OpenArc Introduces Independent Provider Search Consulting

OpenArc Corporate Advisory LLC announced Tuesday its institutional consulting platform has expanded to include independent provider search consulting.

The new service, based on OpenArc’s existing institutional investment fiduciary practice, will let plan sponsors evaluate, benchmark and select providers. OpenArc, an open-architecture platform with no proprietary products, also conducts independent requests for information and requests for proposals for both integrated benefits programs and individual plan searches.

According to the announcement, OpenArc is offering to be a single fiduciary partner for plan sponsors across retirement, deferred compensation, equity compensation, health savings accounts and broader workplace benefits programs.

Chad Pigg Fife, principal partner, institutional consulting and corporate business development at OpenArc, wrote in an email to PLANADVISER that OpenArc has seen demand from existing institutional retirement consulting clients for plan search services.

“This was an understandable evolution for OpenArc’s institutional retirement business,” Fife wrote. “It is also expected to be a significant new business growth opportunity to build initial relationships with prospective clients.”

OpenArc, which belongs to the Dynasty Network of independent advisory firms, was launched in September 2025 by a breakaway team from Merrill Lynch with $129 billion in institutional and personal client assets. It serves as a 3(38) investment manager or 3(21) fiduciary for mid-market, large-market and mega-market organizations. Its institutional consulting team includes certified equity professionals and specialists in equity compensation plan design, administration and governance.

Kevin Crain, the executive director of the Institutional Retirement Income Council, joined OpenArc as a strategic consultant in June.