PLANADVISER - January/February 2020 - 2

publisher's note //
Leading by Example
IN THE EARLY 2000S, the team at PLANSPONSOR
recognized a growing group
of visitors and registrants to our
website-advisers. Traditional investment
consultants to pension plans
had been dropping by for a while, but
this was a new group of retirement
plan advisers-those guiding mostly
defined contribution (DC) plan sponsors, in the management
of their retirement plan. We started slowly reaching out to
this community, launching first a small digital weekly newsletter,
AdvisorDash, under the PLANSPONSOR brand, in 2003.
It quickly became apparent that we wanted to do more,
including to promote some of these advisers to our plan
sponsor community and to each other. So, in 2004, we
solicited nominations for the first PLANSPONSOR Retirement
Plan Adviser of the Year Award.
We set out to acknowledge " the contributions of the
nation's best financial advisers in helping make retirement
security a reality for workers across the nation. " If that
sounds vague, it's because it was. We weren't sure what
the benchmark for " best " adviser would look like. It was
a daunting task, also because we were unsure what type
of response we'd get-who would nominate an adviser or
apply, themselves?
The goal was simply to shine a light on the best practices
of the nation's very best retirement plan advisers. That has
remained our mission for the awards since the start.
Understandably, the qualitative nature of the award can
be difficult to explain, especially because it changes from
year to year. The first year, for example, we didn't require
advisers to acknowledge fiduciary status-we obviously do
that now and have for many years; we were yet to have qualified
default investment alternatives (QDIAs) to help participants
make sense of asset allocation-and to contribute to
our benchmark; and fee-based advising wasn't something
we even asked about. Also, we recognized individuals only,
whereas now, team-based advising seems to be the norm.
As the industry evolves, our award has done the same,
requiring advisers to use the many varied plan design tools
at their disposal-automatic enrollment and escalation,
for example-to improve their retirement plans, or to have
specific reasons why they don't find them in the best interest
of particular clients.
Luckily for us, that first year, and every year since, we
have found the best in the country. Between the reach of
our plan sponsors who eagerly nominate their adviser, and
support from all sides of the retirement plan industry, our
award continues to grow and honor an amazing group
of professionals. Every year, it's difficult for our group of
judges-which includes both advisers and editorial team
members-to choose " the best " because we have so many
excellent candidates.
It's hard to believe, but it has been 15 years since we gave
our first award, to John Mott of Smith Barney in Houston,
now with Morgan Stanley but still in Houston. Since that
first ceremony, in 2005, we have recognized, through the
individual and various team categories of the award, 39
individuals and teams.
Reflecting on this group over the past few months has
been incredible. Not only are the vast majority of them still
full-time retirement plan advisers, they all still
lead our
industry. They serve on industry boards and advisory councils;
they are sought-after speakers and mentors; they set
new trends; and their businesses have grown tremendously.
I'd like to think our award played a bit of a role in that, and I
also must acknowledge how wonderful it's been to have such
excellent ambassadors for our brands.
We continue to give our award each year, but in light of
this milestone year, 2020 will be somewhat of a trip down
memory lane, as well as a look toward the future. Past
Retirement Plan Advisers of the Year will be profiled on
PLANADVISER's website, will take part in a roundtabletype
discussion in each issue of the magazine (see Winners'
Circle, page 20, for the first), and will help us take a new
approach to our PLANADVISER National Conference (PANC)
in September-this year in Arizona. We'll honor many of
them next month at our annual Excellence in Retirement
Awards Dinner in Manhattan.
As many of you continue to look to them for insight on
where our industry is headed, we do that, too-giving you
new opportunities to learn from the best and the brightest.
Alison Cooke Mintzer
Publisher, PLANADVISER
2 | planadviser.com January-February 2020
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PLANADVISER - January/February 2020

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