PLANADVISER 2026 Retirement Plan Adviser of the Year Winners

From left: Tom Krusic, Domenic DiPiero, Wendy Eldridge, Nate Moody, Erin Hall, Greg Kaplan | Photo by Anthony Collins

PLANADVISER announced the 2026 Retirement Plan Adviser of the Year Award Winners at the Industry Leaders Awards ceremony held at the Yale Club in New York on Thursday.

At the annual awards dinner, winners and finalists were recognized for demonstrating leadership and a commitment to excellence in serving retirement plan sponsors and participants and contributing to the retirement plan adviser industry.

The category winners were:

• Closing the Coverage Gap — Micro/Startup Plans:
  Nate Moody, Partner, Senior Advisor, Lebel & Harriman Retirement Advisors
• Closing the Coverage Gap — MEPs/PEPs:
  Tom A. Krusic, Financial Consultant, intellicents
• Inclusivity and Career Development:
  Greg Kaplan, Practice Leader, Newfront
• 403(b) Plan Service:
  Domenic DiPiero, President and Founder, Newport Capital Group
• Plan Participant Service:
  Wendy Eldridge, Retirement Plan Advisor, Carnegie Investment Counsel
• Plan Sponsor Service:
  Erin Hall, Managing Director, Strategic Retirement Partners

You can see the full list of winners and finalists here: 2026 PLANADVISER Retirement Plan Adviser of the Year.

Top Retirement Plan Advisers, Vision Award

At the dinner, this year’s Top Retirement Plan Advisers were also recognized, with many of the more than 300 top advisers in attendance. This prestigious designation recognizes the top retirement plan advisers in the industry based on quantitative measures. To be listed, advisers had to have a minimum requirement of 50 plan clients or retirement plan assets under advisement of $400 million or more.

The full list of Top Retirement Plan Advisers can be found here: 2026 PLANADVISER Top Retirement Plan Advisers.

Anne Lester | Photo by Anthony Collins

PLANADVISER also honored Anne Lester with the 2026 Individual Vision Award. Before retiring in 2020, Lester spent 28 years at J.P. Morgan, including as leader of the firm’s Retirement Solutions group. Her career is defined by innovation, and a steadfast commitment to helping individuals achieve more secure and fulfilling financial futures.

Lester holds patents for innovations designed to simplify and automate the retirement planning process. In her early days at J.P. Morgan, she was a fixed-income and currency trader and portfolio manager, spending more than a decade managing public, private and multiemployer defined benefit and defined contribution plan assets, before focusing exclusively on DC plans.

Earlier in the afternoon, during the PLANADVISER Advisers in Conversation event, Lester shared more personal insights, delivering a keynote speech about how she learned to let go of self-imposed rules and constraints while walking on a pilgrimage to Rome.

From left: Anne Lester, Alison Mintzer, Kelli Send, Barbara Delaney, Jeffrey Cullen | Photo by Anthony Collins

In honor of PLANADVISER’s 20th anniversary, the 2026 Group Award was given to PLANADVISER’s Platinum Stars, a core group of retirement plan advisers who have long supported PLANADVISER and its partner brand, PLANSPONSOR; been at the forefront of evolving industry conversations; and demonstrated decades of dedicated service to plan sponsors and participants.

This select group represents advisers who not only have been recipients of PLANADVISER recognitions and awards themselves, but who have also helped their clients achieve recognition through PLANSPONSOR awards—reflecting a consistent commitment to excellence in outcomes.

The Platinum Stars are:

	Jason Chepenik, Senior Vice President, OneDigital
	Jeffrey Cullen, CEO, Strategic Retirement Partners
	Barbara Delaney, Founder, Stone Street Benefit Advisors
	Kathleen Kelly, Managing Partner, Compass Financial Partners, a Marsh McLennan Agency LLC Company
	Bruce Lanser, Senior Retirement Plan Consultant, TruSource Advisors, a UBS Financial Services firm
	Rob Massa, Managing Director, Retirement Practice Leader, Prime Capital Financial
	Kelli Send, Senior Vice President – Participant Services, Francis LLC