Short Takes: President Departs at Liberty Financial Unit

Roderick J. Halvorson has left his full-time post as president of Independent Financial Marketing Group Inc.

Mr. Halvorson, who left Sept. 15, is the second executive to depart in recent weeks. John R. Richter, the executive vice president of Independent's product management division, left Sept. 1. Both will continue to work with the third-party marketing firm as consultants.

A spokesman for Liberty Financial Cos., Boston, the marketing firm's parent, said the executive changes are part of a push to help Independent Financial add bank clients and boost product sales.

"This is all about making the 1999 nut," he said.

Independent Financial, based in Purchase, N.Y., had about 100 bank clients and about $2 billion of sales for the year through August, he said.

Some observers said the changes show how Liberty Financial is putting its stamp on the marketing firm, which it bought in March 1996. But the spokesman insisted that was not the case.

It is not accurate to portray these departures as "Liberty saying we're going to do this, this, and this," he said. "It's a much more collaborative type of thing."

Mr. Halvorson could not be reached to comment.

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