Best of PSNC 2018

Earle manages the relationships of several of our healthcare and academic institutions, as well as other non-profit organization employers, helping them fulfill their fiduciary responsibility to their plan and achieve best practices in plan administration.  He also acts as a senior level resource to a number of other Cammack Retirement clients. In his executive role, he is responsible for the development, implementation and management of strategic initiatives in the overall delivery of services to defined contribution plan clients.  He oversees the procedures for production of Cammack Retirement Group’s quarterly Due Diligence reports and the recordkeeper searches we conduct via a Request for Proposal process.  He also leads the team that responds to requests for our advisor services.  Earle works out of our New York City office. Earle joined Cammack Retirement Group in 1990 and has over 28 years of experience providing consulting and advisory services to defined contribution plan sponsors.  Earle has spent his career with Cammack Retirement Group, holding various positions both as part of the account servicing teams, as well as leading the teams for the New York City office.  Earle received his Bachelor’s Degree from Dartmouth College and his Master’s of Business Administration degree from New York University’s Stern School of Business.

Keith’s strong communications skills, along with his deep financial experience,
have helped him provide value to his clients as a Regional Sales Consultant in the
U.S. Intermediaries—Retirement Group at T. Rowe Price, where he oversees the
Southwest region. Keith’s mission is to help a diverse group of financial professionals elevate their businesses to higher levels. He is focused on helping advisors, brokers, and
recordkeepers add value to their clients’ investment strategies, as well as remain
informed about trends in the retirement marketplace.
Keith currently resides in Austin, Texas, with his wife, Jennifer, and their four
children, Robert, Paige, Bryan and Molly. Keith enjoys a variety of sports, including
hunting, fishing, and golf. Additionally, Keith and his family are involved in
supporting the work at an orphanage in Jinja, Uganda.
B.A. in political science from Texas Tech University

Jason Brafman is Director of Investments with John Hancock Funds, working exclusively with John Hancock Retirement Plan Services (RPS) to provide support in the use of John Hancock funds on John Hancock 401k plans.  Prior to this role, Jason spent almost 10 years working within RPS, his last role as the Senior Manager of the Investment Research & Strategy team within the Retirement Plan Services division at John Hancock.  This unique career history makes Jason conversant in many aspects of the 401k landscape, both in a broad sense and specific to John Hancock. Jason has worked in the financial services industry for over 20 years.  He started with John Hancock in 2005 within their Investment Management Services Team moving over to the Retirement Plan Services division in 2007.  Jason received a BA in History and Sociology from the University of Maryland in 1994 and an MBA with a concentration in Finance from Boston College in 2005.  Prior to working at John Hancock worked at SSgA as an index fund analyst.

Emily Seymour Costin is a partner in the Washington, D.C. office of Alston & Bird LLP, where she focuses her practice primarily on the defense of employee benefits disputes and counseling employers, plan sponsors, and fiduciaries on litigation avoidance strategies. Emily represents plan sponsors, insurers, and fiduciaries in individual, mass action, and class action litigation over claims for benefits and breach of fiduciary duty under ERISA. She has experience litigating various types of ERISA disputes, including those involving excessive fees, employer stock, employee stock ownership plans (ESOP), benefit termination, and health care matters. In addition, Emily has represented clients in a variety of other types of disputes, including employment, securities, insurance, breach of contract, health care, and government contracts/FCA-related claims, as well as guiding clients through regulatory and internal investigations. Emily is the chair of the ABA’s Joint Committee on Employee Benefits (JCEB), a member of the editorial advisory board of the Benefits Law Journal, and a contributing author to the BNA treatise ERISA Litigation. In 2018, Emily was named a “Rising Star” by Law360, and a Washington, DC Super Lawyer. She graduated with high honors from George Washington University Law School, where she was a member of the Order of the Coif.

