PANC 2020: Opening Remarks Making Decisions About Employer Matches, Safe Harbor Designs and Cash Flow

Stace Hilbrant, named Plansponsor’s 2012 Retirement Plan Advisor of the Year, is Managing Director and Founder of Chicago-based 401k Advisors, LLC. Since 2001, Hilbrant and his Associates have assisted plan sponsors of 401k plans of all sizes. The firm represents small to mid-sized companies from manufacturers to printing companies and professional sports teams to firms engaged in the automotive and aerospace industries and has over $1.5 billion in assets under management.
Stace has been in the financial industry for more than 30 years, including 20 years with one of the 401k industry leading service providers. Stace, is a Registered Investment Advisor and holds Series 6, 63, 7, 24 and Series 65 designations. He is also an Accredited Investment Fiduciary (AIF), a Plansponsor Retirement Professional, a Certified Behavioral Analyst and a Registered Fiduciary (DALBAR). Stace’s expertise ranges from employee education and investment due diligence/asset allocation to vendor reviews /cost management and fiduciary liability management.
Stace has been involved with the Chicago Chapter of the America Heart Association and recently served as the Chairman of the Board of the Hadley School of the Blind in Winnetka, Illinois. He also serves on a local foundation that provides educational assistance to young people desiring secondary educational support who are “funding challenged.” Stace is married and has six children.

Jason joined Chepenik Financial in 1999 as Managing Partner and Financial Adviser focused on providing fiduciary guidance to corporate retirement plans. For more than 20 years, Jason has been recognized as a thought-leader and outspoken advocate for the retirement industry, testifying in 2008 before Department of Labor’s ERISA Advisory Council on the spend-down issues of corporate retirement plans. He has received numerous industry accolades, having been named one of 401kWire’s 60 Most Influential DC Advisors, one of Financial Times Top 401k Retirement Advisers, and selected in 2019 as PLANADVISER Magazine’s Retirement Plan Adviser of the Year. Whether he’s advocating for stronger fiduciary responsibility, lending his financial expertise to a local non-profit, or championing financial literacy for the next generation, Jason keeps a strong sense of “the why” within his work. Oh, and he serves up a mean plate of crawfish at the annual Chepenik crawfish boil too!

Ellen is the Principal and Founder of Renaissance Benefit Advisors Group, LLC (RBA), an independently owned retirement plan consulting and institutional investment advisory firm. RBA is a member firm of Global Retirement Partners. Devoted to the specialized needs of retirement plan sponsors, RBA has grown on a referral-only basis, currently advising to over $1.5 billion of retirement plan assets. RBA’s clients include both US and non-US corporations as well as not-for-profit organizations. With her entire career having served the retirement plan industry, Ellen has gained the specialized experience and expertise in working with all types of retirement plans and in numerous areas including ERISA compliance, fiduciary governance, plan design, investment analysis, contract negotiations, plan fees, analytic benchmarking and development of employee education and financial wellness programs. Ellen’s more than 25 years of experience and advocacy for the retirement plan industry has led to her involvement with several investment and retirement provider advisory boards. She is also a sought-out speaker on retirement plan fiduciary and advisor issues. Ellen continues to be ranked among the country’s top retirement plan advisors and has been awarded numerous industry designations and awards. Her credentials and designations demonstrate her attainment of the highest level of experience, expertise and commitment to the retirement plan business and investment fiduciary responsibility standards. Ellen is extremely honored to have been named PLANSPONSOR Retirement Plan Adviser of the Year 2019.

As Managing Director, Jim consults on and helps manage retirement plans for corporations, not for profit organizations, individuals and trusts. Jim has extensive experience with over 28 years in the financial services industry. He brings a unique perspective as he has spent a majority of his career working for many of the largest retirement plan providers and on many of the largest retirement plans. As a result, his breadth and depth of knowledge includes all aspects of Defined Contribution, Defined Benefit, ESOP and Non-qualified plans. More specifically, recordkeeping platforms, institutional investments, fiduciary oversight, stable value portfolios, liability driven investing of defined benefit plans, buy in/buy out strategies of defined benefit plans and comprehensive employee engagement and financial education strategies. Jim was a pioneer and was instrumental in the development of the Institutional Retirement Income market. He has a passion and expertise for helping plan sponsors address the participant’s pre and post retirement needs that is widely recognized. He has extensive experience in plan design optimization through the use of behavioral finance best practices as well as addressing and mitigating a plan sponsor’s fiduciary responsibility and liability. Jim is a popular and frequent speaker at many industry events and conferences. He’s been quoted and published in the Wall Street Journal, PlanSponsor Magazine, PlanAdviser Magazine and Pension & Investments Magazine. One of his clients was recognized as Plan Sponsor of the Year by PlanSponsor Magazine for their innovation in plan design and employee education, as well as their dedication to delivering optimal participant outcomes in retirement. Jim received the Behavioral Finance Innovator Award from the Behavioral Finance Institute for his demonstrated leadership in applying behavioral finance strategies to work toward improving retirement outcomes for clients and employees. He’s been recognized by the Financial Times as one of the Top 401 Retirement Advisors Nationally for 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019 and 2020. He was also chosen as a finalist for 2019 Plan Adviser of the Year by PlanSponsor/PlanAdviser. Jim received his Bachelors of Science degree in Corporate Finance from Drake University. He also studied at the University of Delaware as part of the Honors Program. Jim holds the Accredited Investment Fiduciary (AIF) designation as well as the Certified Plan Fiduciary Advisor designation (CPFA). Additionally, Jim serves on several advisory boards for investment management firms and retirement plan service providers. While growing up in Wyoming, he considers Nashville home. He enjoys playing golf and spending time with his three children Asher, Flannery and Hensley.