The 20 Rising Stars of Retirement Plan Advisors 2007 - (Page 18) 3 LARRY DEATHERAGE 2 1 Partner National Retirement Partners/DFI Advisors, Inc., La Jolla, Calif. Age: 40 Education: San Diego State University, B.S., Business Mentors: William Chetney, president, National Retirement Partners Inc.; David B. Utter, senior v.p., Wachovia Securities Deatherage’s primary focus at DFI Advisors, a wholly-owned subsidiary of National Retirement Partners, is on new mid- to large-plan development. This involves independent comprehensive plan benchmarking, proprietary investment due diligence, and full disclosure and negotiating of fees. He also has been instrumental in developing education and communication strategies for his clients to help their employees become better 401(k) investors. In addition, he works closely National Retirement Partners in new product and service development and best practices techniques. Deatherage and DFI Advisors is one of the founding member firms of National Retirement partners. He founded DFI in 2003. He currently has approximately $2 billion in assets under management. From 1990 to 2003, Deatherage worked at Prudential Securities in San Diego in a 401(k) retirement planning group. Thereafter, he and his partners created DFI. He has received his Accredited Investment Fiduciary and PLANSPONSOR Retirement Plan Professional designations. “Participants and fiduciaries have to understand the fees and services provided by their vendor and advisor and this is one of the biggest challenges facing the industry today. We regularly disclose all fees and we have a concerted effort to meet with employees individually to make sure they are on track for a comfortable retirement.” 4 STEPHEN DESROCHERS 1 Senior Financial Advisor Merrill Lynch, Fairfield, Conn. Age: 38 Education: University of Hartford, B.A., Finance & Economics Mentor: Auggie Urgola, former Head of Non-Profit Consulting, Prudential Insurance DesRochers has about $62 million in long assets under management, $65 million in assets with outside organizations and manages over $250 million in consulting client assets. He reviews participant data and advises on effective communications, conducts defined contribution training and advises on participant communications and interactions. He and a team of three advisors joined Merrill’s group of Institutional Consultants in 2005; the team specializes in municipalities and nonprofit organizations. Previously, he worked as a retirement plan participant advisor for the Copeland Companies, at the time one of the largest providers of 403(b) and 457 services in the country. In 1997, he joined Prudential Securities bringing 401(k) (ERISA)-type services and consulting to the 403(b)/457 marketplace. DesRochers is a Certified Financial Planner; he also has the PLANSPONSOR Retirement Plan Professional designation. He has spoken at seminars to well over 3,000 participants over the last 3 years while at Merrill and Prudential/Wachovia. DesRochers is co-authoring a book for plan sponsors on how to administer a retirement plan. No publisher yet. With the advent of ERISA-like regulations “advisors who handled 401(k) plans will pop out of the woodwork and call themselves experts. Yet handling a nonprofit can be a significantly different animal. From multiple payrolls and technology challenges, to their limited budgets and lack of significant matching ability to drive participant contributions, nonprofits cannot simply be handled with an online enrollment process and a fancy Web site.” 18 RETIREMENT PLAN ADVISORS RISING STARS SEPTEMBER 2007
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