NISA Investment Advisors—a top name in liability-driven investing—has made a rare senior hire, CIO has learned.
Mark Fortier, AllianceBernstein’s former head of defined contribution (DC) research and product development, has joined NISA as co-head of its DC Solutions business.
The addition revealed the next business frontier for NISA: retirement income products for US defined contribution plans, a sector still in its infancy.
“We are intellectually curious people,” firm CEO Jess Yawitz told CIO. “But while we have often explored different product ideas, NISA has rarely acted upon any of those musings. It goes without saying that the recent investments we have made in people and resources in the custom target-date fund space signifies our commitment to delivering the innovative, yet practical solutions for clients.”
Fortier is one of few US investment professionals with extensive practical experience wrapping annuity products into DC plans. With AllianceBernstein, he was directly involved in creating a custom retirement income product for United Technologies’ lauded DC program.
In 2010, the US Treasury and Department of Labor requested Fortier’s testimony during a major hearing on lifetime income options for retirement plans. Fortier spoke of the promising potential for creating secure income in target-date portfolios—an idea he’s now charged with implementing at NISA.
“Mark is one of the most senior investment hires we’ve ever made,” NISA Managing Director David Eichhorn said.
The firm has spent the last two years working through options for delivering annuity-style lifetime benefits to the ever-growing population of DC plan members. “While it’s still in early stages of product adoption,” Eichhorn continued, “all stakeholders including the participants themselves agree that ‘income is the outcome.'”
Related Content: What DC Plans Can Learn from DB; The Pension Wars; Jess Yawitz, LDI Guru