PLANADVISER: Tell us about your role at your firm and your current responsibilities? How do you contribute to your firm/team’s growth and progress?
Henson: I currently serve as the chief legal officer for Creative Planning, where I oversee legal operations, client fiduciary services, government affairs and the ERISA compliance practice. With more than 23 years of industry experience, I work alongside Creative Planning’s leadership, sales and client service teams to develop fiduciary governance and compliance on behalf of more than 75,000 clients and 3,000 associates in more than 80 offices around the U.S., managing more than $500 billion in assets. Despite Creative Planning’s size and scale, my most important charge is to work directly with our front-line sales and service teams, doing more than 75 advisory finalists yearly, delivering dozens of webcasts, authoring numerous publications and, most importantly, conducting more than 100 client meetings per year. Creative Planning has the most comprehensive service model in the industry, providing wealth management, investment advisory, participant education, tax, legal and business services for clients ranging from solo practitioners to Fortune 100 companies. Our firm has come a long way from when I began in 2011, when we had $10 billion in assets under management, 200 clients and 50 associates. This growth is a result of a commitment to innovation, very talented people and meeting clients where they are, rather than where we anticipate they should be.
PLANADVISER: How did you end up in the retirement advisory industry?
Henson: I began my career as a law clerk with the U.S. Department of Labor – Employee Benefits Security Administration, which was my first introduction to employee benefits! Like many in our industry, I did not plan on this career. The clerkship was desirable because, at 22, it provided health insurance and flexible hours. I went on to spend nearly a decade in EBSA’s enforcement division, conducting more than 100 civil and criminal investigations of employee benefits plans, service providers and financial service providers. It was a wonderful experience, giving me a unique insight into the real world of plan sponsors and their struggles. In 2011, Lockton was searching for in-house ERISA counsel to build a compliance-centered, client-facing suite of services, and I joined with the opportunity to build a practice from the ground up. Over the next 11 years, I held roles as senior ERISA counsel, director of legislative and regulatory affairs, and chief client officer. In 2022, Creative Planning and Lockton created a strategic alliance whereby Creative took ownership of Lockton Retirement Services. Almost four years later, I am still here, helping plan sponsors navigate those same struggles that I first navigated 23 years ago.
PLANADVISER: What are the most common operational challenges in a retirement plan advisory firm? How do you manage those?
Henson: Advisers only exist because of a system based on overly complex, confusing and archaic laws and regulations—a system that very few plan sponsors and participants are able to properly navigate on their own. As a result, the best advisers are those who view their clients as a partnership, not as a consumer of services. Not every client has the resources, time and expertise to navigate their obligations, but unfortunately, the risk they take is the same, whether they are a small firm or a global tech firm. The best advisers are dynamic, flexible and consultative in their approach. Every client is different, with different goals, risks and knowledge. When an adviser can partner with a plan and assess where they are and then be flexible and competent enough to meet them where they are, we create valuable, trusted relationships that last for years. At our size, the ability to do this effectively on such a large scale is the biggest challenge we face. Our clients expect us to deliver solutions far beyond which investment option to choose—they expect us to navigate their mergers, their audits, their turnover, COVID and any other event that lands on their doorstep. Creative Planning is at its best when it answers these calls, whatever they are and whenever they come.