Retirement Industry People Moves

Aaron Reber Is New President of Arden Trust Co.

Aaron Reber

Arden Trust Co., a specialized trust and fiduciary services partner for financial advisers and their clients, announced Aaron Reber as president.

Bringing more than 20 years of leadership experience across trust, fiduciary and wealth management businesses, Reber will lead Arden Trust’s strategic growth initiatives and intends to strengthen its service platform.

Reber joins Arden Trust from Huntington National Bank, where he most recently served as director of wealth management strategy and solutions. Prior to that, he led Huntington’s institutional and personal trust businesses. Earlier in his career, Reber served as a managing director on J.P. Morgan Private Bank’s Global Trusts and Estates leadership team and began his career as a practicing attorney.

Manulife John Hancock Retirement Makes Leadership Updates

Michelle Morey

Michelle Morey has taken on a newly created role, head of business transformation, at Manulife John Hancock Retirement. She will report to CEO Wayne Park.

Nick McParland

Nick McParland was promoted to head of the mid-large segment, Morey’s previous role. He will also report to Park and oversee the relationship management and sales teams for Manulife John Hancock Retirement. McParland previously served as divisional vice president in the mid-large segment, leading the Taft-Hartley sales team, and in the core segment leading the central sales team.

Joe Smith

Separately, Joe Smith, previously sales division vice president, Southeast division, has assumed leadership of Manulife John Hancock Retirement Strategic Partnerships, including those of third-party administrators, broker/dealers, registered investment advisers, aggregator firms and payroll partnerships. Smith will report to Park and fill a role held by Abigail Benham, who has taken a leave of absence.

Anqi Angie Chen Becomes Edelman Director of Institutional Thought Leadership

Anqi Angie Chen

Edelman Financial Engines has named Anqi Angie Chen as director of institutional thought leadership, to lead and build its retirement research capabilities.

Chen previously worked at the Center for Retirement Research at Boston College, where she last served as associate director of savings and household finance.

She earned a bachelor’s degree from the University of California San Diego and a master’s of business administration from Boston College Carroll School of Management.

New York Life Appoints Zhen Zhao as Chief AI Officer

Zhen Zhao

Zhen Zhao was appointed the chief artificial intelligence officer of New York Life Insurance Co. In this role, Zhao will lead the company’s AI strategy, platforms and execution, helping develop AI and data science solutions, including agentic AI and machine learning capabilities.

Most recently, Zhao served as the senior vice president, global head of AI platform at Chubb. Earlier in his career, Zhao held leadership roles at Barclays and Comcast, where he led AI engineering, data platforms and machine learning innovation initiatives.

Zhao also serves as an adjunct associate professor at Temple University. He began his professional career as a software engineer at the People’s Bank of China and earned a Ph.D and master’s degree in computer engineering from Drexel University, as well as a master’s degree in electrical engineering from Sun Yat-sen (Zhongshan) University.

Retirement Plan Advisors Names Caitlin Cunningham as Chief Communications Officer

Retirement Plan Advisors LLC, a registered investment adviser, promoted Caitlin Cunningham to chief communications officer from vice president of marketing and communications.

In her new role, Cunningham will continue to lead RPA’s marketing, communications and brand strategy efforts, overseeing strategic messaging, digital marketing, thought leadership, proposal development, investment reporting, public relations activities and adviser support resources.

RPA serves more than 600 public sector employers with more than 96,000 participants and over $7 billion in plan and individual assets under advisement.