The 20 Rising Stars of Retirement Plan Advisory 2008

1. RODNEY BALBUENA Area Assistant Vice President, Western U.S. GBS Retirement Services, Los Angeles Age: 38 Education: University of California at Los Angeles (Course Work in Broadcast Journalism) Mentors: Tom Burnor, Vice President of Sales, Orange County/San Diego, Principal Financial Group; Jeff Ferguson, Vice President, John Hancock Retirement Services; Bill Urick, Area President, Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. Balbuena focuses on mid-market retirement plan consulting at GBS Retirement Services, a division of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. In his current position since 2006, he oversees a portfolio of roughly $750 million for both nonprofit and for-profit organizations, including the University of San Diego, Village Voice Media and Stanford Hotels. “One of my biggest accomplishments has been helping to put Gallagher on the southern California ‘retirement’ map,” he said. A native Spanish speaker, Balbuena has worked in the financial services industry since 1994, when he joined John Hancock Retirement Services as a bilingual education specialist. In 1999, he moved to Guardian Life Insurance for two years before returning to John Hancock in 2001. From 2003 to 2006, he was a regional sales director of retirement services for MetLife. Drawn to the retirement plan field by a lifelong ‘addiction’ to watching the stock market and a love of solving problems, Balbuena is well versed in marketing strategy, employee education and relationship management. Despite being a self-professed Wall Street ‘junkie’ when he started out in the financial services business, he opted SEPTEMBER 2008 not to pursue a career at a big brokerage firm because he didn’t feel the pace of that life was for him.“The quality of the people at John Hancock at the time was the key to my decision,” he said. “Fortunately, the investments within retirement accounts are mostly equities or bonds, and that’s close enough for me.” Going forward, Balbuena – who holds the PlanSponsor Retirement Professional and Accredited Investment Fiduciary designations expects to continue working with companies to help them design and administer their defined contribution plans. He predicts there will be consolidation in the recordkeeping field, foresees better education methods and anticipates powerful customization capabilities from vendors for plan sponsors and participants. 1. RODNEY BALBUENA “During my senior year of college, I started interviewing at investment banks as an analyst, but I knew I was more of a people person than someone to sit at a desk and crunch numbers,” Ballin said. Chris Lee, for whom she worked at the time, offered her the opportunity to learn the retirement plan business from the inside out – including a six-month stint at a third-party administrator – and she took it. Within two years, she was running the retirement plan book, while Lee focused on individual and wealth management. A marathon runner, Ballin is in the retirement plan business for the long haul.“I see myself doing this 10, 20, even 30 years from now,” she said, explaining that she really feels she makes a difference for the participants in the plans with which she works. And despite continued progress in automation and the technology available to plan sponsors and participants, she believes the need for professionals like herself will grow going forward. “Personally, I don’t think technology will take the place of someone running education meetings or assisting employees who need help choosing investments,” she said.“Lots of Baby Boomers are going to need to sit down with someone; that’s a really important aspect of the process.” RETIREMENT PLAN ADVISORY RISING STARS 23 2. JESSICA BALLIN Managing Partner 401(k) Plan Professionals, Edina, Minn. Age: 30 Education: University of Minnesota (B.A. in Finance) Mentor: Chris Lee, Senior Vice President of Investments, Wachovia Securities Ballin joined 401(k) Plan Professionals - a National Retirement Partners member firm - in January 2007 after more than six years at Wachovia Securities, where she worked first as a college intern and ultimately as a financial advisor focused on the retirement plan industry. Her interest in the financial markets was sparked in high school when she worked part-time as a bank teller and blossomed during college when she interned at what was then Prudential Securities.

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The 20 Rising Stars of Retirement Plan Advisory 2008 Contents Doing Well By Doing Good The Post-PPA Bounce Automatic Enrollment vs. Managed Account Unfair Advantage? You Bet The New World Order 20 Rising Stars of Retirement Plan Advisory Mentors’ Page

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