Nationwide Announces Alignment of Public and Private Sector Retirement Plan Sales Organizations

Columbus, OH - Today, Nationwide took a significant step in growing its retirement plans business. Moving forward, the business’ public and private sector sales organizations will operate as a single organization under the direction of Eric Stevenson, who has led Nationwide’s public sector sales team since 2010. Under Stevenson, this newly combined retirement plans distribution organization will report to John Carter, president of Nationwide’s retirement plans business.

Carter said that Nationwide remains strongly committed to the markets, distribution partners, third-party administrators, consultants, plan sponsors and participants they work with today.

“As one distribution team, our retirement plans business now has one of the largest, most tenured sales forces in the industry, including NAPA-recognized top wholesalers,” said Stevenson. “The investments Nationwide has made in meeting the needs of advisors, plan sponsors and participants have been recognized by third-party industry experts, including DALBAR for our website and service and PLANSPONSOR Magazine for best-in-class client satisfaction.”

Under Stevenson, Nationwide’s retirement plans business won or retained some of the largest retirement plans in the country. Nationwide is the largest¹ provider of public-sector retirement plans in the United States. Its retirement plans business serves more than 2.1 million retirement plan participants in nearly 39,000 plans.

“We’re investing more than ever in tools and technology to meet the needs of larger plans, and we will continue to provide access to customized retirement plans to America’s small and medium-sized businesses and public sector plans,” said Carter.

“Our mission is to help America’s workers prepare for and live in retirement, and this new sales structure aligns with our focus on providing positive participant outcomes, regardless of whether the participant works in the public or private sector.”

Joe Frustaglio, leader of private sector sales, recently decided to leave Nationwide after 32 years of service.

“Joe has been a valued member of the Retirement Plans leadership team and a dedicated leader to our private sector sales organization for the past 11 years. His many contributions to our business and the industry will be long lasting,” said Carter.

Nationwide will begin an immediate search for a new leader, reporting to Stevenson, who will assume responsibility for advisor-sold 401(k) business.