2015 Service Stars  | Individual

David Parker

Works proactively with both clients and participants
  • RECORDKEEPER EMPLOYER: The Standard 
  • TENURE WITH COMPANY: Nine years
  • BIO: David Parker, relationship manager for The Standard in Portland, Maine, has served the retirement industry for 31 years, the last 15 years with employers that were merged into The Standard. From 1992 through 2000, he worked for Fleet Bank as a recordkeeping manager, then as relationship manager for the state of Maine.
  • CLIENT: Heritage Family Credit Union, Rutland, Vermont 
  • PLAN TYPES: 401(k); defined benefit (DB) plan
  • PLAN SIZES: 401(k): $5 million to $7 million; DB: $13 million 
  • PLAN PARTICIPANTS: 134
“We recently had an auditor question how our match was calculated, and Dave worked with his team to ensure the process was double-checked and triple-checked with [the auditor’s] legal team,” says Barbara Begin, vice president human resources (HR), and plan administrator for Heritage Family Credit Union, in Rutland, Vermont. She gives plan relationship manager Dave Parker from The Standard overall high grades for his dedication to service. “I really appreciate his responsiveness and dedication to help answer the question and resolve the issue.

“Even though the match calculation was a situation that may not be directly under Dave’s control,” she says, “he stays on top of the team to ensure things are addressed in a very timely manner.”

Heritage Credit Union is just one of 60 clients that Parker services. Yet, when she calls, rarely does he fail to pick up the phone or get back to her within five minutes, Begin says.

Parker refuses to take all the credit, acknowledging The Standard’s day-to-day support team, which handles any challenges that arise concerning his client’s plans. “The team does such a good job that I get to work in a proactive versus a reactive way—they make me look good,” he says. With such a solid team supporting him on issue-resolution, he likes to focus on the bigger picture, asking clients questions about plan design, fund performance or adviser services.

Parker also attributes his success to the fact that he has worked with the company both internally and externally. “When you are out in the field facing clients, you forget about the struggles of the people internally who support you”—i.e., compliance testing, distribution processing, etc. “When you are managing an internal support area, it’s nice to have been out in the field. So it’s good to have experience with both sides.”

Begin’s experience with Parker is the polar opposite of what she expected, she says, based on the one she had with her prior recordkeeper and relationship manager. Before 2009, when the Heritage Family Credit Union moved to The Standard, Begin rarely spoke to her assigned contact. “It was rare to get [the person] on-site, to attend trustee meetings, and there was a lot of movement in the position,” Begin says.
Every quarter, Parker travels from Portland to Rutland to be present for Heritage’s trustee meeting and to review the plan. “He makes himself available to meet individually with employees who may have questions, and he comes on-site a couple of extra times per year for employee training,” Begin says. “Our employees love him.”

Continuing the praise, “He never speaks over anyone’s head,” she says. Although his core presentation offers the same underlying message each year, he keeps it fresh, presenting it differently each time, Begin says, and the participation rates always change for the better. Parker tends to use humor and shares some of his own experiences when he presents. In making a point about people’s past, present and future selves, he relates how he first signed up for benefits at age 25. He describes tables of various benefits vendors vying for his attention, each touting the importance of its particular opportunity. With a wife and two children, he knew he needed to sign up for the essentials.

“Are you glad that money is coming out of your paycheck to pay for health insurance? Disability? Dental? Vision?” he asks employees. “Present-self pays the bills. Saving for retirement, you are paying future-self. Someday you will look back and thank or curse yourself.” —Judy Faust Hartnett
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