As senior vice president and financial advisor based in our Southern California office, Mark provides investment advisory services to fiduciaries of qualified and nonqualified retirement plans from New York to Honolulu. He is an equity partner in the firm. He has been in the employer-sponsored retirement plans business for 27 years. Prior to joining CAPTRUST in 2009, he was a founding principal of Kravitz Davis Sansone, Inc., a Registered Investment Advisory firm based in Encino, California which was heavily focused on investments for defined contribution and cash balance pension plans. Well-known as an industry expert, Mark is frequently quoted in national media publications and is a regular speaker at industry conferences and plan sponsor forums. He has worked with members of the U.S. Senate, House of Representatives, and the Government Accountability Office on a variety of retirement plan issues related to plan sponsors and plan participants. Mark has testified before both the House Ways & Means and Education and Labor Committees. Mark recently served two terms on the Board of Directors of the American Society of Pension Professionals and Actuaries (ASPPA) and was a member of the founding Committee of the National Association of Plan Advisors (NAPA). He also served on the Advisory Board of the John Marshall School of Law Center for Tax Law and Employee Benefits in Chicago. He has been recognized as one of the top Financial Advisors of 2017 by the Financial Times and was recently named one of the top 100 Advisors for 2017 by PlanSponsor Magazine and one of the top 50 Investment Consultants for 2018 by Barron’s. He earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in Dramatic Arts and English from Amherst College and a MFA in Acting from the University of Minnesota and served on the faculties of both Amherst and Mt. Holyoke Colleges. Mark holds the Qualified Plan Financial Consultant (QPFC) professional designation.

Jonathon serves as Vice President of U.S. Defined Contribution within the Fisher Investments Institutional Group. In this role, he leads the business development efforts with the top retirement plan consultants and recordkeepers across the country who serve defined contribution plans $20 million and larger. Prior to joining Fisher Investments, Jonathon led national defined contribution sales at RS Investments (subsequently Victory Capital) from February 2014-May 2017 and prior to that was Senior Vice President of Business development at Mesirow Investment Strategies from 2006-2014. Jonathon began his financial services career at Ibbotson Associates in 2005.

Jodi H. Epstein is a partner in Ivins, Phillips & Barker’s Employee Benefits practice. She focuses on qualified plans, with particular expertise in integrations after acquisitions, setting up benefit platforms, and advising qualified plan committees regarding their fiduciary duties.  Jodi’s practice includes day-to-day compliance issues, such as assisting with implementation of new legislation and regulations, trouble-shooting when glitches arise in plan operations, and helping qualified plan committees monitor plan investments and plan vendors.  Her practice also includes the one-of-a-kind issues that can arise, usually in connection with M&A activity. Jodi did her undergraduate work at Stanford University, graduating with distinction in 1988.  She graduated from Harvard Law School in 1993 (cum laude).  She has been at Ivins since 1997. 

Jamie Fleckner is a partner in Goodwin’s Financial Industry practice and Chair of its ERISA Litigation practice. Mr. Fleckner represents clients in a wide array of complex commercial litigation, with a focus on financial services and products, including investment management. He regularly litigates class and derivative actions under ERISA, the Investment Company Act of 1940, the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, and related federal and state laws. His practice also focuses on regulatory investigations and governmental proceedings, and has represented clients before the U.S. Department of Labor, Securities and Exchange Commission, Department of Justice, Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation and state authorities.
Mr. Fleckner’s success in litigating cutting edge legal issues has been profiled in The American Lawyer, Big Suits. According to Chambers USA: America’s Leading Lawyers for Business where Mr. Fleckner has been selected for inclusion since 2014, Mr. Fleckner is “at the top of his game,” and is “a rare thought leader” on ERISA litigation. Since 2015, he has been recognized as a leading lawyer in the list of Who’s Who Legal: Pensions and Benefits.

Ben Grosz is a partner with Ivins, Phillips & Barker, where he advises clients on a broad range of employee benefits issues and federal tax planning matters, with particular focus on counseling employers and fiduciaries about their 401(k) and other tax-qualified plans.  One recent highlight has been advising a prominent company on the creation of a new proprietary ESG fund for its 401(k) plan.

