People

New York Life Insurance Co. has appointed Frank Boccio executive vice president and chief administrative officer.

Mr. Boccio, 55, will be responsible for individual-policy services, corporate information, corporate services, corporate Internet operations and business resiliency.

He has held a variety of managerial positions at the company, with areas of responsibility including underwriting, claims, customer service, systems, administration and human resources.

Mr. Boccio joined New York Life in 1974 in the group insurance department and was promoted to manager of administrative services in 1980 and assistant vice president in 1984. During the next several years, his responsibilities expanded through a series of promotions and departmental moves, and in 1989, he was promoted to vice president.

In 1995, Mr. Boccio became senior vice president in charge of individual-policy services. In 1998, he was elected chairman of the management advisory council. Two years later, Mr. Boccio was appointed to the executive-management committee. In 2002, he was named chief administrative officer, life and annuity.

Genworth Financial Inc. of Richmond, Va., has promoted Michael Abramowicz to the newly created role of director of practice management for Genworth Financial Securities Corp. in Schaumburg, Ill.

In this new position, Mr. Abramowicz, 38, will focus on working with top representatives at the firm, bringing them ideas and best practices that assist them in accelerating the growth of their businesses.

Mr. Abramowicz, who has more than 15 years’ investment industry experience, will focus his efforts on the unit’s top-tier producers across all sales regions.

He was a national internal-planning specialist at Genworth Financial Securities, which he joined in 2006 after working as an independent financial planner for many years.

Lord Abbett & Co. LLC of Jersey City, N.J., has appointed Marybeth Leithead a portfolio manager on its municipal bond investment team.

Ms. Leithead, 44, has more than 20 years’ financial industry experience, with 16 years focused specifically on the tax-free market as both an analyst and portfolio manager.

At Lord Abbett, she will help develop and implement investment strategy for the firm’s assets, with a focus on the separately managed account area.

Ms. Leithead was a portfolio manager and senior team leader at Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. of New York, responsible for several billion dollars in tax-free assets. Her previous experience also includes the position of portfolio manager of fixed income at Williams Capital Management LLC in New York, and she was director and portfolio manager of fixed income at DLJ Asset Management Group in New York.

TABB Group, a financial-markets-research and strategic-advisory firm in Westborough, Mass., has made Andrew Howieson a partner and member of the executive-management team, with the title of managing director, TABB Group Europe.

Mr. Howieson, 56, a former senior executive with State Street Corp. who has more than 25 years’ experience in the capital markets, will lead TABB Group’s strategic expansion to London and Europe’s financial-market centers.

He joins TABB Group from eSecLending, a Boston-based global-securities-lending manager, where as director of eSecLending (Europe) Ltd. from 2005 to 2007, he developed their European capabilities, managing the London office’s provision of global lending programs to major institutional investors.

Prior to eSecLending, Mr. Howieson worked as a consultant for two years after spending 13 years at Boston-based State Street.

After joining State Street in 1989 to open the Luxembourg office, he was appointed director, global strategy and development, in 1991, responsible for strategic development across the organization. Mr. Howieson formed State Street Information Partnerships in 1995, and in 1998, he formed State Street Advanced Auctions.

D.A. Davidson & Co., a Great Falls, Mont.-based investment firm, has promoted three executives to president of key groups: Jim Kerr, 55, heads the private-client group; Sam Doyle, 60, the fixed-income capital markets group; and Doug Woodcock, 56, the equity capital markets group.

In his new role, Mr. Kerr will assist individual investors and businesses, with a full menu of investment products and services. He has been a senior executive with D.A. Davidson since October 2005.

Mr. Kerr joined the firm with nearly 30 years’ prior financial services and managerial experience, most recently serving as regional manager of private-client services with Wells Fargo & Co. of San Francisco, where he oversaw private banking, investment management, brokerage and the trust company for Washington state.

Mr. Doyle will provide bond sales and trading, public finance and other fixed-income products and services to both individual and institutional clients.

He has been with D.A. Davidson since January 2005, when the firm acquired the fixed-income business of Omaha, Neb.-based Kirkpatrick Pettis Cos., where he had worked since 1991.

He joined Kirkpatrick Pettis after serving in various leadership positions with firms in Denver. Mr. Doyle also serves on Davidson Cos.’ board of directors and works from the firm’s office in downtown Denver.

Mr. Woodcock will run the firm’s investment banking, equity sales, and trading, re-search and corporate-services operations.

He has long been a leader with Davidson Cos., serving on the board of directors, the executive committee and the management council.

Mr. Woodcock was a managing director and principal with Jensen Securities Co. of Portland, Ore., until it was acquired by D.A. Davidson in 1998.

He oversees the firm’s equity capital markets office in Lake Oswego, Ore.

Kanaly Trust Co., a Houston-based wealth management firm, has hired James H. Shelton as chief investment officer.

Mr. Shelton, 40, comes to Kanaly Trust from AIM Investments of Houston. He joined AIM in 2002 as a senior-client portfolio manager for growth equity. From 1999 to 2002, Mr. Shelton was CIO of Caprock Capital Advisors Inc. of Houston, which he co-founded.

He is a chartered financial analyst and holds Series 6, 7, 24 and 63 certifications.

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