The Best of the Best

In the last issue, we highlighted some of the nation’s most successful retirement plan advisers (see “Who,” PLANADVISER, Winter 2007). This issue, we unveil the finalists for PLANSPONSOR’s Retirement Plan Adviser and Retirement Plan Adviser Team of the Year.

This is the fourth year that PLANSPONSOR has recognized the efforts of the nation’s best retirement plan advisers, and the second that we have acknowledged the efforts of retirement plan adviser teams. On the pages that follow, we’ll introduce you briefly to the men and women who have demonstrated the kind of leadership and commitment to excellence that have been hallmarks of these awards. That commitment is evidenced in the impact these advisers have had on participation rates, deferrals, asset allocation, and a better understanding and appreciation of these programs. It is striking how committed they are, as a group, to the creative application of the “new” tools imbedded in the Pension Protection Act—automatic enrollment, accelerated deferrals, asset-allocated default funds—and yet how equally committed they are to the time-honored one-on-one approach to helping participants (and plan sponsors) make thoughtful, prudent choices.

We will announce the winners of this year’s awards at the annual PLANSPONSOR/PLANADVISERAwards Dinner on April 3, 2008, in New York, and I hope some of you will be able to join us. These really are the best of the best. We’re honored to play a role in highlighting their contributions.

The finalists for the Retirement Plan Adviser of the Year are:

• Gregg Andonian, Baystate Fiduciary Advisors, Inc., a Member Firm of NRP, Milford, MA
• John Leeson, Investment Research & Advisory Group, Inc., Atlanta, GA
• John Barry, JMB Wealth Management/National Planning Corporation, Torrance, CA
• James Sampson, Telamon Insurance & Financial Network, Newton, MA
• Tom Noble, Noble Retirement Group, a Member Firm of NRP, Sugar Land, TX

The finalists for the Retirement Plan Adviser Team of the Year are:

• Longfellow Benefits, a Member Firm of NRP (Kendall Storch, Phil LeBlanc, David Boucher, Andrew Hershenow, Adam Miloro), Boston, MA
• CAPTRUST Financial Advisors (Mark Medlin, Mike Hudson), Raleigh, NC
• The Howell & Sharp Group at Merrill Lynch (Brett Howell, Craig Sharp), Grand Rapids, MI
• Heffernan Financial Services, a Member Firm of NRP (John Prichard Sr. , Blake Thibault), San Francisco, CA
• FFoA, a Member Firm of NRP (Barbara Delaney, Cathy O’Halloran, Martha Kelly, Kylee Hall), Pearl River, NY