He regularly advises clients regarding their fiduciary duties and handles day-to-day compliance issues, such as trouble-shooting when glitches arise in plan operations, implementation of new laws and regulations, and helping qualified plan committees monitor plan investments and plan vendors.  He has handled a variety of benefits issues that arise in transactions, negotiated investment management agreements and other benefits vendor service agreements (e.g., recordkeeping, consulting, and trustee), and represents clients in audits and before government agencies such as the IRS and DOL.  Ben has extensive experience drafting plan documents, amendments, fiduciary committee meeting minutes, summary plan descriptions and other participant communications. He has been retained as outside legal counsel to implement many investment manager and fund changes (including mutual funds, collective investment trusts, separately managed accounts, and private funds); to assist with the implementation of de-risking initiatives and plan redesigns; to establish numerous brand new qualified retirement plans (including defined benefit and cash balance pension plans, as well as 401(k) plans with ESOPs) in connection with complex transactions; to advise on executive employment agreements and tax matters; and to oversee and manage fee disclosure due diligence and reporting processes.  Ben works with large and small clients on their benefit programs and routinely handles day-to-day administrative questions for all types of plans.  Recent employee benefits clients include ConEdison, GE, IBM, PSEG, SABIC, and the U.S. Golf Association. Before law school, Ben started his own financial planning business. Prior to that he was a business manager at Capital One.  His business experiences help him understand the needs of clients ranging from entrepreneurs to large corporations.  Ben earned his B.A. from the University of Virginia (magna cum laude and elected Phi Beta Kappa), an Executive Certificate in Financial Planning from Georgetown University, and his J.D. from the University of Virginia School of Law.  He has been frequently quoted in national publications and the trade press (including Forbes, US News & World Report, CNBC, PlanSponsor, Family Office Monthly, and Fiduciary News) on benefits and tax matters, and he has spoken to the American Bar Association, the D.C. Bar, The Plan Sponsor University, the Tax Executives Institute, and PlanSponsor’s Best of PSNC conference.

Michael (Mike) Haggerty is Director of Relationship Management at ADP Retirement Services. He and his team of 11 seasoned industry representatives are responsible for overseeing a select group of clients, providing strategic business planning, plan and investment reviews, education planning, and project management. Mike has more than 23 years of experience in the Financial Services industry, with a focus on defined contribution plans. He has been with ADP since February, 2013. Prior to his current position, Mike was Head of Relationship Management at DWS Investments, where he was responsible for overseeing all aspects of DWS’ client service, including investment strategies, products, administration and business management. He also has extensive experience with education and training of retirement plan participants, including the development and implementation of customized communication strategies. Mike has a BA degree from Stonehill College. He holds FINRA Series 7, 26 and 63 licenses, as well as the CRPS designation. He is based out of his home office in Kingston, MA.

David serves as the lead consultant for a broad range of clients, including defined contribution plans, pension plans, endowments, and foundations. His primary responsibility is advising invest-ment committees on all phases of their fiduciary duties. To ac-complish this, David works closely with his clients to develop and implement a customized action plan to meet their objectives. He has extensive experience with all aspects of fiduciary oversight including investment policy statements, performance evaluation, investment manager due diligence, and fee benchmarking. In addition to his investment consulting duties, David is amember of the senior management team which oversees the firm’s strategic initiatives. He has also been an integral part of PEI’s research efforts in areas such as millennials, target date funds, stable value, and fee analysis. During his tenure with the firm, he has presented regularly at industry events and has frequently written articles on fiduciary issues. David is a CFA charterholder and a member of the New York Society of Security Analysts. David is also a member of the American Society of Pension Professionals & Actuaries (ASPPA) and holds the Qualified 401(k) Plan Administrator (QKA), and the Quali-fied Plan Financial Consultant (QPFC) designations. He currently volunteers on ASPPA’s GAC DOL Subcommittee and is a former member of ASPPA’s GAC IRS Subcommittee. David has also earned the RPA designation with the International Society of Em-ployee Benefits and has completed the PSCA’s ERISA Fiduciary Certification Program. Prior to joining the firm in 2006, David was employed at ADP Retirement Services and American Express Financial Advisors. He has worked in the investment industry since 1999. David is a summa cum laude graduate of Gettysburg College and earned an MBA from Seton Hall University.

