya has selected what looks to be the perfect person to lead the organization, which struggled after the acquisition of CitiStreet in 2008 and later been distracted with their IPO and divestiture from their Dutch parent.
Like Reynolds, who built Fidelity’s retirement business and left to make his mark at Putnam after it became clear that Abby Johnson would be taking over at Fidelity, Nelson would like nothing more than to help Voya reestablish itself and become a formidable competitor to his old company. Stay tuned.
