Tom Butch recently made several key appointments for Ivy Funds' distribution efforts.

Thomas W. Butch Ivy Funds and Waddell & Reed Financial, Inc. President, Chief Executive Officer of Ivy Funds Distributor, Inc.; Executive Vice President, Chief Marketing Officer of Waddell & Reed Financial, Inc.

Butch confirms that Stacy Albin and Anna Barnes have been named interim co-heads of national accounts for the Waddell & Reed [profile] subsidiary, while Michael Burke has been hired specifically to handle Ivy's relationship with wirehouse Merrill Lynch. Burke will report to Albin, and Albin and Barnes report to Butch, CEO of Ivy Funds Distributor.

Albin and Barnes took their new positions in June, after retirement sales and national accounts chief Kirsten Pickens left to join a startup fund firm. Pickens' other former Ivy hat, DC I-O, was filled over the summer by Ivy's own Angela Achatz.

Pickens also was the key accounts executive who dealt with Merrill Lynch. Burke, the new Merrill key accounts executive for Ivy, hails most recently from Pioneer Investments where he served as vice president and senior business development manager in the wealth management division. Pioneer spokesman Geoff Smith confirms that senior business development manager Bobbie Jo Pippin-Arndt and senior portfolio consultant Jason Xanthakis has taken over Burke's responsibilities at Pioneer.

Meanwhile, Albin and Barnes both hail from Ivy's key accounts effort already. Albin previously served as director of business development for national accounts, while Barnes previously served as head of the bank and regional channel for national accounts. The national accounts team now includes nine people in total.

An alumnus of Fairfield University, Burkes worked in key accounts at Deutsche and State Street before joining Pioneer five years ago.

"Michael is a respected account manager who knows Merrill Lynch very well and will be able to immediately build upon our established relationship," states Butch, who also serves as president and CEO of Ivy Investment Management Company. "We're pleased to welcome him to Ivy and our experienced national accounts team."

All of Waddell combined, including Ivy, had about $121 billion in AUM as of June 30. 

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