Brad Huss is a Director of the San Francisco law firm of Trucker Huss, APC, which practices exclusively in the fields of ERISA and employee benefits.  Mr. Huss concentrates his practice on ERISA litigation, fiduciary responsibility matters, Department of Labor investigations and qualified pension and profit sharing plans.  Mr. Huss has spoken numerous times on these topics throughout the country and has testified before the United States Senate Finance Committee concerning retirement security issues.  Mr. Huss is a member of the Board of Directors of the American Bar Association Retirement Funds, a Charter Fellow and a former member of the Board of Governors of the American College of Employee Benefits Counsel.  Mr. Huss is a past member of the Board of Directors of the American Society of Pension Professionals and Actuaries, a former chair of the Employee Benefits Committee of the Section of Tort Trial and Insurance Practice of the American Bar Association and a past President of the San Francisco Chapter of the Western Pension & Benefits

Gene Huxhold is the Senior Managing Director for Investment Only Retirement Plans at John Hancock Investments. Gene brings more than 25 years experience to his role. Prior to joining John Hancock, Gene worked at CNA Financial, Kemper Investments (Predecessor  to DWS) and Allstate Financial Services. He has held a variety of positions including Retirement Plan Wholesaler and National Sales Manager for both mutual fund and retirement plan wholesalers. Just prior to joining John Hancock, Gene was a senior vice president at Allstate, managing a large retail organization. Gene holds a BS in Finance/Personnel Management and an MBA in Economics from DePaul University. He is a Certified Financial Planner and an Accredited Investment Fiduciary. He has been recognized for his expertise by organizations such as NAPA and the Plan Sponsor Council of America.  Gene is a Founding member of the Retirement Advisor Council.  He has also testified before the House Ways & Means Sub-Committee on matters concerning non-profit retirement plans.

Tom Idzorek, CFA, is chief investment officer, retirement, for Morningstar Investment Management LLC. He also serves as member of Morningstar’s 401(k) committee, Public Policy Council, chairs Morningstar’s overall Research Council, and on the editorial boards of Morningstar magazine and the CFA Institute Financial Analysts Journal (FAJ). Idzorek was president of Morningstar’s global investment management division from 2012 to 2015, where he oversaw the firm’s global investment advice, consulting, retirement solutions, broker dealer, index, and financial wellness businesses. Additionally, he has served as president of Ibbotson Associates, president of Morningstar Associates, board member/responsible officer for a number of Investment Management’s subsidiaries, global chief investment officer for Investment Management, chief investment officer for Ibbotson Associates, and director of research and product development for Ibbotson. Most recently, Idzorek served as head of investment methodology and economic research for Morningstar. Before joining Ibbotson (which Morningstar acquired in 2006), Idzorek was a senior quantitative researcher for Zephyr Associates. Idzorek has written numerous articles for academic and industry journals and collaborated on papers selected by the FAJ for Graham and Dodd Scroll Awards. He is an expert on multiasset class strategic asset allocation, the Black-Litterman model, target-date funds, retirement income solutions, fund-of-funds optimization, risk budgeting, and performance analysis.  Idzorek is the key methodological creator of Morningstar’s target-date and retirement managed account (robo-advice) solution.
Idzorek holds a bachelor’s degree in marketing from Arizona State University and a master’s degree in business administration from Thunderbird School of Global Management. He also holds the Chartered Financial Analyst® designation.

Anthony Karamas leads the distribution efforts of Fidelity’s Portfolio Advisory Services at Work through Fidelity’s recordkeeping partners. Anthony has spent over two decades in wholesaling and sales management roles in the West Coast, Midwest and New England regions. He joined Fidelity in April 2001 and has held a variety of roles working with advisors, financial intermediaries, and leading a team of Broker-Dealer Home Office Relationship Managers.   A native of the Boston area, Mr. Karamas received his Bachelor of Science degree from Boston College’s Carroll School of Management. In addition, he completed the 3 year Securities Industry Institute (SII) Program through SIFMA at The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania in 2008.

Chris Luongo is Divisional Vice President of Strategy, Marketing, and Business Development for ADP Retirement Services. With more than 20 years of experience in the human capital management and retirement services industries, Chris is a dynamic leader who brings a commitment to developing retirement plan solutions that work better for clients, participants, and retirement advisors through exceptional service, innovative technology, and best-in-class investment options. Chris is responsible for defining the business unit’s marketplace strategy and development of competitive retirement plan products for a wide range of plan types to meet the needs of small-, mid-, and large-sized companies. Chris has a proven track record of delivering competitive product solutions including ADP Advisor Access and ADP ACCESS to meet the demands of a changing marketplace and has help drive sales growth for the organization. Some of Chris’ notable accomplishments include establishing a new business entity, ADP Strategic Plan Services, LLC, a registered investment advisor, to provide investment management services to clients. He is also responsible for overseeing ADP’s financial wellness strategy and developing the firm’s holistic program to meet the workplace needs of employers and their employees. Chris has held various roles within multiple business units since joining ADP in 1995. Prior to his current role, he served with ADP Retirement Services for nine years in a sales leadership capacity. Most recently, Chis led the Major, National, and Internal Wholesale teams as Divisional Vice President. A graduate of West Chester University in Pennsylvania, Chris earned his Certified Public Accountant license from the state of Maryland in 1996. He began his career as an accountant with a small CPA firm as an internal auditor for the County of Chester in Pennsylvania. He also currently holds Series 6, 63 and 26 licensing.

