Blue Owl Capital Inc. (NYSE: OWL), an alternative asset manager, has recently announced the appointment of Greg Porteous as Managing Director and Head of Defined Contribution Retirement Solutions. In this role, Porteous will be responsible for spearheading Blue Owl’s ongoing efforts to expand access to private markets and alternative investment solutions within the defined contribution (DC) retirement plans across the US.
Porteous joins Blue Owl from State Street Investment Management, where as Head of DC Intermediary he led teams responsible for “developing key DC relationships, thought leadership on industry trends, and consultative partnerships with recordkeepers, platforms, and advisors.”
Previously, he held senior roles at BlackRock and UBS.
Blue Owl’s hire of Porteous comes at a key moment for the defined contribution market, as plan sponsors and participants seek access to private markets along with more differentiated sources of return and income.
Blue Owl is now reportedly committed to integrating alternatives—such as private credit and real assets—into DC plans via vehicles like collective investment trusts (CITs).
Earlier, Blue Owl announced a partnership with Voya Financial, Inc., a provider of retirement, investment, and benefit solutions, to develop private markets investment products “tailored for DC retirement plans.”
The partnership will focus on launching CITs that provide access to Blue Owl’s private markets strategies, available via “advisor-managed accounts and target date solutions on Voya’s retirement platform.”
As the market continues to mature and evolve, Blue Owl and Voya will continue to collaborate “on retirement-focused private investment solutions across additional channels.”
Porteous has explained that defined contribution plans are the cornerstone of retirement security for many US residents, yet most participants tend to have quite “limited access to the benefits of private markets.”
They added that they will collaborate with Blue Owl at this key inflection point, working cooperatively with existing partners as well as clients in order to deliver more “outcome-oriented solutions that can help participants build more resilient portfolios and achieve their retirement goals.”