In the wake of the April announcement of its acquisition of the Wells Fargo Institutional Trust business, Principal has announced additions to its Retirement & Income Solutions leadership teams.
Joe Ready, current head of Wells Fargo IRT, is taking a new role as Head of Trust and Chief Fiduciary Officer for Wells Fargo Wealth & Investment Management. Ready will remain connected to the integration of Principal and Wells Fargo IRT, supporting client and employee transitions, according to the announcement.
According to a press release, the incoming Wells Fargo IRT leaders will become part of established leader teams with the Principal Retirement & Income Solutions business headed by Renee Schaaf as president of Retirement & Income Solutions, Jerry Patterson, SVP of Workplace Savings & Retirement Solutions, and Sri Reddy, SVP of Income Solutions.
The following Wells Fargo IRT leaders will assume roles within Principal at appropriate points throughout the integration process, following close:
- Jon Graff, current director of participant services, will be responsible for administration and operations across Workplace Savings & Retirement Solutions.
- Angie McDaniel, current lead for Business Solutions, will lead a new team at Principal, Business Planning and Solutions, for Workplace Savings & Retirement Solutions.
- Brian Jirak, current director of Trust & Custody, will join the Income Solutions leader team and will have responsibility for trust, custody and pension services.
The following individuals will join the Customer Care group in Principal’s Workplace Savings and Retirement Solutions:
- Mary Hollingsworth, current director of product strategy and positioning, will transition to the Customer Care leadership team.
- Marcia Wepfer, current director of relationship management, will transition to the Field Service leadership team.
- Bob Millikin, current head of institutional services for investment contact centers, will join the contact center leadership team.
The following individuals will join the Employer Services and Operations group in Principal’s Workplace Savings and Retirement Solutions:
- Sheila Cox will be responsible for larger plan administration efforts.
- James Rossini will lead operations across Workplace Savings & Retirement Solutions.
The announcement noted that additional leadership appointments will be made post-closing and throughout the transition process, and that further details regarding the leadership structure and integration of the Wells Fargo deferred executive compensation and discretionary asset advisory businesses will be shared in the weeks to come as the two businesses continue to work toward integration.
Principal announced its intention to purchase the Wells Fargo IRT business in early April. Integration planning has been underway since then to allow for a 12 to 18-month transition period to commence following closing of the acquisition, which was expected to double the size of Principal’s U.S. retirement business as measured by the number of total recordkeeping assets.