Eric’s strong communications skills, along with his deep financial experience, have helped him provide value to his clients as a Regional Sales Consultant in the U.S. Intermediaries—Retirement Group at T. Rowe Price, where he oversees the Upper Midwest region. Eric’s mission is to help a diverse group of financial professionals elevate their businesses to higher levels. He is focused on helping advisors, brokers, and record keepers add value to their clients’ investment strategies, as well as remain informed about trends in the retirement marketplace.
Eric currently resides in Glen Ellyn, Illinois with his wife Suzanne and their three
children, Kayla, Dylan, and Tyler. In his spare time, Eric enjoys coaching youth
sports and is an active member of the Glen Ellyn Youth Athletics Program. 
Eric holds a B.A. in International Business from Eckerd College.

John helps business owners and plan sponsors to be more cost effective and compliant.  He seeks to help reduce the administrative burden that comes with managing a plan, while satisfying fiduciary obligations.  With his team, The Mott Group at Graystone Consulting, he provides a range of services including plan design, investment selection, 3(21) and 3(38) fiduciary support, investment policy statement  support, service provider selection, fee analysis , performance reporting, as well as ongoing employee education. John has been in the financial services industry for the past 38 years, 30 of those at Morgan Stanley.  With his expertise in the DC/DB & Non-Qualified plan space, John has been recognized as one of the premier 401k specialists nationally. John was the first recipient of the PLANSPONSOR Retirement Plan Advisor of the Year in 2005 & inducted into the Plan Advisor Hall of Fame in 2011. John is a member of the National Association of Plan Advisors (NAPA). John currently serves on the Morgan Stanley Advisory Board for Corporate Retirement Directors.

Jim Sampson is Director, Retirement Advisory Services of Hilb Group Retirement Services (formerly Cornerstone Retirement Advisors), and has served the retirement plan industry for more than 20 years.  Jim has received numerous industry awards and recognitions, including:

• 2-time Finalist for the PLANSPONSOR Retirement Plan Adviser of the Year¹ (2008 & 2012)
• 7-time PLANADVISER Top 100 Retirement Plan Adviser³ (2012 – 2018)

Jim has appeared on the FOX25 Morning News in Boston on their weekly Manage Your Money segment, has been quoted on retirement plan issues in The Boston Globe, Providence Business News, PLANSPONSOR Magazine, WSJonline.com and Employee Benefit Advisor Magazine, and has been a speaker or panelist at a number of industry conferences.

Jim has earned the Accredited Investment Fiduciary™, Certified 401(k) Professional® and Certified Plan Fiduciary Advisor designations and earned a BS in Sport Management from the University of Massachusetts, Amherst.

Loukas Stephens serves as Vice President, U.S. Defined Contribution and Subadvisory, within the Fisher Investments Institutional Group.  In this role, he is responsible for leading strategy and business development efforts within the unit serving defined contribution plans with $20 million or greater in assets.  Loukas has been with Fisher Investments over 19 years and his prior experience includes management of Fisher Investments Institutional Group’s global sales and marketing efforts as well as sales management and client service roles within Fisher Investments’ Private Client Group.  Prior to Fisher, Loukas worked within the Retirement Plan Services and Sales groups at Franklin Templeton Investments.   Loukas is a native of San Francisco and resides there with his wife and sons.

