Former head of SMA-provider Curian's sales force joins insurance company. AXA Distributors has a new head of advisor-channel annuity sales in Mitch Waters. Taking over from Michael McCarthy, who now heads wholesale distribution for AXA Distributors' the bank channel, Waters will lead wholesale distribution, sales and business development of AXA Equitable's variable-annuity products to its AXA Advisors channel. 

Waters reports to AXA Distributors' chief sales officer William Miller.

Reaffirmation

"AXA Advisors is a core distribution channel for AXA Equitable," says Miller. "Mitch's appointment reaffirms the company's commitment to focused sales support for our financial professionals."

Waters had been head of sales for Denver-based Curian Capital, a subsidiary of Lansing, Mich.-based Jackson National, but he left that position about a year ago, according to Curian spokesman Andrew Silver. He joined the fractional-share separately managed account platform provider prior to its launch in 2003. Before that he was a regional sales manager with Morgan Stanley Investment Management.

Since Waters' departure, Curian has split its sales-force leadership between Greg Verfaillie in the western U.S. and David Sprague on the eastern side of the country. Together they manage a sales team of more than 50 divided evenly between external and internal consultants.

AXA Distributors works with about AXA Advisor 400 firms with more than 17,000 individual producers. -FWR

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