Jenna Witherbee

Financial Advisor, 401(k) Plan Professionals

Business at a Glance

PLANADVISER: What outcomes matter most to your clients—and how do you measure whether you’re delivering them? (e.g., participation, deferral behavior, retirement readiness, fiduciary confidence)

Witherbee: While investment performance is important, the outcomes that matter most to our plan sponsor clients are participation and long-term retirement readiness for their staff. We measure success through various plan health metrics, including participation rates, average deferral rates and utilization of plan features like Roth contributions and automatic escalation. These indicators provide a clear picture of how employees are engaging with the plan. We also look at behavioral trends—are employees increasing their contributions over time, diversifying appropriately and taking full advantage of employer match opportunities? These patterns often tell a more meaningful story than point-in-time data.

We offer targeted communications and custom education in a user-friendly, actionable format. We reach out to employees who are eligible but not participating and those participating but not yet receiving the full company match. These types of proactive touchpoints are well-received and give our team an additional avenue for engaging with employees one-on-one.

We prioritize plan sponsor confidence by offering an annual fiduciary training webinar series. This ensures they feel informed, supported and well-documented in their decisionmaking processes. We use retirement readiness projections to help sponsors gauge whether employees are on track and where gaps exist across different segments of their workforce. By surveying their employees, we receive valuable insights that help us refine strategies and drive better outcomes. Ultimately, success is not defined by a single metric. Consistent improvement across the mentioned key areas, combined with plan sponsors who feel confident that their plan is working as intended, is how we measure success.

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

Witherbee: What differentiates our team is our singular focus on retirement plans, independence and our hands-on approach. At 401k Plan Professionals, retirement plans are not one of many business lines—they are 100% of what we do. We do not sell insurance products or manage individual wealth outside of the plan. Our independent model allows us to provide truly objective guidance that aligns with the best interests of both the plan sponsor and their employees.

Our retirement-only focus is reflected in how we serve participants. Rather than outsourcing education or relying on templated materials, we design and deliver all our own employee education, making it truly customized. This in-house approach enables tailored communications that connect more meaningfully with participants, simplify complex topics, and drive stronger engagement and outcomes.

We view our role as part of a broader ecosystem—supporting both the overall financial wellbeing of employees and the organizational goals of the plan sponsor. Our deep specialization allows us to operate as an extension of our clients’ teams, helping to ease the workload for their human resources departments. We combine technical expertise in plan design, fiduciary governance and compliance with a highly relational service model. We also place strong emphasis on accessibility and responsiveness—we tell our plan sponsors and participants “we want to be your first phone call.” The result of our service model is a trusted partnership that supports plan sponsors in meeting their responsibilities and strategic goals, while also empowering employees to build confidence in their financial future.

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

Witherbee: My typical plan sponsor client is an organization with between 50 and 300 employees, between $5 million and 50 million in plan assets, and the goal to offer a competitive, well-managed retirement plan. We operate as an extension of their HR and finance teams, providing a structured service model that includes fiduciary guidance, investment oversight, plan design consulting and ongoing education for both sponsors and participants.

Plan sponsors typically hire us to solve these key challenges:

• First, navigating fiduciary responsibility. Sponsors must make prudent, well-documented decisions that meet their obligations under an increasingly complex regulatory environment. To help, I host quarterly fiduciary training webinars, which have become a valuable resource for clients to remain informed and confident in their role. Since launching these fiduciary-specific webinars in 2022, we have consistent and often repeat attendance by plan sponsors.
• Second, improving participant engagement and outcomes. This includes increasing participation, optimizing deferral rates and helping employees better understand how to use the plan effectively. For example, we recently implemented after-tax contributions for a client to help participants maximize their retirement savings. We supported this with both group and one-on-one education sessions, along with an on-demand FAQ video.
• Third, managing time and complexity. Regulatory shifts—like the SECURE 2.0 Act of 2022— add to the already-full plates of HR professionals. We keep plan sponsors informed and help them communicate changes to their staff.

Our approach is proactive—we focus on anticipating needs, identifying opportunities for improvement and delivering clear, actionable guidance that aligns with each organization’s goals.

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

Witherbee: Three of the most pressing challenge plan sponsors face are balancing cost with value, navigating fiduciary responsibility and engaging employees effectively.

The retirement plan can be a powerful recruitment and retention tool. Sponsors want to ensure employer costs are reasonable, while still delivering meaningful benefits to employees, staying competitive and using the plan to attract and retain talent. We conduct regular benchmarking and vendor reviews, helping clients identify opportunities to reduce costs or enhance services without compromising quality. We also lead plan sponsors through analysis on costs of different match formulas, vesting schedules and eligibility requirements.

Fiduciary duty is active governance and not a passive “check the box” task. Sponsors are expected to make well-informed decisions and maintain thorough documentation. We support this through structured governance processes, our quarterly fiduciary training webinar series, regular investment reviews and clear documentation practices—helping sponsors feel confident and prepared. We take minutes for all our committee meetings, and we work with ERISA attorneys to draft our investment policy statements.

The third challenge is improving employee participation and engagement. My team has increased engagement by implementing plan design features such as automatic enrollment and automatic escalation, along with creating targeted education campaigns. Our education is custom and in a variety of formats: group and individual in-person meetings; group and individual virtual meetings; webinars; short FAQ videos; and more.

Across all three areas, our focus is on delivering practical solutions that lead to measurable improvements—including higher engagement, stronger fiduciary processes and more efficient plan management.