Blake Thibault serves as one of the Principals of Heffernan Retirement Services. Mr. Thibault is a member of the Firm’s Investment Policy Committee, the Corporate Retirement Review Committee and has direct relationship responsibility for a number of the Firm’s clients. Previous to Heffernan, Mr. Thibault was associated with Morgan Stanley as a Wealth Advisor and Retirement Planning Specialist. At Morgan Stanley, Mr. Thibault advised individuals, corporations and non-profit organizations. At Heffernan, Mr. Thibault holds responsibility for assisting our corporate clients with plan and vendor evaluations, contract negotiations, implementation initiatives, investment selection and monitoring, comprehensive plan reviews and education strategies for plan sponsors and participants. Mr. Thibault and his team were recently recognized as a semi-finalist for NAPA’s 2013 401(k) Advisor Leadership Award, recognizing leadership, innovation, and contributions to the retirement plan industry with the sales, marketing and establishment of 401(k) plans.  In 2007, Mr. Thibault was recognized by Institutional Investor Magazine1 as one of the top twenty Retirement Plan Advisors Rising Stars.  Mr. Thibault and his team have been recognized by Plan Advisor Magazine2 as one of the top 100 Advisor Teams nationally every year since 2008. Mr. Thibault is very active in the retirement community serving on several Defined Contribution Advisory Boards, including Fidelity, ING (Voya), LPL and PIMCO.  Mr. Thibault currently serves on the Government Affairs Committee for the National Association of Plan Advisors.  He is also a member of The American Society of Pension Professionals and Actuaries.  Mr. Thibault holds a series 7, 66 and 31 licenses and is an Accredited Investment Fiduciary, AIF.

Brad’s strong communications skills, along with his deep financial experience, have helped him provide value to his clients as a Regional Sales Consultant in the U.S. Intermediaries—Retirement Group at T. Rowe Price, where he oversees the Pacific Northwest region. Brad’s mission is to help a diverse group of financial professionals elevate their businesses to higher levels. He is focused on helping advisors, brokers, and record keepers add value to their clients’ investment strategies, as well as remain informed about trends in the retirement marketplace.
Brad currently resides in Bainbridge Island Washington, outside Seattle. During
his free time, he enjoys sports, travel, reading and listening to live music. Time
spent on a golf course or in a kayak are among his favorite pursuits. He is
the proud father of three grown children and looks forward to spending time
with them.
Brad holds a B.A. in Economics from Washington and Lee University.

Rick has spent his entire professional career of over 25 years helping employees to pursue a retirement with enough income to fulfill their retirement dreams. He has done this by working with employers to optimize their retirement plan and offering the financial education to their employees. These steps help his clients’ employees work towards saving sufficiently to make those dreams a reality. With 25+ years in the retirement plan world and close to 100 corporate clients in Northern California (part of Pensionmark’s more than 1,600 national clients), Rick has the experience necessary to help guide his clients through the maze of regulatory compliance and best practice decisions. In 2010, Rick’s efforts at supporting his clients was recognized by PLANSPONSOR Magazine as they named him their ‘Retirement Advisor of the Year.’ Prior to founding Northgate Retirement Group in 2006 (which merged into Pensionmark in 2012), Rick was the Vice President of Northern California for Principal Financial and was responsible for sales, marketing, and administrative services for their 1,200+ retirement plan clients. The clients, both “for profit” and “not for profit” ranged in sizes from $1 million in plan assets to hundreds of millions of dollars. Rick graduated from Rollins College with a degree in Economics and has an MBA from Babson College. He is an Investment Advisor Representative and holds Series 6, 7, 24, 26, 63 and 65 registrations. He has also earned the PLANSPONSOR Retirement Professional (PRP) designation. Rick and his wife of over 22 years live in Novato, CA with their 18 year old daughter and 15 year old son. They spend most weekends participating in some activity involving the kids and love to vacation on Cape Cod.

Jonathan’s strong communications skills, along with his deep financial
experience, have helped him provide value to his clients as a Regional Sales
Consultant in the U.S. Intermediaries—Retirement Group at T. Rowe Price, where
he oversees the Metro region.
Jonathan’s mission is to help a diverse group of financial professionals elevate
their businesses to higher levels. He is focused on helping advisors, brokers, and
record keepers add value to their clients’ investment strategies, as well as remain
informed about trends in the retirement marketplace.
Prior to joining T. Rowe Price, Jonathan worked for a variety of organizations
including Goldman Sachs, The Hartford Retirement Plan Group, and
AllianceBernstein.
Jonathan has 17 years in the financial industry.
Jonathan currently resides in New Jersey with his wife and three daughters.