PHILADELPHIA--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Delaware Investments today announced it had added one regional manager and an external wholesaler to its third-party retail distribution team that services financial intermediaries throughout the country. Both started with the firm on January 18, 2011.
Brett Wright, an 18-year industry veteran, joins as the western division sales manager. In this role, Wright manages a dozen wholesalers who are focused on using a consultative sales process to deliver Delaware Investments mutual funds and separately managed accounts primarily to the broker/dealer channel. His extensive financial services background includes both sales and product experience. Most recently at ING Investment Management, Wright led the Key Account efforts in the independent broker/dealer group which was part of ING’s efforts to re-channelize into both a wire/bank channel and independent channel. He was involved in recruiting, training and overseeing top-performing teams as well as cultivating extensive relationships among senior executives at major wire houses. In addition to ING, he has honed his talents at AXA Equitable, Merrill Lynch and Lord Abbett, among other firms.
In addition to honing the group’s consultative sales process, Wright and Bill Presutti, who was recently hired as eastern division sales manager, are charged with aligning key account opportunities with Delaware Investments sales activity through repeatable and measurable processes, and developing an advisor segmentation strategy that partitions advisors by practice type, complexity of their businesses and other nuanced criteria.
Joining the Delaware Investments third-party wholesaling team is Alan S. Markfeld in the West Virginia/Virginia territory. In his most recent position with ING Funds, Markfeld increased sales significantly each year during his six-year tenure with the firm. His 21-year career spans the financial services arena from banking and insurance to asset management.
“Brett and Alan bring a wealth of experience and a disciplined, process-oriented sales approach to Delaware,” said Jeff Klepacki, head of third-party distribution at Delaware Investments. “In today’s competitive environment, that’s an important part of success. Both of these professionals have track records of cultivating exceptional, loyal relationships with their clients and that’s truly paramount for our team.”
About Delaware Investments
Delaware Investments, a member of Macquarie Group, is a U.S.-based diversified asset management firm with more than $150 billion in assets under management (as of Dec. 31, 2010). Through a team of talented investment professionals, the firm manages assets across all major asset classes for a wide range of institutional and individual investors. Delaware Investments is supported by the resources of Macquarie Group (ASX: MQG; ADR: MQBKY), a global provider of asset management, investment, banking, financial and advisory services with approximately US $307 billion in assets under management as of Oct. 29, 2010.
Delaware Investments refers to Delaware Management Holdings, Inc and its subsidiaries, including the Fund’s distributor, Delaware Distributors, L.P. Macquarie Group refers to Macquarie Group Limited and its subsidiaries and affiliates worldwide.
Delaware Investments is not an authorized deposit-taking institution for the purposes of the Banking Act 1959 (Commonwealth of Australia) and its obligations do not represent deposits or other liabilities of Macquarie Bank Limited ABN 46 008 583 542 (MBL). MBL does not guarantee or otherwise provide assurance in respect of the obligations of Delaware Investments.
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