Jason Stephen Jeskey,
HUB International

Business at a Glance as of 12/31/23

• Location: San Clemente, California
• How many plan assets do you have under advisement? $4.5B
• What is your median plan size (in assets)? $35M
• How many plans do you have under administration? 174
• How many participants in total do you serve? 80,000
• Parent firm: HUB International

PLANADVISER: Tell us about your practice and how you got into advising retirement plans.

Jeskey: I graduated law school in 2002. Following graduation, I worked for a large law firm in Washington, D.C. In 2006, I decided to return to school at Georgetown University School of Law to obtain my LLM in tax. During my studies, I discovered the world of employee benefits. I ended up graduating in 2008 with my LLM in taxation and a certificate in employee benefits.

Following graduation, I accepted a position as an employee benefits associate at a large law firm in Las Vegas. During my tenure there, I represented clients in all areas of employee benefit matters, including qualified and tax-exempt retirement plans, health and welfare benefits plans, fiduciary matters and labor and collective bargaining.

In 2011, I was recruited to join a large investment advisory firm as an investment adviser and ERISA consultant. This prospect was (and, in practice has been) very appealing to me, as it gives me the opportunity to partner with and counsel clients regarding best practices for administering retirement plans. Historically, as an attorney, I was only engaged after an issue was present and/or critical. As an adviser/consultant, I can work with my clients to prepare for and avoid such conflicts and issues.

PLANADVISER: How is your team unique/competitive in the marketplace?

Jeskey: Our team includes an ERISA attorney, a former CFO/COO, a former CHRO and plan design specialists. We leverage our team’s diverse expertise and utilize a comprehensive, proven process to identify plan issues, opportunities and blind spots.

As an ERISA attorney, I have significant experience in handling mergers, acquisitions, spin-offs, DOL/IRS audits and corrections of operational failures. I have experience working with plans of all sizes, from startups to plans with $4 billion in assets.

Our team strives to provide employers and employees with the best experiences and options that seek to achieve retirement readiness. Our experience supporting retirement plan clients has given us a wide breadth of knowledge covering all aspects of plan operations, including managing plan conversions, changing service providers, selecting and monitoring investments, vendor benchmarking, fee analysis, monitoring plan overall health and employee engagement. Combining our expertise and passion in retirement services with a client’s specific objectives allows us to design a workplace retirement program that meets the client’s business needs and helps employees replace their paycheck during their longest period of unemployment (retirement).

PLANADVISER: What challenges do you think the retirement plan industry faces, and what role do you have in addressing and confronting those challenges?

Jeskey: A challenge for all our clients, especially since March 2020 and COVID-19, is attracting and retaining qualified candidates. To address this challenge, many companies have been looking for innovative ways to improve the overall benefits package for employees. Although the options within a qualified plan are limited, we have been exploring various plan design elements with our clients. A few design elements that we have proposed to and discussed with clients include:

1. Reducing or eliminating administrative fees. In order to reduce costs and improve savings, some plan sponsors have considered covering the recordkeeping/administrative cost for employees;
2. Adopting new comparability nonelective contributions. Another design feature that has been popular with organizations is adopting a tiered contribution formula based on age, years of service, etc. This allows the organization to incentivize and compensate employees for years of loyal service with the organization;
3. Implementing mega-backdoor Roth. Many clients have been discussing and implementing a mega backdoor Roth design, allowing participants to defer additional after-tax contributions to the plan and then immediately convert those contributions to Roth so that the contributions grow tax-free; and
4. Implementing an NQDC. In addition, many corporations are considering and/or implementing nonqualified deferred compensation plans to attract and retain key personnel.

PLANADVISER: Please tell us about an important issue that your 403(b) plan sponsor clients face and what actions you have taken to assist them in overcoming those issues.

Jeskey: An important issue that our 403(b) clients have been facing is the attraction and retention of qualified candidates. Although this is a challenge for most organizations, it is especially tedious for nonprofit organizations, given the fact that salary levels associated with working for a nonprofit organization are typically not competitive with those offered by many for-profit companies. This disparity is further exacerbated in a high-cost-of-living area like Southern California.

To address this issue, we have been working with our clients to determine ways to improve the overall benefits package without necessarily increasing salaries. A few of the options that we have explored:

1. Adopting new comparability nonelective contributions. This nonelective contribution could be tiered so that it increases based on a participant’s tenure with the organization. This type of contribution formula, when paired with a vesting schedule, can incentivize employees to remain with the organization;
2. Adopting a 457(b) plan. The 457(b) could be simply for participant contributions and allow those participants to defer an additional $23,000 of tax deferred contributions. Alternatively, the organization could offer a match or contribution to the plan that would be allocated only to those eligible for the 457(b) (a way to “discriminate” in favor of key employees); and
3. Adopting a 457(f) plan. With a 457(f), the organization could use “golden handcuffs” to incentivize key personnel to remain with the organization. The 457(f) could include various employer contributions that could be subject to a rolling vesting schedule.

PLANADVISER: How did you get started advising 403(b) plan sponsors? What advice would you give other advisers wanting to enter this market?

Jeskey: As an employee benefits associate, I had significant experience in drafting all forms of retirement plans, including 401(k), 403(b), 401(a), 457(b), 457(f), etc. As such, I was very familiar with the nuances associated with the operation and administration of 403(b) plans when I joined the investment advisory firm. This experience made me well-suited for partnering with and counseling our nonprofit clients.

Further, as an attorney, I worked with all types of clients (for profit, nonprofit, governmental, etc.). This exposure and experience provided me with insight into the similarities and, more importantly, the differences associated with various types of organizations. As with any relationship, it is extremely important to understand the purpose and motivation of our partners. 403(b) plan sponsors typically have unique and altruistic motivations and, as such, face unique challenges. I have found that understanding and accounting for these motivations and challenges is key to building a long and beneficial relationship with these clients.