Paula Hoover

Switching to a new provider and altering administrative practices can often be disruptive—as The Tom Lange Company, Inc., learned firsthand when switching payroll providers last year. According to Jena Bagot, from the company, “Throughout this process, I had to manually prepare files for our 401(k) plan, when the process had been automated previously.”

Paula Hoover, a senior account manager with Securian Financial Group, notes the complexity of the operation. “When Tom Lange changed payroll providers, the transition was difficult and very time consuming for the company. They were auditing and recalculating all contributions/compensation calculated by their old provider for over a year.”

Hoover was called in to help, and her assistance was invaluable, Bagot says. “Paula pushed our payroll provider to get its files into the correct format. She found and fixed my errors, figured out the quirks and bad data in our new payroll provider’s files and worked directly with it to get the new auto-file into place.”

Hoover recognizes that the company retirement plan is not her clients’ only responsibility, and she tries to make their jobs easier. “I was able to ‘stand in the gap’ for Tom Lange. I worked with the payroll provider and the plan sponsor to ensure that all plan-level calculations were correct,” she says.

Among the resources Securian offers are several that she herself developed to reconcile data, “which in the end will help meet our clients’ needs,” she says.

“Even though this year has been a challenge for me, Paula is always willing to go above and beyond to help,” Bagot says. “I truly believe our plan would be out of balance without her and that the new auto-files, which have now gone live, wouldn’t have happened this year if she hadn’t pushed and worked so hard. I wish everyone I worked with was as responsive and conscientious as Paula. She is truly my Service Star!”