Founding Roots in Retirement Plan Services

Our Retirement Plan Services Division traces its roots back to the foundation of our company in 1998. I am very proud of that. Not because I led the effort, but because I benefitted from the division’s creation and I believe in the significance of the division to educate people about the importance of saving for retirement. So, having the opportunity I want to provide our readers with a little history and knowledge of this service offering that is beneficially different from our competitors.

When Dean MacVicar, the former director of our Retirement Plan Services Division, moved from First of America Bank in 1998 to Greenleaf Trust he convinced our founder, Bill Johnston, that we could make a difference in a lot of lives by helping people save for retirement. Bill agreed. Dean and I worked together at First of America Bank in the Retirement Plan Services Division where I served as the division’s investment specialist. When I applied to Greenleaf Trust in 1999, thankfully Dean was there and recognized my potential.

Today, our Retirement Plan Services Division provides comprehensive management and solutions to over 150 plan sponsor clients and almost 20,000 participants. Total assets under advisement have also surpassed $1 billion.

As a full service shop, we oversee every aspect of a qualified plan for clients, providing plan design and administration, robust participant education, no-conflict investment management, recordkeeping, transparent competitive fees, and we can serve as trustee to ensure compliance with fiduciary requirements. As previously mentioned, we believe strongly in the importance of participant education and support. Education options range from one-on-one consultations to interactive online planning and investment guidance platforms. Our in-house research team that guides the investments used in our personal trust client portfolios is also the same team that guides the investment platform for our Retirement Plan Services clients. Our extensive and broad expertise encompasses 401(k) and 403(b), profit sharing, money purchase pension, defined benefit pension, cash balance pension, and nonqualified plans.

Meeting our clients’ needs and exceeding their expectations is part of our culture. Below are some highlights from our 2022 Retirement Plan Division client survey. We proudly received a 100% positive response rate to each of these questions.

• Do you feel Greenleaf Trust offers suggestions and helps tailor your plan to meet your participants’ retirement goals and objectives?
• Do you feel as though you are treated as a very important client?
• Do you find the team members at Greenleaf Trust easily accessible?
• Is Greenleaf Trust successful in meeting your participants education and enrollment needs?
• Do you feel Greenleaf Trust listens to and understands your company’s retirement benefit plan goals and objectives?

From a plan sponsor’s perspective, it is important that they know we have the knowledge and experience to handle everything for them. From a participant’s perspective, it’s important that they know they have a best in class investment platform to use for retirement savings and we are here to help.