Deals & People February 24, 2023

AON Boosts Staff to Further $1B Pooled Employer Plan

Aon continues pooled employer plan push, adding headcount to keep adding beyond over $1B in reported assets and commitments in its PEP.

Reported by

Noah Zuss

Aon is bringing on more staff to push its pooled employer plan business beyond its over $1 billion in reported plan assets and commitments, a spokesperson confirmed.

Aon earlier this month hired Chris Han to the newly created role, director of pooled employer plan 401(k) sales. The company also added two sales executives for pooled employer plans, Thomas Geraghty and Alexander Xie. Rick Jones, senior partner and head of PEPs at Aon, said in an email that the time is right for Aon to commit resources to build the PEP business and grow market share.

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“We believe that PEPs are the next generation of retirement savings because they reduce work for employers, reduce risk for fiduciaries and reduce costs and improve results for employees,” Jones explains. “We are ready to target this multi-trillion-dollar market with a dedicated sales team that will give clients the clarity and confidence they need to make better decisions to protect and grow their business.”

Aon is building up its team even as competitors enter the market. On Thursday, Willis Towers Watson announced a new PEP that the firm said will build on its experience with pooled employer plans in the U.K. In October, AON said it had accumulated $1 billion in plan assets and commitments for its PEPs, with benefits for more than 30,000 participants from 40 employers.

Pooled employer plans were established by the SECURE Act of 2019 and introduced to the market in 2021. The goal was to encourage employers that didn’t provide retirement plans to participants to offer one. PEPs allow unrelated employers to convene to participate in a single 401(k) defined contribution plan sponsored by a registered pooled plan provider. The SECURE Act 2.0, passed in December 2022, permits certain 403(b) plans to be operated as PEPs as well.

Geraghty is responsible for PEP sales coverage in the mid-Atlantic and southeast. He was previously a regional sales director, at Empower.

Xie is responsible for sales covering the West region, says the spokesperson. Xie has worked at Aon since 2010, as an actuary and retirement plan strategist, within the firm’s wealth solutions practice.

After passage of the SECURE Act of 2019, Xie helped design, build and launch the Aon PEP, adds the spokesperson. A final position on the Aon PEP team is yet to be filled, the spokesperson adds.

Geraghty and Xie both report to Jones, the spokesperson says.