Stephen Fisher just made a key hire at MainStay Investments [profile].

A spokeswoman for MainStay, New York Life's mutual fund distribution arm, confirms that on Thursday Brendan Gundersen joined up in the newly-created role of institutional intermediary channel chief. Gundersen's reach covers defined contribution investment-only (DC I-O to retirement plan industry insiders), large RIAs, private bank and trust, and research platforms. Gundersen reports to Fisher, MainStay's president and co-president of New York Life Investment Management.

"There is already a talented team in place with a lot of experience and longstanding success, which is now being pulled together under Gundersen's leadership," the MainStay spokeswoman tells MFWire in an e-mailed statement.

An alumnus of Albany State University and Pittsburgh State University, Gundersen previously worked with the Standard and Poor's ratings group and GE Asset Management. He most recently served as a managing director in BlackRock's iShares [profile] unit.

MFWire could not immediately reach a BlackRock spokesperson for comment on how Gundersen's duties are being handled.

Fisher praises Gundersen for the latter's "invaluable experience in the institutional intermediary business." 

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