Compliance February 7, 2023

DOL Secretary Walsh Reportedly Leading Candidate to Helm NHL Players’ Association

The approval of Walsh to head the NHLPA is considered a “formality.”

Reported by

Marty Walsh

U.S. Secretary of Labor Marty Walsh is expected to resign his cabinet post to become the next executive director of the NHL Players’ Association, according to news reports.

The Toronto-based NHLPA is the workers’ union that represents National Hockey League players. The news was first reported Tuesday by hockey news website Daily Faceoff. Reports indicate Walsh has not been formally hired by the NHLPA, with a final vote set to take place later this week that Daily Faceoff described as a mere “formality.” The DOL did not respond to a request for comment, and neither the DOL nor the NHLPA has confirmed the news.

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ESPN is among the outlets to have reported the news about Walsh’s new role at the NHLPA, citing anonymous sources.

The move would put Walsh, the mayor of Boston from 2014 to 2021, back atop a labor organization. From 2011 to 2013, he was the head of the Boston Building Trades Council.

Walsh leaves the DOL at a time when it is fending off a recent lawsuit from 25 states seeking to overturn a DOL rule that permits the use of ESG in retirement plans, while also preparing for many rulemaking obligations derived from the SECURE 2.0 Act of 2022. The most resource-intensive obligation from SECURE 2.0 would be the creation of a “lost and found” for retirement plans: SECURE 2.0 requires the DOL to create this database by the end of 2024.

Bradford Campbell, a partner in the Faegre Drinker law firm and former head of the Employee Benefits Security Administration, says the Labor Department’s work should not be impeded if Walsh leaves.

“While Secretary Walsh’s departure obviously does impact the policy direction of the agency, I do not think it is likely to fundamentally change DOL’s actions on ESG or SECURE Act 2.0 issues,” Campbell said. “Assistant Secretary [Lisa] Gomez has both the personal expertise and the legal authority to lead the agency’s guidance and regulatory activities in this area, and she appears likely to remain in place, as she only recently took office.”

Walsh would be the first member of President Biden’s cabinet to resign, according to research from The Brookings Institution.

Deals & People February 7, 2023

OneDigital Acquires $500M Florida Retirement and Wealth Management Shop

The Florida Pension Group is OneDigital’s seventh such partnership in 12 months as it expands its retirement-linked wealth management capabilities.

Reported by


OneDigital Investment Advisors, a subsidiary of employee benefits and insurance provider OneDigital, has added the $500 million Florida Pension Group to its growing network of wealth managers with ties to workplace retirement plans.

The acquisition of St. Johns, Florida-based FPG is OneDigital’s seventh retirement-and-wealth partnership in the past 12 months and the firm’s 17th office in Florida, OneDigital’s advisory arm announced on Monday. FPG provides retirement plan services to more than 100 businesses and wealth management to more than 270 households. The firm’s president and founder, Troy Tummond, will join OneDigital and its team of advisers, including Steve Carter, John Hudson, John Pomroy and Landon Strickland, according to the announcement.

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“The acquisition continues a strategy that OneDigital began in 2022, focusing on adding firms with a strong focus on wealth management, according to Andrew Jefferys, OneDigital’s recently named national vice president of wealth management solutions. That’s a shift from the firm’s prior strategy of seeking businesses with strong retirement focus and some wealth management.”

“Beginning in 2022, we took a stronger rotation into wealth management, identifying and acquiring hybrid firms that understand the retirement-to-wealth bridge but ‘major’ in wealth management,” Jefferys said in comments last week, referring to OneDigital’s overall strategy, not specifically to the FPG acquisition.

Jefferys noted that the Overland Park, Kansas-based OneDigital will continue this strategy in 2023, aligning with owners who see value in connecting to OneDigital’s platform of more than 100,000 employer clients.

“OneDigital is the right partner for our firm because of its proven track record of growth and unique ability to bridge the gap between retirement and wealth management, giving our team the platform to deliver even more for our clients and help them achieve their vision,” FPG’s Tummond said in a statement.

Owning the Process

OneDigital’s Jefferys, who joined the firm in late 2021 through an acquisition of Gouldin & McCarthy LLC, says the key to providing holistic retirement saving and wealth management is by giving the plan participant, and clients, “ownership in the planning process.”

“As an industry-leading retirement plan advisory firm, we are acutely aware of the needs and corresponding pitfalls plan participants face when taking advice from financial advisers,” he says. “Our best client relationships center around an independent and holistic financial planning experience, not a simple investment recommendation.”

By developing a financial planning platform that can serve both plan participants and high-net-worth individuals, OneDigital can meet client needs such as investment management, insurance services, tax and estate planning and business consulting, Jefferys says.

“When the client’s financial plan is in direct or indirect conflict with our own business interest, the best and only way forward is full transparency for the client,” he says. “This means transparency of fees, services for those fees and alternatives the client has [for solutions].”

Rapidly Changing Landscape

After the FPG acquisition, OneDigital’s assets under management have risen to about $108.9 billion, representing more than 1 million participants and 41,000 individual accounts.

Jefferys says that before his previous firm became part of OneDigital’s network, it was actually in the market to be an acquirer.

“With the rapidly changing landscape of fintech offerings, integration partners and regulatory complexities, our analysis showed the economies of scale needed to compete for the next decade in this business required a much larger team than a boutique advisor firm could provide,” he recalls.

Gouldin & McCarthy eventually agreed to the OneDigital acquisition, as it was “the only firm offering us the ability to honestly say a partnership was good for us as business owners and great for our clients,” Jefferys says.

Another part of OneDigital’s strategy, Jefferys says, is partnerships with minority-owned and minority-operated firms to increase diversity, equity, inclusion and belonging in “an industry that needs it.” In January, OneDigital acquired minority-owned insurance brokerage Bradley & Bradley Associates Inc., expanding the aggregators presence with 28 offices throughout Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and Delaware.

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