Devyn Duex

Principal, Financial Advisor, CAPTRUST

Business at a Glance

PLANADVISER: How has your retirement plan practice evolved over the past three to five years? What strategic decisions most changed your growth trajectory or client impact?

Duex: Over the past three to five years, my retirement plan practice has evolved from a strong client service model into a scaled, high-impact platform built for growth, depth and differentiated client experience. That evolution is rooted in my beginnings on the technical side of the industry—working alongside third-party administrator and ERISA experts—which gave me a deep operational understanding of plan mechanics before transitioning into advisory leadership. Early in my career, I helped design and implement a proactive client servicing model that emphasized consistency, accountability and relationship depth—an approach that continues to define our work today.

Strategic decisions to formalize service models, invest in talent and intentionally specialize roles have most significantly shaped our growth trajectory and client impact. As vice president of client relations in a prior partnership, I scaled those systems and led a team committed to delivering service beyond expectations. That experience laid the foundation for my transition to principal and financial adviser, and I now have the opportunity to both champion a client-first culture and intentionally build a modern, scalable practice.

In the past several years, we’ve made purposeful investments in our team—adding dedicated financial adviser–relationship managers focused separately on participant experience and institutional relationships, along with an executive administrative professional to support an expanding national footprint. These strategic additions have elevated consistency, deepened client engagement and positioned the practice for sustained growth—all while preserving the high-touch experience our clients value most.

PLANADVISER: What differentiates your team in a crowded advisory marketplace today? Please expand on what you do differently in practice, not philosophy.

Duex: Our team is differentiated by a singular, disciplined focus: delivering service beyond expectation. Every decision, process and idea is filtered through one lens—how do we create delight, not just fulfill the contract? While we continually look for ways to improve efficiency, we remain intentionally committed to doing “a little more” when it elevates the client experience. That mindset is supported by a firm with core values that prioritize serving clients, colleagues and the communities we’re part of.

The Santa Barbara team exemplifies this philosophy. We are a highly tenured group, with some members working together for more than 20 years and with more than 138 years of collective experience. Our organizational structure is intentionally specialized, allowing each team member to focus deeply on their area of expertise, rather than attempting to do everything for every client. This specialization elevates service quality, creates efficiencies and enables us to offer a full scope of services at competitive pricing.

Because of this structure, we have more time for meaningful, strategic conversations with clients—focusing on organizational goals, participant outcomes and the “work between the lines” that drives real impact. We can seamlessly bring specialists into meetings or leverage expertise across the broader CAPTRUST organization, allowing advisers to quarterback the relationship and deliver a truly holistic experience.

Ultimately, our structure, experience and shared commitment to excellence allow us to surprise, delight and create lasting value for the 110 plans and 86 institutional clients we proudly serve.

PLANADVISER: Describe your core plan sponsor client and service model. What problems do sponsors typically hire you to solve?

Duex: Our core plan sponsor clients are institutional organizations seeking a trusted partner to help navigate the increasing complexity of fiduciary oversight, compliance and participant outcomes. They typically hire us to bring clarity, confidence and relief to overburdened committees while enhancing governance and plan effectiveness.

We operate within CAPTRUST’s centralized service model, leveraging deep home-office expertise in investment research, compliance, wellness and advice, communications, benchmarking, and senior leadership support. At the regional level, our Santa Barbara team delivers high-touch relationship management through a dedicated local adviser structure supported by national scale.

Each client is supported by a defined team that includes a financial adviser–relationship manager, client service manager, and participant advice and wellness professionals, with access to specialized resources as needs arise. This structure ensures accountability, continuity and responsiveness, supported by a centralized CRM and weekly team meetings so that every client always has an informed resource available. Our standard is same-day responsiveness, with clearly set expectations designed to consistently exceed client needs and create “client delight.”

Plan sponsors most often engage us for our deep expertise in fiduciary process, compliance and risk management. As part of the nation’s largest independent advisory firm, we help sponsors confidently manage fiduciary risk while driving cost efficiency through vendor oversight, benchmarking and negotiation. Ultimately, clients hire us to be an extension of their team—bringing peace of mind, strong governance and a proactive approach that allows them to focus on their organizations while we focus on the plan.

PLANADVISER: What are the three most pressing retirement plan challenges your sponsors face today? How have you helped sponsors address them in measurable ways?

Duex: Three of the most pressing retirement plan challenges our sponsors face today include workforce competitiveness and participant engagement, limited internal resources, and administrative complexity.

1. Competitive Workforce and Participant Engagement
   In today’s talent-driven environment, many sponsors view their retirement plan as a critical tool for attracting, retaining and engaging employees. We help sponsors address this by conducting competitive benchmarking of plan design, employer contributions and key features against peer and best‑in‑class plans. Where appropriate, we also assist with evaluating executive benefit strategies such as planning services, nonqualified plans or other targeted solutions for key employees. On the participant side, we partner with sponsors to develop customized engagement strategies—leveraging recordkeeper resources, CAPTRUST at Work or a blended approach—with clearly defined, measurable goals such as increased participation, deferral rates or advice utilization.
2. Lean Internal Teams
   Many sponsors operate with small teams and competing priorities. We serve as an extension of their staff, taking on fiduciary and administrative responsibilities to reduce burden while improving outcomes. This includes fiduciary governance support, fee and benchmarking reviews, investment and share class analysis, participant financial wellness programs, fiduciary training, and ongoing education. We also coordinate closely with recordkeepers—both nationally and locally—to ensure sponsors fully leverage available services and maintain competitive costs.
3. Administrative Challenges
   Operational issues arise throughout a plan’s life cycle. We aim to be the first call and primary problem-solver, coordinating internal specialists, recordkeepers, ERISA counsel, auditors or other partners as needed. We manage issues from discovery through resolution to deliver timely, actionable results and minimize sponsor risk and disruption.