Verfaille tapped to replace Waters as head of SMA provider's sales, support. Third-party separately managed account platform provider Curian Capital has promoted Greg Verfaillie to the position of national sales manager from his previous job as divisional v.p. for Curian's Western U.S. region. In his new role, Verfaillie will oversee Curian's internal and regional business-development sales forces in addition to its customer-service team.

Verfaille replaces Mitch Waters, who left Curian for AXA Distributors in August 2007.

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"Greg's efforts have helped us achieve record results this year," says Michael Bell, president and CEO of Curian Capital. "Furthermore, I'm confident that his dedication and leadership will play a vital role in the future direction of the company. Since his promotion to divisional v.p. less than a year ago, he has led the expansion of the sales force and worked diligently to enhance our training program and promote the value proposition of the Curian platform to financial advisors."

Verfaillie has been with Curian since its launch in 2002. Along the way he has helped to develop many of the firm's sales, marketing and product development initiatives, including revamping its training curriculum and streamlining the sales process.

"Curian's growth is a direct result of an innovative platform that allows financial professionals to create customized portfolios in minutes," says Verfaillie. "By coupling the platform with robust training and practice-management support programs, we have set the stage for expanding our distribution footprint."

Curian's SMAs differ from most other providers for being fractional-share accounts. This allows the firm to offer SMAs with far smaller investment minimums than most of its competitors.

Denver-based Curian is a subsidiary of Lansing, Mich.-based Jackson National Life Insurance. It manages around $3.3 billion in assets, distributed principally through independent brokers, though it has also some uptake with small banks and credit-union service organizations. -FWR

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