Bob Reynolds has brought back a familiar Putnam [profile] veteran to fill Bill Connolly's shoes.

Scott Charles Sipple Putnam Investments Head of Putnam Retail Management

Today Reynolds, president and CEO of Putnam Investments, confirms that he is appointing Scott Sipple as head of Putnam Retail Management, effective immediately. Sipple, age 57, reports to Reynolds and succeeds Connolly, who retired from the Boston-based mutual fund firm at the end of last month.

Sipple most recently served as president of Great-West Investments, the investment subsidiary of a giant retirement plan recordkeeper, Empower Retirement. (Empower and Putnam are sister companies.) Ed Murphy, president and CEO of Empower, did not immediately return a call for comment.

"We haven't made that announcement yet," on how Sipple's duties will be handled, an Empower spokesman tells MFWire.

At Putnam, Reynolds confirms that he did a search internally and externally before deciding on Sipple.

"Scott was the best," Reynolds tells MFWire. "The organization's very excited that Scott's coming home ... What he brings to the organization is exactly what we need right now."

Reynolds adds that he's "quite pleased" with Putnam's positive retail flows in recent years.

"We have a tremendous amount of momentum, and I think Scott will capitalize on that," Reynolds says. "The retail business is changing ... For some time we've invested heavily in technology, data, electronic distribution."

An alumnus of Darmouth, Sipple worked at AllianceBernstein and (like Reynolds) Fidelity before joining Putnam in 2009 as head of strategic relationships. In 2012, he rose to head of investment product management and development, and he later served as head of global investment strategies. In 2017, when Reynolds still led Putnam and Empower's parent, Great-West Financial, he appointed Sipple as head of Great-West Investments. 

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