People

MetLife Inc. of New York has promoted Paul A. LaPiana, 39, to senior vice president, from national sales manager for life insurance with Met-Life Investors.

He will report to Gene Lunman, who heads up life and protection solutions for MetLife’s individual business organization.

Conifer Securities of Tortola, British Virgin Islands, has added two executives to its offshore fund administration business, Conifer Fund Services Ltd.

David Bateman, 38, joins as associate director. Previously, he worked at UBS Fund Services (Ireland) Ltd. of Dublin as fund administration manager.

Donna-Maria de Roche, 32, is a new-account manager at Conifer. She most recently worked for five years at Fortis Prime Fund Solutions (BVI) Ltd., also based in Tortola, where she administered funds with varying legal structures and investment strategies.

Sentinel Financial Group of Reading, Mass., has promoted two key staff members.

Adam C. Pozek, 37, previously vice president of consulting services, is now vice president of retirement services.

In his new role, he will supervise the firm’s retirement administration, documents and consulting departments, and their training efforts.

Samuel R. Mitchell, 30, most recently vice president of operations, is now vice president of operations and technology. He will be responsible for synchronizing Sentinel’s technology with the firm’s strategic goals, putting particular emphasis on systems and projects that will be of value to clients.

Mr. Mitchell will oversee the firm’s health and welfare services department, information technology, operations, daily-trading team and retirement plan distribution team.

Penn Mutual Life Insurance Co. of Horsham, Pa., has appointed David M. O’Malley, 36, executive vice president.

He is responsible for the company’s offering of competitive life and annuity products, the services provided to Penn Mutual customers and producers by life and annuity services, information management and technology, and the company’s project management office.

Mr. O’Malley joined Penn Mutual’s investment department in 1994 and has been responsible for many facets of the company’s investment strategy. He has served as chief risk officer and senior vice president for product management.

Stanford Group Co. of Houston has hired William S. Decker, 43, as managing director of investments in its Nash-ville, Tenn., office.

Previously, he worked with New York-based U.S. Trust Bank of America Private Wealth Management, where he was senior vice president.

Mr. Decker also has served as a senior vice president with New York-based Morgan Stanley in both Nashville and Palo Alto, Calif.

Stanford Group is a member of the Stanford Financial Group, a global network of financial services companies.

The Financial Planning Standards Board Ltd. of Denver has selected Karen Schaeffer, 54, to serve on its board.

She is the most recent chairman of the Washington-based Certified Financial Planner Board of Standards Inc.

Ms. Schaeffer will be joined on the board by Radha Gouri “Prem” Govender, 51, chairman of the Financial Planning Institute of Southern Africa in Weltevredenpark, South Africa, and Jane Wheeler, 58, immediate past president of the Institute of Financial Planning Ltd. in Bristol, England.

The Financial Planning Standards Board develops and operates certification, education and related programs for financial planning organizations in various countries.

Research Edge LLC of New Haven, Conn., has hired Rebecca Runkle, 41, as its head technology sector research analyst and managing director.

Previously, she worked at Arience Capital Management LP of New York, where she was a senior research analyst, leading the firm’s coverage of the information technology and consumer industries.

Ms. Runkle was also a managing director at New York-based Morgan Stanley, where she spent more than a decade following a broad spectrum of industries, including aerospace and defense, consumer, enterprise systems and PC hardware.

Old Mutual Asset Management of Boston has hired Sanford Brown, 36, as director of alternative investments.

He will be responsible for client service, business development and marketing of the company’s alternative-investment capabilities. Mr. Brown initially will focus on the fund-of-hedge-funds and registered-fund capabilities of Larch Lane Advisors LLC, a New York-based Old Mutual affiliate.

Previously, he worked at Frankfurt, Germany-based Deutsche Bank Absolute Return Strategies as vice president and head of hedge fund distribution, and helped raise more than $2 billion in new assets across multimanager and single-manager hedge fund strategies.

LifeYield LLC, a Boston-based technology provider to wealth management firms and financial advisers, has hired Jack Sharry, 56, as executive vice president of advanced wealth management solutions.

He will lead the development of LifeYield’s strategy regarding product and program development and marketing, as well as play an active role in business development.

Mr. Sharry has held senior positions in sales and marketing, product development and distribution strategies for several leaders in retirement income services, including The Phoenix Cos. Inc., Putnam Investments and Morgan Stanley.

He is chairman of the Washington-based Money Management Institute’s retirement solutions committee and a columnist on retirement income issues for On Wall Street magazine.

NewOak Capital, an advisory, asset management and capital markets firm based in New York, has hired David Bigelow, 50, as managing director of marketing, covering institutional clients such as pension funds, public funds, endowments, private equities and financial institutions.

Mr. Bigelow, who has 22 years’ experience in the investment field, previously served as product manager for the collateralized debt obligations program at the Clinton Group, also based in New York. He handled negotiations, structuring, marketing and investor relations for asset-backed securities and corporate CDOs.

M Financial Group of Portland, Ore., has hired Ken Ehinger, 54, as president and chief executive of M Holdings Securities Inc.

He will oversee all aspects of M Financial’s broker-dealer.

Mr. Ehinger is the founder of KRE Strategic Counselors of Richmond, Vt., which provides strategic-development and growth strategies for financial services companies, associations and wealth management practices.

Related Topics: People