Alera Bolsters West Coast Team with Plan Adviser Sorensen

Joshua Sorensen

Alera Group Inc. has brought on another retirement plan adviser to expand its employer-sponsored plan services practice—this time with a focus on expanding its West Coast presence, the retirement, insurance and wealth advisory announced Tuesday.

Joshua Sorensen, based in California, will join Alera’s retirement plan services division to provide plan sponsors with fiduciary investment advice, plan design, governance, and participant education and financial wellness guidance.

Sorensen joins from Edelman Financial Engines, where he was a senior retirement plan division manager. He was also an investment adviser at Cetera and an account executive at Buckman-Mitchell, which was acquired by Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. in 2018.

“Josh is an outstanding retirement plan adviser whose accomplishments are reflected in both the scale of his work with clients and his client-service ethic,” Christian Mango, Alera’s executive vice president and national practice leader for retirement plan services, said in a statement.

Mango has been building up Deerfield, Illinois-based Alera’s retirement practice since joining in September 2022. Sorensen’s hire brings the division’s size to 85 people with $40 billion in client assets.

In September, Alera acquired Advanced Capital Group, an institutional investment consultant with $24 billion in retirement plan and wealth assets.

In December 2023, Alera added the Fraser Group, a Scottsdale, Arizona-based advisory led by George Fraser which works in association with Alera’s Benefit Commerce Group, also in Scottsdale.

“We’re continuing to expand, both by acquisition and by attracting top talent, as we implement our strategy of serving clients up and down the plan-size spectrum,” Mango said. “Bringing on Josh is another milestone, and I’m honored to welcome him aboard.”

Sorensen will, like the Fraser Group, work in association with Alera’s Benefit Commerce Group, according to the announcement.

In retirement and wealth aggregation, Alera Group is competing with insurance-led firms, benefits shops and registered investment advisers. The parent company has more than 4,400 employees working across property and casualty insurance, employee benefits, wealth services and retirement plans.