Chelsie Andrews

PLANADVISER: How did you end up in the retirement advisory industry?

Andrews: This was my first job out of college 21 years ago. I didn’t know what I wanted to do, but I was good at math and thought it would be a good place to start. The original plan was to do this for a couple years and move on to something else. Then I met my mentor, Diane Bella. She had been in the business for 20 years and had already worked for Deschutes for five (at the time, I thought that was so long to work at one company, and now here I am, 21 years later, still doing it). I spent the next 20 years learning everything I could from her. She was someone that always wanted to help everyone else look good. About six years ago, she pulled back to part-time, which allowed me to take on a bigger leadership role with the firm. Her goal was to make sure we help everyone in the retirement plans. Diane retired earlier this year, and I am forever grateful for her mentorship.

PLANADVISER: What are the most common operational challenges in a retirement plan advisory firm? How do you manage those?

Andrews: One of the biggest operational challenges is when advisers work as individuals, instead of a team. I think making sure we are working as a team instead of in individual silos is very important. I want all our clients to know there is a team here. The adviser is always going to be the client’s main contact, but the clients should also know that we are all here to help. They can reach out to me, even if it’s just “can I get a copy of our latest meeting notes?” If advisers are working separately, you run into inconsistencies with service and have a harder time providing back-up to those clients.

At Deschutes, we use weekly meetings for both service and business development. These meetings allow all our employees to know what is going on with all our plans. We can work though issues together. We also make sure to create consistency in our services plans and offerings.

PLANADVISER: What are the skills that are most needed to be successful in your role?

Andrews: It is going to seem so simple, but organization is probably the most important. I can’t run anything if it isn’t in an organized fashion. Organization and processes help to reduce things slipping through the cracks. Task lists and workflows are integral to my role.

I think another “skill” is learning to have a “we before me” mentality. I consider myself successful if our firm is successful. I’m here to make our advisers look good. That mentality is also why it’s hard to answer these questions about myself. It doesn’t matter if an adviser is sitting down for a quarterly review meeting or an RFP, I want to get that person as prepared as possible and get them everything they need to be successful. I don’t need to be the client-facing person.