PLANADVISER - January/February 2021 - 37

need to do a better job of training
these fiduciaries to make better decisions, "
says Joshua Itzoe, a partner and
managing director with Greenspring
Advisors in Towson, Maryland. The
goal, he says, is to help the members
" develop the competence and the
mastery that enables them to be effective
in their role. "
While John Barry, principal of JMB
Wealth Management in Los Angeles,
performs a fiduciary best practice
overview for each client during his
in-person annual review of its plan,
sometimes the training is informal.
" For us, " he says, " we have found that
the most effective way is to be on call.
Most things plan sponsors need help
or advice on are unplanned. All of our
plan sponsor clients have our mobile
numbers and can call us whenever
they need help. We're on call 24/7. "
Whether training is formal or
" two key ERISA fiduciary
informal,
concepts should be highlighted, " Conley
says. " First, when making fiduciary
decisions, committee members must
act in the interest of the participants
and beneficiaries. Second is process.
" The committee must go through
a good process, considering all of the
relevant information for purposes of
making fiduciary decisions, " she says.
" These concepts should be intertwined
with specific topics: understanding the
fiduciary role; fiduciary governance;
monitoring fees and service providers;
plan documentation; fiduciary liability,
including
co-fiduciary
liability;
and
prohibited transactions. "
Mark Olsen, managing director
at PlanPilot, suggests incorporating
fiduciary training into each quarterly
committee meeting and, if warranted,
to meet solely for ongoing fiduciary
training. As part of the company's 2021
planning initiative, " we surveyed a
sampling of committee members, and
a consistent theme was the desire to
have an increased knowledge base on
their fiduciary duties. The overarching
response was 'to understand the role
of a fiduciary,' but some of the finer
points warrant dedicated dialogue, and
[we] felt that a separate meeting dedicated
to these topics would increase
members' comfort level. " -PA
Tools of Engagement
There is no such thing as a crash course in how to be a retirement
plan fiduciary.
It's an ongoing, on-the-job-learning process,
and committee members need to be engaged. To ease their
nervousness about the role-and maybe even help them enjoy
it-you might want to try these strategies.
Into the Weeds
" Ongoing training could be
about getting 'into the weeds'
on topics such as prohibited
transaction issues; excessive
plan fees; use of collective
investment trusts [CITs] and
other [allegedly] lower-cost
vehicles; recordkeeper use of
participant data for cross-selling
non-plan products and services;
and cyber theft of participant
distributions. It's helpful to have
sessions on those and on what
the courts are looking at. "
-Joan Neri, Faegre Drinker Biddle &
Reath LLP
Back to the Future
" A notable training topic we use
is a review of how a [client]'s
plan has changed over
time and what drove those
changes. We see this exercise
as a springboard to potentially
revisiting prior decisions or
reinforcing the decision. "
-Mark Olsen, PlanPilot
Take the Plunge
" At each quarterly committee
meeting, we conduct a deep
dive on a specific subject such
as fee allocation or participant
investment behaviors. As part of
this effort, we'll identify relevant
ERISA [Employee Retirement
Income Security Act] cases to
cover as part of the discussion
of the data. It gives us a
humbling opportunity to see
ERISA in action. " -Ellen Lander,
Renaissance Benefit Advisors Group
Apropos of ...
" We don't want to do the
same training every time. What
they need to know will vary.
For example, the committee
may be preparing to do a
request for proposals [RFP], or
considering securities lending for
a defined benefit [DB] plan. What
specialized training to include
depends on what's going on with
the plan. " -Benjamin Grosz, Ivins,
Phillips & Barker
On-Demand Training
Josh Itzoe of Greenspring Advisers recommends that ongoing training
for all committee members be conducted throughout the year when
the committee meets. Consulting with Faegre Drinker Biddle & Reath
LLP ERISA attorney Fred Reish, Itzoe's firm has developed an online
video fiduciary training program. Each of the 10 segments includes a
quiz at the end. Once a committee member has gone through all of
the segments, he must take a final exam.
planadviser.com January-February 2021 | 37
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PLANADVISER - January/February 2021

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