Putnam hooks former Hancock, Fidelity execs to boost DC biz

Putnam Investments has tapped former executives from John Hancock Financial Services Inc. and Fidelity Investments to help it expand its defined contribution business. Putnam has hired Jim Brockelman, a former executive vice president of national sales for John Hancock Retirement Plan Services, to head its defined-contribution adviser sales, reporting to Edmund F. Murphy III, managing director and head of defined contribution at Putnam. “We think the adviser-sold market is going to continue to grow and that's why we plan to add more resources there in the fourth quarter,” Mr. Murphy said. Specifically, Putnam plans to hire two more wholesalers dedicated to this market by year-end, he said. That would give the fund firm a total of nine wholesalers. Mr. Brockelman, who has spent the past year as an independent consultant, is taking over the responsibilities of Ben Lewis, who will now oversee the large- to mega-sized plan market, or those plans with more than $150 million in assets. Putnam has also hired Michael MacWade, who until June was senior vice president for client services and operations at Fidelity Institutional Wealth Services. In his new position, Mr. MacWade will oversee client relationships across the defined-contribution business and will report to Mr. Murphy. Putnam also is hiring wholesalers in the investment-only space and plans to increase its wholesaler force from two to 10 by year-end, Mr. Murphy said. Putnam has $17 billion in assets in defined-contribution plans.