Edelman puts a dealmaker in charge of retirement plan services

Edelman Financial Engines has placed its workplace retirement unit under a career dealmaker. Christian Mango joins as senior vice president and retirement advisory practice leader, a newly created role and the first at Edelman with that scope. His mandate covers Retirement Plan Services' growth through acquisitions, advisor recruitment, and organic expansion.

InvestmentNews reported the appointment Tuesday. Edelman has long bet that a 401(k) participant becomes a financial planning client; the new role puts one person in charge of that bet. The firm manages about $308 billion for 1.3 million clients and more than 430 advisors, so the retirement unit is a meaningful piece of the business. Mango's job description emphasizes growth.

Edelman is hardly new to workplace retirement advice. The business began with Financial Engines, founded in 1996 by Nobel laureate economist William Sharpe to help 401(k) participants manage their accounts. It has operated under the Edelman name since the 2018 merger with Edelman Financial Services. Financial Engines made its name selling managed accounts and advice to plan sponsors and participants. The merger added a large individual planning practice, and the combined firm has spent years trying to connect the two sides.

Mango's background points to buying. He comes from OneDigital, where he was senior vice president of mergers and acquisitions, helping steer the insurance broker's dealmaking for its retirement plan advisory and work-to-wealth businesses. Before that, at Alera Group, he ran Retirement Plan Services as executive vice president and national practice leader. InvestmentNews credits that stint with turning Alera's retirement unit into a nationally recognized advisory platform.

His résumé fits the consolidation that has reshaped retirement plan advice. Insurance brokers and RIA aggregators have spent years buying their way into the business, treating workplace plans as the start of a wealth management relationship. OneDigital built much of its retirement practice through acquisition, starting with the 2020 purchase of RIA Resources, a $45 billion RIA, and some of its affiliates. Edelman, with $308 billion in assets, looks ready to buy as well.

CEO Ralph Haberli gave the rationale in a statement. "For millions of Americans, their financial journey begins in the workplace," he said. Retirement Plan Services, he added, is an important extension of Edelman's mission, helping employers deliver exceptional retirement programs and giving individuals more ways to engage with fiduciary advice throughout their financial lives. Haberli also said Mango "has built and scaled retirement businesses throughout his career," and his industry relationships would help Edelman build "one of the country's leading retirement advisory platforms."

Mango's mandate explicitly includes acquisitions and advisor recruitment. After running M&A for a retirement-focused business at OneDigital, he is unlikely to stay on the sidelines. It would be surprising if Edelman did not show up as a buyer in the retirement plan advisory market before long.

Financial Engines used to be known for managed account technology and a Nobel laureate founder. The new hire suggests Edelman wants acquisitions in that mix.

Edelman's arrival on the buy side could make an active market busier. Plan advisory firms with strong books of business and aging founders have drawn buyers from insurance, private equity, and aggregators for years. Edelman is a different sort of bidder: a giant wealth manager with a national brand and a way to move plan participants into individual planning. Whether deals close will hinge on price and on how much independence sellers keep under the Edelman umbrella.

Mango has sat on both sides of those conversations. At Alera Group, he built a platform that caught buyers' interest. At OneDigital, he did the buying. At Edelman, he runs a unit whose mandate is growth. That combination tends to produce deals.