PBGC Director Nominee Approved by Senate Committee

Hartogensis renominated by Trump after previous attempt stalled.

Gordon Hartogensis
















The Senate Finance Committee has approved Gordon Hartogensis to be director of the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation (PBGC) after his first nomination was stalled and sent back to President Trump when the 2018 legislative session ended without a formal vote on the appointment.

The nomination was approved by a vote of 26 to 2, with the two nay votes coming from Democratic Sens. Debbie Stabenow of Michigan and Bob Menendez of New Jersey. Among the senators voting to approve the appointment was Democratic Sen. Ron Wyden of Oregon, who had previously criticized the nomination of Hartogensis, and the move to replace former PBGC Director Thomas Reeder, whose term was not up until 2020.

Wyden, along with Democratic Sen. Patty Murray of Washington, sent a letter to President Trump saying the nomination “raised serious concerns,” and said Hartogensis “seems to have little to no prior experience relevant to the pension system and the work of the PBGC.” 

In the letter, the senators asked the Trump administration to answer questions such as:  How was the decision made to replace Mr. Reeder? What actions did the administration determine merited replacing Mr. Reeder prior to the end of his five-year term? Did the administration consider any other nominees before selecting Mr. Hartogensis? And what experience or qualifications led the administration to pick Mr. Hartogensis over other candidates?

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In addition to concerns about a lack of relevant experience, the nomination was also criticized for smacking of nepotism as Hartogensis is the brother-in-law of both Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, a Kentucky Republican, and Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao. He has been managing trustee of the Hartogensis Family Trust since 2011, and was CEO and co-founder of software company Auric Technology from 2004 to 2011.

Wyden’s office did not respond to requests for a comment in time for the deadline of this article. The Hartogensis nomination next goes before the Senate’s Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions.

Related Stories:

PBGC Director Nominee Gets Kicked Back to Trump

https://www.congress.gov/nomination/116th-congress/150?s=4&r=400

https://www.pbgc.gov/about/pg/contact/contact

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People Moves Roundup

Liberty Mutual gets a new branch executive, BNY Mellon hires a new chief risk officer, and more.

Liberty Mutual Names Kelly Proctor Branch Executive for Mid-Atlantic Region

Liberty Mutual has named Kelly B. Proctor as branch executive in the Mid-Atlantic region. Proctor will partner with key brokers in her territory to provide a broad range of commercial and specialty insurance coverage from Liberty Mutual and Ironshore.  She will report to David Russo, senior vice president, Mid-Atlantic regional executive. 

Most recently, Proctor was regional sales manager with AmTrust North America, where she was responsible for the development and expansion of its regional distribution channel of retail agencies within Virginia and eastern North Carolina.   

Previously, Proctor served with Westfield Insurance for more than seven years as an agency specialist, and a senior middle market underwriter.

BRG Appoints Two Senior Economic and Financial Experts to Expand Presence in Singapore

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Global consulting firm Berkeley Research Group announced the appointment of Dr. Peter Bird as a managing director. He will focus on providing expert evidence on economic and financial issues in international arbitration and will be based in Singapore as the firm expands its presence in Southeast Asia.

BRG also announces the relocation of Tigran Ter-Martirosyan, a director, to the Singapore office from London.

A Ph.D. economist and economic consultant by training, Bird pursued a distinguished 25-year investment banking career with an international financial advisory group, rising to executive vice chairman and specializing in M&A advisory, with a particular focus on infrastructure, utilities, and energy. Based in Singapore for over a decade, he joins BRG from a global economic consulting firm, where he acted as an expert in international arbitrations involving M&A and private equity disputes, joint venture disputes, and disputes relating to large infrastructure projects and their financing.

Ter-Martirosyan is a business valuation and forensic accounting expert. His experience spans valuations and damages assessments in international arbitration and litigation across a broad range of industries; and valuations for the purposes of mediation, expert determination, M&A, financial reporting, restructuring, fairness opinions, management incentive schemes, and tax.

HGGC Promotes 10, Hires Five Following Strategic Investment

HGGC announced several promotions and new hires in the wake of receiving a strategic investment from Dyal Capital Partners.

The HGGC team members promoted to partner include Les Brown, John Block, Steven Leistner, Harv Barenz, and Lance Taylor.

Other promotions include Kurt Krieger, who has been promoted from general counsel to chief legal officer; Jay Tabu, from vice president to principal; Chris Schulze from senior associate to vice president, Peter Cozzi from associate to senior associate; and Neha Vaidya from associate to senior associate.

New additions to HGGC include Greg Caltabiano and Lindsay Sparks as executive directors; Mo Gulamhusein, vice president; Holland Reynolds, investment associate; and Chandni Shah, fund accountant in the operations team.

Senthil Kumar Joins BNY Mellon as Chief Risk Officer

BNY Mellon has appointed Senthil Kumar as senior executive vice president and chief risk officer.

Kumar, who will join the company in July, will report to Charlie Scharf, chairman and chief executive officer. He will join the executive committee.

In this position, Kumar will oversee the firm’s credit risk, operational risk, market risk, and compliance functions.

Kumar joins BNY Mellon from Citigroup, where he has held a number of risk leadership positions since 2004. He succeeds Jim Wiener, who moves into a new role as head of balance sheet and capital strategy.

Investcorp Announces Leadership Change in its US Credit Management Unit

Investcorp announced that John Fraser, head of Investcorp’s US credit management unit (ICM US), is retiring and Jim Feeley will be stepping in as co-head of ICM US.

Fraser joined Investcorp as part of the firm’s acquisition of 3i’s debt management business in 2017 and has since led the integration and build out of Investcorp credit management in the US. As part of the transition, Fraser will continue to serve as an adviser to ICM US over the next year. 

Based in New York, Feeley will co-head the ICM US business and will report to Jeremy Ghose, who will assume the duties of interim co-head of ICM US as part of the transition, in addition to his role as head of Investcorp credit management.

Feeley joins Investcorp with more than 25 years of experience in credit investing, asset management and investment banking. Most recently, he was a senior managing director and head of credit and structured credit at Medley Management Inc.

 

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