Sentinel Group Taps New Leaders for Wealth and Retirement Growth

WAKEFIELD, Mass. – April 13, 2026 – Sentinel Group, a financial services and employee benefits firm, has announced two significant senior leadership appointments aimed at supercharging its growth in the competitive wealth management and retirement sectors. The company has brought on Sophie Benander as Head of Growth, Wealth Management, and Joe Hendrickson as Senior Vice President, Strategic Growth, Retirement. These hires signal a deliberate strategy to build a more integrated, scalable, and client-centric service model.

The appointments are not merely about filling seats but reflect a calculated move to invest in what Sentinel calls “intentional, measurable growth.” In an industry where the lines between wealth management, retirement planning, and employee benefits are increasingly blurring, Sentinel is positioning itself to offer a unified experience. By creating these two distinct but complementary leadership roles, the firm is building a framework to capitalize on this convergence.

“Sentinel has always grown by staying true to our values while evolving with intention,” said Sam Mitchell, President and CEO, in a statement. “Bringing Sophie and Joe into these leadership roles reflects our commitment to disciplined, scalable growth across both wealth management and retirement distribution.”

The Architects of a New Growth Engine

Sophie Benander steps into the newly created role of Head of Growth, Wealth Management, a position established to make growth a focused and accountable priority. Her mandate is to formalize Sentinel’s approach to generating high-quality opportunities, driving revenue, and increasing new assets under management. With a 15-year career spanning wealth management, retirement planning, and financial wellness, Benander brings a holistic perspective to the firm.

Most recently, she served as SVP, Growth and Partnerships at SageView Advisory Group, where she focused on connecting education and advice across institutional and wealth businesses. Her experience at Adviser Investments and her Chartered Retirement Plans Specialist (CRPS) designation further underscore her qualifications to build out Sentinel’s wealth platform. Benander’s focus will be on deepening relationships with Sentinel’s existing retirement and benefits clients, creating a more unified wealth management story, and building an analytics-driven approach to lead generation.

“Her role is about helping to advance the continued development of our Wealth Management platform — creating a more disciplined, data-informed approach to growth that strengthens our market presence,” said Ryan Campagna, Head of Sales and Partner at Sentinel.

Complementing Benander’s focus on wealth management, Joe Hendrickson will take the helm as Senior Vice President, Strategic Growth, Retirement. His role is dedicated to elevating the advisor experience and driving advisor-led growth, a critical channel in the retirement industry. As the U.S. retirement market is projected to swell from over $35 trillion to $52 trillion by the end of the decade, the need for sophisticated advisor support has never been greater.

Hendrickson joins from Gradient Financial Group, where he served as Chief Innovation Officer, modernizing the organization's growth infrastructure. His experience in leading enterprise-wide strategy and change management will be pivotal as he works to sharpen Sentinel’s value proposition in the intermediary market. His responsibilities include accelerating advisor-led growth through a disciplined distribution strategy and strengthening the feedback loop between sales and product teams.

“The retirement industry continues to evolve, and advisors need partners who can help them navigate growth, plan design and client outcomes in a more strategic way,” Hendrickson stated. “I’m excited to join Sentinel and focus on strengthening our advisor experience.”

A Culture-Fueled Strategy

While strategic hires and market positioning are crucial, Sentinel’s leadership believes its “people-first culture” is a foundational element of its expansion strategy. This cultural ethos was a key factor in attracting the new leaders. “What drew me to Sentinel is the authenticity of its people-first culture,” Benander noted, highlighting a “genuine commitment” to supporting clients through significant financial moments.

This claim is supported by internal metrics and external recognition. The company boasts an 80% employee engagement rate and an average tenure of 8.7 years—figures that stand out in the high-turnover financial services industry. For four consecutive years, from 2021 to 2024, Sentinel has been honored with Top Workplace USA Awards. This environment not only helps attract and retain top talent like Benander and Hendrickson but is also seen as a direct driver of client trust and satisfaction.

The firm’s mission to “Do the right thing for real people” is embedded in its operational strategy. By fostering a supportive and collaborative internal environment, Sentinel aims to deliver a superior external experience. Benander’s vision explicitly builds on this, aiming to connect Sentinel’s capabilities “into a more unified financial wellness experience — one that deepens trust and supports people through every stage of their financial lives.”

Positioning for an Integrated Future

Sentinel’s strategic appointments are a direct response to powerful trends reshaping the financial services industry. Clients are increasingly demanding holistic advice that seamlessly integrates their workplace retirement plans with their personal wealth, tax, and estate planning. In response, forward-thinking firms are breaking down internal silos to create a single, cohesive client journey.

With $13.3 billion in assets under recordkeeping administration and $10.7 billion in assets under brokerage and advisory services as of late 2024, Sentinel already has a substantial foundation. The challenge—and opportunity—is to leverage this scale more effectively. The new leadership structure is designed to do just that by aligning the firm’s retirement, wealth, and benefits capabilities into a single, powerful platform.

By investing in focused leadership, data-driven strategies, and cross-functional alignment, Sentinel is not just adding headcount; it is redesigning its growth engine for a future where integrated financial wellness is the new standard. The success of this initiative will hinge on the ability of its new architects to translate this strategic vision into measurable results for advisors, plan sponsors, and individual clients alike.