Kelli Davis

Executive Vice President,
HUB International

Business at a Glance as of 12/31/24

• Location: Indianapolis, Indiana
• How many retirement plan assets do you have under advisement? $539.8M
• What is your median plan size (in assets)? $6.4M
• How many plans do you have under administration? 84
• How many participants in total do you serve? 14,150
• Parent firm: HUB International and Global Retirement Partners

PLANADVISER: How is your team unique in the marketplace? How do you differentiate yourself from others?

Davis: I believe several components make our team unique. One, we focus on smaller plans, ranging from startups to $10 million. While we have larger plans, we have found the smaller market allows us to engage more with the participants to drive better outcomes. We have a 67% action rate of increasing deferrals and proper asset allocation when working with the participants one-on-one. Our TPA services allow greater engagement with plan sponsors, as we can work collaboratively with them to improve plan design and manage their compliance needs effectively. Our education services are excellent. We have solved for the ability to work with plan participants to provide the education and advice they need, as well as improve their outcomes. This work has always been the cornerstone of what we do, and while other practices are looking to add participant services and wealth management, we have been providing these services for 50 years. Finally, I would say our work with public school districts set us apart. There are millions of participants and billions of dollars in assets, but most advisers will not work with public schools. We have taken this challenge head on and been able to save millions of dollars in plan fees, increase participation and allow teachers to retire on their own schedule.

PLANADVISER: How do you grow your business? What changes to your practice or service model are you planning for 2025?

Davis: We grow our practice through our existing relationships. We have been fortunate that our clients feel confident in our work to refer us to their peers. Our team has a strong network of benefit brokers, who also are willing to make introductions on our behalf. For 2025, our biggest change will be adding new teams to our organization. With the growth we have had in the past few years, we want to continue to provide the same level of service our clients expect and know we need additional team members to accomplish this.

PLANADVISER: Please tell us about an important issue that your 403(b) plan sponsor clients face and what actions you have taken to assist them in overcoming that issue.

Davis: While this isn’t a new problem, clients struggling to offer competitive benefits with smaller budgets is still a big problem. Focusing on the K-12 public school market, this continues to be an issue as state budgets decline, so it is important to help the clients with plan design, fee benchmarking and finding creative methods with how we provide benefits. As our clients begin to recruit more from the private sector, we have had success in helping them structure 457 plans to offer separate retirement benefits as part of the benefits package. While 457 plans are not new, many of my clients didn’t know such a tool existed, and the 457 plans have been invaluable in helping attract and retain the best talent.

PLANADVISER: How did you get started advising 403(b) plan sponsors? What advice would you give other advisers wanting to enter this market?

Davis: Advising 403(b) plan sponsors was a very natural fit for me. I grew up in a family of teachers, so when I first started working, everyone I knew had questions about their 403(b) accounts. After a while, I started asking for introductions to their HR directors, and the introductions snowballed from there. For advisers wanting to enter this market, I would advise them to ask for introductions from their network. Many HR professionals in nonprofit and education are desperate for good partners to help them solve their issues.

PLANADVISER: What’s your favorite book or podcast?

Davis: I never miss the Miles to Go podcast. I love to travel and have become a big credit card points and miles nerd over the past few years. I love the banter of the podcast and always pick up a new tip or trick or place to visit.