NEWARK, N.J.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Prudential Financial, Inc. (NYSE: PRU), announced that Phil Waldeck has been named President and Chief Executive Officer of Prudential Retirement, a division of Prudential Financial, Inc., effective June 5. He succeeds Christine Marcks, who has informed the company of her decision to retire after more than 13 years of distinguished service, 10 of which were in the role of President and CEO.
“Under Chris’s leadership, Prudential Retirement created a talent-centered, customer-focused culture that has inspired and created significant business growth and innovation, resulting in greater retirement security for a growing market,” Steve Pelletier, chief operating officer of Prudential’s U.S. Businesses, said. “Phil is a passionate advocate for retirement security who will build on Prudential Retirement’s impressive momentum to address unmet financial needs for both institutions and individuals, including increased access to workplace benefit programs and deeper engagement with participants.”
Waldeck, who has more than 30 years of experience, joined Prudential in April 2004 as part of its acquisition of Cigna’s retirement business. He currently leads Prudential Retirement’s Investment & Pension Solutions business, which had $185 billion in Institutional Investment Products account values as of March 31, 2017. While at Prudential, he has spearheaded institutional product innovation efforts both domestically and internationally across the pension risk transfer, longevity reinsurance, structured settlements and stable value businesses.
Yanela Frias will succeed Waldeck as head of Investment & Pension Solutions. Frias was most recently Prudential Retirement’s head of Structured Settlements. She also previously served as Prudential Annuities’ Chief Financial Officer. In March, she was named one of the 50 Most Powerful Latinas in public companies by the Association of Latino Professionals For America, as published by FORTUNE magazine.
Under Marcks’ leadership, Prudential Retirement broadened its customer reach across the country and strengthened its product offerings as it completed two acquisitions, became a market leader in Stable Value investing and in pension de-risking solutions, and pioneered guaranteed income products in workplace retirement plans.
Biographies
Phil Waldeck
Under Phil Waldeck’s leadership, Prudential was the architect of two landmark pension buy-outs in the U.S. with General Motors ($25 billion) and Verizon ($8 billion), as well as the nation’s first pension buy-in with Hickory Springs. Additionally, Waldeck’s team executed the breakthrough $28 billion reinsurance transaction covering longevity risk from the BT (British Telecom) Pension Scheme (Plan), as well as international longevity reinsurance transactions covering pensions from Rolls Royce, British Airways and over 100 other U.K. pension plans.
Prior to his current role, Waldeck led Prudential Retirement’s Products & Advisory Services group. Before joining Prudential, Phil spent the first 20 years of his career in the Full Service recordkeeping business.
Phil earned a bachelor’s degree, magna cum laude, from Tufts University and an MBA from the University of Michigan. He serves on the Board of Directors of the Prudential Retirement Insurance and Annuity, and is chair of Achieve Hartford.
Christine Marcks
Christine Marcks has led Prudential Retirement for the past 10 years in transforming the retirement landscape with timely, responsive solutions for public, private and nonprofit organizations. Under Marcks’ leadership, Prudential Retirement has expanded its product portfolio to establish market-leading positions in Total Retirement Solutions, Stable Value Investment Only products, guaranteed lifetime income solutions for DC plans and pension risk transfer strategies.
Before joining Prudential in 2004, Marcks was senior vice president and head of ING Financial Horizons, an advisory business focused on the pre‐retiree market. Marcks also previously served as an international economist with the U.S. Treasury Department in Washington, D.C.
Marcks spent her career as an influential advocate for legislation that will ultimately help Americans achieve their retirement goals and frequently gave testimony before Departments of Labor and Treasury officials in Washington, D.C. A sought after, effective voice in the industry, Marcks was often a guest speaker and panelist at global retirement conferences.
Marcks serves as a member of the Executive Committee of the Y‐USA Board, sits on the Board of Directors of the Connecticut Business and Industry Association, and on the Board of the Employee Benefit Research Institute. Locally, Marcks serves on the Board of Trustees of the Greater Hartford YMCA.
In March 2016, The Employee Benefit Research Institute honored Marcks with the Lillywhite Award for her lifetime achievement in the retirement income space.
Marcks is also a member of the Board of Trustees of her alma mater, Assumption College, from which she earned a bachelor’s degree in foreign affairs. She holds a master’s degree in economics from Georgetown University and NASD series 7 and 24 licenses.
Yanela Frias
Yanela Frias has worked at Prudential for 20 years. Before joining Prudential Retirement’s Structured Settlements unit, Frias was the chief financial officer of Prudential Annuities. Earlier, she was the chief financial officer of Prudential’s Individual Life Insurance business. Known throughout the industry, she was named one of the top 40 people to watch in Treasury & Risk magazine’s annual “40 Under Forty” rankings in 2011. She was recently named one of the 50 Most Powerful Latinas in public companies by the Association of Latino Professionals For America, as published by FORTUNE magazine.
She earned an MBA and a bachelor’s degree in accounting from Rutgers University.
About Prudential Retirement
Prudential Retirement delivers retirement plan solutions for public, private, and nonprofit organizations. Services include defined contribution, defined benefit and non-qualified deferred compensation recordkeeping, administrative services, investment management, comprehensive employee education and communications, and trustee services, as well as a variety of products and strategies, including institutional investment and income products, pension risk transfer solutions and structured settlement services. With more than 85 years of retirement experience, Prudential Retirement helps meet the needs of 4.2 million participants and annuitants. Prudential Retirement has $395.5 billion in retirement account values as of March 31, 2017. Retirement products and services are provided by Prudential Retirement Insurance and Annuity Company (PRIAC), Hartford, Conn., or its affiliates.
About Prudential Financial, Inc.
Prudential Financial, Inc. (NYSE: PRU), a financial services leader with more than $1 trillion of assets under management as of March 31, 2017, has operations in the United States, Asia, Europe, and Latin America. Prudential’s diverse and talented employees are committed to helping individual and institutional customers grow and protect their wealth through a variety of products and services, including life insurance, annuities, retirement-related services, mutual funds and investment management. In the U.S., Prudential’s iconic Rock symbol has stood for strength, stability, expertise and innovation for more than a century. For more information, please visit news.prudential.com.
