2023 PLANADVISER Retirement Plan Adviser of the Year
Community Impact and Giving Back

Derek Fiorenza, Summit Group Retirement Planners, Inc.

Plansponsor of the year winner icon WINNER
Exton, Pennsylvania

Business at a Glance as of 12/31/22

  • Plan assets under advisement: $164 million
  • Median plan size (in assets): Around $2 million to $2.5 million
  • Plans under administration: 63
  • Total participants served: Between 4,000 and 5,000

PLANADVISER: Tell us about your practice and how you got into advising retirement plans.

Fiorenza: Advising on retirement plans is much more than a job. It’s a calling—a vocation. I am driven by a strong desire to make the world better through humble and focused service. I noticed early on working in my family investment advisory business with my father, Anthony Fiorenza, that providing support and guidance to employees of companies enabled me to accommodate a wide swath of individuals. This enables me to educate and interact with participants of all income levels and assets.

At our firm, we believe every American deserves an opportunity to retire debt-free and with dignity. To that end, my personal mission is to empower every participant I have the opportunity to work with so that they are able to acquire the knowledge and understanding not just of the importance of saving for retirement, but of monitoring and managing their overall financial health.

As we have grown our family practice, we have maintained a disposition committed to a prudently documented process built on striving to address the needs of the individuals with whom we consult and their families. I am honored to be a retirement plan specialist, and I truly live this passion each day I go to work.


PLANADVISER: How is your team/process/structure unique? How has it evolved? Where will you be in five years?

Fiorenza: We have grown as a family business with my father and myself. In terms of the future, I have several very important goals. I want to continue growing organically and maintain ownership of our company as a family business. I also want to build the business to a point where we can add other advisers and relationship managers to our team to maintain our high level of participant communication and education.

Beyond the business growth that I am targeting, I also want to create profits from our company that I can direct to help support the nonprofit organization I founded in 2011, Fiorenza’s Food For Friends (F4).

I still serve as the president of F4. It is an unpaid, volunteer role. The goal of the organization is to create a world without hunger by connecting sources of food to recipients in need. In totality, we have helped to distribute more than 6.5 million pounds of food across 34 states. We do not apply for or accept government funds, and we also do not charge program fees to the donors or food banks and shelters we assist. www.f4service.org


PLANADVISER: As a retirement plan adviser, what do you take the most pride in?

Fiorenza: I try to always maintain a disposition of humility, but I would say I feel most fulfilled when I am able to impart knowledge that brings hope to the participants I work with. I love knowing that I am helping support employees and their families and that, hopefully, a result of our collaborations and meetings are better future outcomes. Seeing others realize their potential and grow brings me great joy, and it inspires me to want to work even harder to take our services to a higher level, professionally and emotionally. I want all of our clients to not just have a path forward that makes sense objectively, but also ensure that they are comfortable in the sense that it aligns with their value system.


PLANADVISER: How do you grow your business? What changes to your practice or service model are you planning for 2023 or 2024?

Fiorenza: I strive to grow our business organically. I have created two professional networking mastermind groups with other working professionals that provide services to companies (for example, payroll, worker’s compensation, auditing services, legal services, banking, etc). We review business successes and failures monthly when we convene, and we also review educational topics we believe can be beneficial to our respective clients.

I also try to help professionals network and grow their businesses or even make introductions to help them obtain employment and a new job if they are looking for new opportunities.

Lastly, I try to communicate with plan sponsors and HR directors that I have worked with in the past when they move on to a new employer.


PLANADVISER: Please tell us about an important experience you have had while getting involved in your local, regional or global community.

Fiorenza: I strive to live a life dedicated to service. Philanthropically, I am working hard to expand the efforts of our charity. My lifelong goal is to provide 1 billion pounds of food to those that are suffering and hungry around the world.

From a financial wellness and literacy standpoint, I am a member of the Retirement Advisor Council. One of my roles as part of the RAC is to serve as the organization’s secretary for the Financial Literacy Committee. I take notes at all meetings and two of the subcommittee meetings. Our goal is to build awareness around the importance of financial literacy, starting in grade school, high school, college and beyond, across all 50 states.

Lastly, I also play guitar and serve as a lector at my church, and I cherish my worship community


PLANADVISER: What advice can you give to your industry peers about developing a successful philanthropic or charitable vision for a firm?

Fiorenza: My advice would simply be to evaluate why you do what you do? Why are you a retirement plan specialist? Why are you a financial adviser? Why do you run your own business?

Once you can clearly establish why you are in this field, my next question would be, ‘Are you fulfilled?’ If yes, great, what about your job do you find fulfilling? If no, do you know what you would find fulfilling? If not, what can you do to explore that further?

Lastly, consider your life and your legacy. What do you want to be known for? For me, it’s simple: I want to bring hope to others, and I want every person I work with to feel appreciated, respected, valued and be in a better position after I speak with them. That’s my goal, and that’s the paradigm I operate from when I make decisions.


Disclosure


Summit Group Retirement Planners, Inc. is a member of Center for Fiduciary Excellence.

Derek Fiorenza is a member of the National Association of Plan Advisors (NAPA) and Retirement Partners Group (RPG). RPG is a network associated with LPL Financial. NAPA Top DC Advisor Firms selected based solely on defined contribution (DC) plan assets under advisement as reported directly by nominees. Summit Group Retirement Planners, Inc has been recognized in 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020, and 2021.

Securities offered through LPL Financial. Member FINRA/SIPC. Investment advice offered through Summit Group Retirement Planners, Inc., a Registered Investment Advisor. Summit Group Retirement Planners, Inc. and Summit Group Associates are separate entities from LPL Financial.

The information contained in this email message is being transmitted to and is intended for the use of only the individual(s) to whom it is addressed. If the reader of this message is not the intended recipient, you are hereby advised that any dissemination, distribution or copying of this message is strictly prohibited. If you have received this message in error, please immediately delete.

NAPA “Young Guns” for 2015, 2017, 2018, 2019 and “ACES” award for 2020: nominated and voted on by industry peers and selected by a NAPA member committee based on business profile and future industry leadership potential.

Derek was selected as a member of the 2021 Class of Vista Millennial Superstars – “40 Chester County Superstars Under 40”