BlackRock is hiring to boost DC business

In a bid to expand its financial-adviser-sold defined-contribution business, BlackRock Inc. is tapping former executives of a retirement-focused broker-dealer that LPL Investment Holdings Inc. bought last year. The giant asset management firm has hired Robert L. Francis, former chief operating officer at broker-dealer National Retirement Partners Inc., as its managing director in the DC group, a new position. In this role, he will report to Tom Skrobe, managing director and head of distribution for the DC business at BlackRock, said Chip Castille, head of the DC business at the firm. Mr. Francis' hire comes a few months after BlackRock tapped Dick Darian, a former executive vice president at National Retirement Partners, to be a director in its DC unit. LPL bought National Retirement Partners last year and renamed the unit LPL Financial Retirement Partners. BlackRock has more than doubled its 70-person DC group over the past 18 months, Mr. Castille said. The asset manager has a strong presence among large DC plans but is now making a more concerted push to target advisers who tend to serve small to midsize 401(k) plans, he said. “Our defined-contribution group delivers all the products we have into the DC channel,” Mr. Castille said. He declined to comment on sales goals for the business. BlackRock has $300 billion in assets under management in its DC business. To gain traction among advisers who exclusively serve DC plans, BlackRock has launched a practice management program, dubbed the DC Leaders Circle. Through the program, a select group of advisers who work only with DC plans will have access to BlackRock's customized marketing pieces, research, regulatory updates and a “concierge service” that they can call with questions, Mr. Castille said. BlackRock unveiled the program in San Francisco last week for a group of advisers and will do the same in New York this week. E-mail Jessica Toonkel at jtoonkel@investmentnews.com.