MassMutual Names Aruna Hobbs as New Head of Institutional Investments for Retirement Plans

ENFIELD, Conn., Sept. 2, 2014 /PRNewswire/ -- MassMutual Retirement Services has named Aruna Hobbs as Head of Institutional Investments for Retirement Plans as part of a strategy to more aggressively promote its mutual funds and stable value investments to retirement plan sponsors and their financial advisors.

Ms. Hobbs is responsible for providing strategic oversight for the growth of MassMutual's award-winning family of mutual funds and stable value investments available through retirement plans and investment-only channels. Ms. Hobbs is overseeing the stable value unit as well as a newly created team of seven sales and service representatives who are promoting MassMutual's mutual funds to recordkeeping and investment-only clients. Ms. Hobbs reports to Brian Haendiges, Senior Vice President, Investment Services, for MassMutual Retirement Services, and will be located in Boston.

"Aruna's considerable track record growing institutional investments is a perfect fit for MassMutual's strategic focus to grow our share of the market for mutual funds sold through retirement plans. In addition, her industry leadership and expertise in stable value is a significant plus in a critical investment category," Haendiges said. "We offer unique investments specifically oriented to retirement plans, including strategies you can't get from anybody else. We believe our funds offer a tremendous benefit to retirement plan sponsors and their participants."

"MassMutual's investment track record, expertise and reputation create an enormous opportunity in the investment-only marketplace and with plans for which MassMutual is the recordkeeper," Ms. Hobbs said. "I'm very excited to have MassMutual's resources as our team works to expand our market share by providing sponsors and advisors what they're asking for."

MassMutual offers the MassMutual RetireSmart^SM Funds, the Premier Funds, and the Select Funds, totaling 56 mutual funds in a broad range of asset classes, as well as a variety of stable value options. Earlier this year, MassMutual was recognized at the 2014 Lipper¹ U.S. Fund Awards for Best Mixed Assets Small Fund Group, Best Overall Small Fund Group, and Best International Large Cap Core Fund.

Last month, MassMutual created an institutional share class (Class I) for all Premier and Select funds and reduced fees from between nine and 20 basis points for the 16 MassMutual RetireSmart Target Date Funds.

As head of stable value, Ms. Hobbs' deep experience in the business complements MassMutual's considerable success in the stable value marketplace, accumulating more than $30 billion in assets, according to Mr. Haendiges. MassMutual's strong credit ratings and investment management give the firm an edge in the stable value marketplace, he said, making stable value particularly attractive in an environment where investors continue to seek safety, especially as retirement savers age.

MassMutual maintains some of the highest ratings currently available, and is rated A++ (Superior, top category of 15) by A.M. Best, AA+ (Very Strong, second category of 21) by Fitch Ratings, Aa2 (Excellent, third category of 21) by Moody's Investors Service, and AA+ (Very Strong, second category of 21) by Standard & Poor's.²

Ms. Hobbs comes to MassMutual after serving as Managing Director and Head of Stable Value for New York Life Investments. Previously, she held a series of executive positions in the institutional unit of Aegon Americas and Transamerica. She has an MS in economics from Oklahoma State University, a Masters in international trade from the Indian Institute of Foreign Trade in India, and a Bachelor of Arts from St. Xavier in India.

For more information about MassMutual's Retirement Services Division, please contact your financial professional or call MassMutual at 1-800-874-2502, option 4.

About MassMutual
Founded in 1851, MassMutual is a leading mutual life insurance company that is run for the benefit of its members and participating policyowners. The company has a long history of financial strength and strong performance, and although dividends are not guaranteed, MassMutual has paid dividends to eligible participating policyowners consistently since the 1860s. With whole life insurance as its foundation, MassMutual provides products to help meet the financial needs of clients, such as life insurance, disability income insurance, long term care insurance, retirement/401(k) plan services, and annuities. In addition, the company's strong and growing network of financial professionals helps clients make good financial decisions for the long term.

MassMutual Financial Group is a marketing name for Massachusetts Mutual Life Insurance Company (MassMutual) and its affiliated companies and sales representatives. MassMutual is headquartered in Springfield, Massachusetts and its major affiliates include: Babson Capital Management LLC; Baring Asset Management Limited; Cornerstone Real Estate Advisers LLC; The First Mercantile Trust Company; MassMutual International LLC; MML Investors Services, LLC, Member FINRA and SIPC; OppenheimerFunds, Inc.; and The MassMutual Trust Company, FSB.

MassMutual's Retirement Services Division has been serving retirement plans for more than 65 years. It offers a full range of products and services for corporate, union, nonprofit and governmental employers' defined benefit, defined contribution and nonqualified deferred compensation plans. It serves approximately 2.8 million participants.

For more information, visit www.massmutual.com or find MassMutual on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, YouTube and Google+. For information regarding MassMutual's Retirement Services Division, you may also visit massmutual.com/retire or find us on Facebook.com/RetireSmart and YouTube.com/RetireSmart.

Copyright ©2014 Massachusetts Mutual Life Insurance Company (MassMutual) and affiliates, Springfield, MA 01111-0001. All rights reserved.

¹Lipper, a wholly owned subsidiary of Reuters, is a leading global provider of mutual fund information and analysis to fund companies, financial intermediaries and media organizations.

²Ratings apply to Massachusetts Mutual Life Insurance Company and its subsidiaries, C.M. Life Insurance Company and MML Bay State Life Insurance Company. Ratings are as of 7/1/2014 and are subject to change.

Contact: David Potter
860-562-1525
[email protected]

Jessica Barry
860-562-5095
[email protected]

SOURCE MassMutual Retirement Services