Bob Reynolds just created a second full-service asset manager within his domain, and he also picked that shop's chief.

Dave Musto Empower Retirement Executive Vice President

Today Reynolds unveils Great-West Investments [profile], the freshly-consolidated asset management arm of Putnam's insurance company sibling, Great-West Financial. A retirement plan industry veteran, Dave Musto of Great-West's Empower, will lead the new organization, which includes Great-West Capital Management, Advised Assets Group, and Great-West Funds. The combined organization includes about 70 people and more than $85 billion in assets under management or supervision.

"We want to be a full-service provider as it relates to investments," says Reynolds, who leads both Great-West Financial and Putnam. "We think there is an opportunity for innovation."

"This will be a totally separate platform from Putnam," Reynolds adds; Putnam's funds are 100-percent proprietary, while Great-West's funds tap into both in-house PMs and outside subadvisors.

Great-West Investments' product suite includes: capital preservation products like stable value and deferred income annuities; managed accounts for retirement plans; variable annuities; retirement income solutions; asset allocation products like target date and target risk funds; and traditional bond and stock mutual funds.

"We see a very good opportunity to be able to bring those capabilities out into the marketplace," Musto tells MFWire, adding this is a "very disruptive time in the marketplace." "It's a great time for Great-West ... to really find new, disruptive product solutions."

"The market is ripe for different types of solutions," Reynolds agrees.

Musto, an alumnus of the College of William & Mary and of NYU, previously worked at Prudential Retirement, Cigna, and Kamoon. He later led DC I-O at J.P. Morgan Asset Management, then led J.P. Morgan's retirement plan recordkeeping business until it was acquired in 2014 by what became Empower. Since then he has served as head of Empower's large, mega, and not-for-profit unit.

"I've had the pleasure of working with David for almost two years now," Reynolds tells MFWire, praising Musto as "the absolute best choice" to lead Great-West Investments. 

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