LPL Retirement Partners hires new chief

LPL Financial has selected Bryan Hodgens to head up its retirement plan adviser unit, marking the second time in a little over a year that the nation's largest independent broker-dealer has seen a shake-up in the executive ranks at LPL Retirement Partners. Mr. Hodgens, a veteran of Wells Fargo Advisors, where he led the retail retirement sales unit, replaces Bill Beardsley, who left LPL in August. Mr. Beardsley now works at Columbia Threadneedle Investments as a regional vice president covering the Midwest region. An LPL spokesperson didn't immediately return a request for comment on the hire. David Reich, Mr. Beardsley's predecessor, departed as head of Retirement Partners in June 2017. He's currently national president of retirement services at Hub International, overseeing acquisitions of retirement-plan-focused advisory groups. LPL's Retirement Partners division was formed after LPL bought National Retirement Partners, a California-based broker-dealer specializing in retirement plans, in 2010. In addition to executive changes, the Retirement Partners group has seen a number of other changes recently that have led some advisers to suspect the broker-dealer is pulling back a bit from the retirement-plan business, something that LPL executives adamantly deny. The indie B-D announced in May that it would be shutting down its Worksite Financial Solutions 401(k) platform this year. It's also seen a number of advisory firms with substantial retirement business leave within the past two years, including Independent Financial Partners ($9.5 billion), Resources Investment Advisors ($5 billion) and Ingham Retirement Group ($1.8 billion). (More: LPL offers generous recruiting package to rivals at PE-owned broker-dealers)