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Guardian Replaces Head of Retirement Sales

Guardian Life has hired industry veteran Stephen Davis to run sales at their retirement plan division, replacing Dale Magner, who departed earlier this year. Most recently Davis was at The Hartford, where he represented their mid market services to advisors. Previously he held a similar position at Smith Barney, until it was merged into CitiStreet and then sold to ING.

Guardian focuses on the under $10 million DC market, selling through advisors and serving plans through TPAs and directly.

Though Guardian has been on a hiring spree over the last few years under Magner, like many providers they have struggled in a market where there is low record keeper turnover. Guardian has the added disadvantage of limited DC assets and plans under management.

Price pressure and low turnover are forcing even the largest DC record keepers to retool, acquire or rethink their sales and marketing strategies. These pressures drove the acquisition of The Harford by MassMutual and John Hancock’s new mid-market product, as well as the proposed move down market by JP Morgan. The hiring of Davis shows that Guardian has not thrown in the towel — which many suspected when Magner left — but no one believes that it's a panacea. Stay tuned to see what Guardian does — as well as other moves in the DC industry’s version of the “Game of Thrones.”

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