2016 Service Stars  | Individual

Debra Morris

Ensuring plan sponsors are fully educated on plan nuances

RECORDKEEPER EMPLOYER: American Trust Retirement
TENURE WITH COMPANY: Eight years
BIO: Debra Morris is second vice president and trust officer with American Trust Retirement in Iowa City, Iowa. She began her career, working in the trust department of Northwest Bank while obtaining her Master of Business Administration at the University of Iowa.
CLIENT: A manufacturer
CLIENT INDUSTRY: Construction machinery
CLIENT HEADQUARTERS: Upper Midwest
CLIENT PLAN ASSETS: $9 million
CLIENT PLAN PARTICIPANTS: 140

Although the human resources (HR) manager at this manufacturing company had overseen retirement plans at a number of companies, she was unaware of the nuances of managing plans—in particular, how to meet nondiscrimination testing requirements to permit highly compensated employees (HCEs) to maximize their contributions.
 
Debra Morris, second vice president and trust officer at American Trust Retirement in Iowa City, Iowa, changed this for the HR manager. Serving above and beyond her responsibilities as a recordkeeper, Morris took on more of the role of a retirement plan adviser/consultant.
 
When first starting with the account, she noticed that about one-third of the manufacturer’s employees were leased, part-time workers, whose hours were not being included in plan-testing documents. Morris notified the client, then advised it to collect that information from its seven location managers and to explain to them the importance of doing so—i.e., that the plan needed to comply with certain rules to pass tests. This approach, the HR manager says, put her in a favorable light with the management team.
 
Further, not only did Morris help resolve the testing problem, enabling the leadership team to maximize its contributions, but she pointed out another foible affecting the HCEs. The manufacturer’s fiscal year does not correspond with the calendar year but starts on November 1, the HR manager says. “Therefore, for employees to qualify for the company’s profit-sharing contributions, you have to monitor their deferral elections so they don’t max out in the middle of the year and miss the full sponsor contribution. Debra walked me through the whole process and the math.”
 
Morris also offered ways to educate participants about the difference between the plan’s 401(k) and Roth 401(k) options—specifically, how to determine whether the Roth option makes sense for lower-wage earners, the HR manager says.
These three plan improvements enabled the HR manager to go to the leadership team and demonstrate how proficiently the plan was being run. “Debra is very responsive,” the HR manager says. “She consistently takes the time to sit down with me face to face to educate me about the plan nuances so I can pass that knowledge along.”
 
For her part, Morris says she thoroughly enjoys her job because it allows her to learn “how so many different types of businesses work.” But even more important is the ultimate mission at hand: “We in the retirement industry have to be proud of the fact we help people live better lives. Our role boils down to helping our plan sponsor clients and their employees be successful. Our participant education and enrollment specialists do a wonderful job.” —Lee Barney
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