Sandrean Thompson

“We never once felt like we were just ‘extra’ work for Sandrean,” says a Bank of America Merrill Lynch plan sponsor client, whose relationship with Sandrean Thompson began when its usual client service manager became unavailable. That short statement exemplifies the philosophy and approach to client services that guides Thompson, assistant vice president, senior client service manager, with Bank of America Merrill Lynch in Pennington, New Jersey. 

Retirement plan service was not on Thompson’s intended career path. She recalls how, when she saw a job posting, “I thought, ‘I have a 401(k) plan—it’s about time I learned about it.’” She applied, and now enjoys what she does, the company she works for and a “great bunch of clients.” 

Thompson says she has an overall philosophy of giving clients the level of service she would expect if in their place, and her 17 years with Bank of America Merrill Lynch has given her much experience. “I love what I do and really appreciate the client recognizing that.”

Thompson is usually responsible for about a dozen 401(k) plan clients and a few defined benefit (DB) plan clients. But, if a co-worker is out, other managers must step in. 

When one of her colleagues had to be out of the office suddenly, management divided his book of business among other client service managers. Thompson had worked with this particular global hospitality corporation before, so she was assigned the business. 

“The client was entering its busiest time of year,” Thompson notes. “The executives were in the middle of the ADP/ACP [actual deferral percentage/actual contribution percentage] testing process and gathering data to do their annual plan audit.” The client had no outstanding issues, she said, but if the original client service manager becomes suddenly unavailable during such proceedings and there are deadlines to meet, things can grind to a halt. 

Thompson worked with the client to identify the data it needed, as well as the timeline it had to follow to get the nondiscrimination testing done and to meet with the auditors. She then worked with Bank of America Merrill Lynch’s internal compliance and audit team to supply the data to the client.

“Through hard work and late nights, Sandrean responded promptly to all our requests with the exact information we requested,” the client says. “Even when I felt I was asking for too much and suggested that some data could wait until the next day, Sandrean would respond that her job is to service her clients, and she would put in extra time to deliver on the request the same day.” 

Thompson says, “Recognizing the time crunch, my goal was to meet his expectations and make sure he did not feel the interruption in the service relationship. I didn’t want [the client] to feel it was a large job or extra work.” 

She adds that client service managers at Bank of America Merrill Lynch have strong support from their compliance and administration groups. “As a team, we feel if a colleague isn’t here, a client shouldn’t feel it.” —Rebecca Moore