Emily Wrightson,
CAPTRUST

Business at a Glance as of 12/31/23

• Location: New York, New York
• How many plan assets do you have under advisement? $49.7B
• What is your median plan size (in assets)? $160M
• How many plans do you have under administration? 16
• How many participants in total do you serve? 800k
• Parent firm: CAPTRUST

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

Wrightson: I have spent my entire career working with institutional plans in an investment advisory and consulting capacity. Currently, I lead a team of five individuals responsible for providing services to institutional DC retirement, DB/DC hybrid, 529 plans and investment pools. The team consists of four financial advisers responsible for client management and delivery of services, and one CFA who works with clients and our broader investment team to provide research and analysis on investments.

I am responsible for 16 DC and 529 clients with assets of approximately $49.7B and over 800,000 participants. Including the additional clients managed by my team, we are responsible for 60 clients with assets of approximately $58.3B and over one million participants. My responsibilities include direct client management, team oversight, and revenue generation. For the past six years, I have led our New York City-based team’s efforts in public/governmental plans, working to grow the business and expand market share.

I am a principal and a vested shareholder at CAPTRUST. I also have business management responsibilities associated with our broader New York City- and Massachusetts-based team members (formerly known as Cammack Retirement Group, prior to merging in 2021), in addition to leading the team of advisers described above.

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

Wrightson: My team was built to meet the needs of some of our firm’s largest and most complex clients. Our investment analyst specializes in building custom solutions for clients, and my advisers have diverse backgrounds ranging from deep operational knowledge of recordkeeping, project management, and compliance consulting to significant experience with the nuances of higher education and not-for-profits. My team has developed custom glidepaths, complete stable value, and fixed income investment builds, and evaluating and implementing lifetime income solutions.

In addition, we have worked on complex projects with several large state retirement systems to launch DB/DC hybrid plans as mandated by legislation for all new hires. This included developing and managing a recordkeeper RFP to hire a provider for the plan, contracts and negotiations, investment array development and assisting the system in setting up the operations for a DC plan. We also work with 529 programs, and over the years, we have partnered to redesign their model portfolios, target enrollment funds and build a custom stable value fund. This experience has made for an extremely well-rounded team that can handle the complexities of the largest plans in the country.

PLANADVISER: How do you grow your business? What changes to your practice or service model are you planning for 2024?

Wrightson: Meeting new people in our industry, talking with potential clients about the work we’ve done for others and discussing ways in which we could partner together are among my favorite parts of my job. In addition, I am fortunate to have clients that provide great referrals. The reputation our team has for working with clients to provide strong outcomes for their employees has helped cultivate relationships with new organizations that are looking for a well-rounded advisory team. For 2024, we are focused on bringing independent advice to clients that are looking to connect their employees with advisers to discuss their specific situations. I also believe we will do more work with investment pools as market volatility has many organizations looking for additional help.

PLANADVISER: Why do you feel it is important to work with plan sponsors and companies offering retirement benefits to their employees?

Wrightson: I love what I do because it is a chance to make a meaningful difference in people’s lives, even if most of them will never know I exist. My parents both worked in the public school system as teachers, and I watched them diligently save during their entire careers. Once I got into this industry and took a deeper look at their investments, I was disappointed that the retirement plan they were offered was full of high-cost options and didn’t look out for their best interests. As a fiduciary, I work to ensure that my clients’ retirement plans offer investment options with reasonable fees, and that the plans achieve operational efficiencies that help lower recordkeeping costs. A strong retirement plan enables individuals to accumulate wealth in a significant way and is the largest asset most individuals have outside of their homes. If I do my job well, people across the country can have more in their retirement accounts and can retire on their own terms with less financial stress.

PLANADVISER: What are three of the most important issues your plan sponsor clients face with their retirement plans? What actions do you take to assist them in overcoming those issues?

Wrightson: There are several issues, but these are top of mind for my clients:

• Cybersecurity risks – Retirement plans are where most Americans have the bulk of their assets, so protecting these accounts and their data will become an even bigger focus for clients and recordkeepers. I invest time learning about and understanding the threats our clients face, and then I work with clients to determine what actions they can take internally, including negotiating contracts to protect data and facilitating conversations with service providers.
• Continued volatility and uncertainty in the market will impact retirees and those close to retirement. There continue to be unknowns and mixed signals, and it is hard to know how inflation will ultimately impact the consumer. We already know that there is a savings gap and that Social Security is struggling with financial sustainability and an aging population. This will need to be focused on in the next several years, so we are having conversations with clients about auto-enrollment and escalation, re-enrollment into target date funds and the addition of lifetime income investment options.
• Turnover for the past several years has impacted clients who are experiencing challenges with staffing their organizations. The retirement committee members are leaving and the vendors we partner with are also shifting as recordkeepers are purchased, or relationship managers leave. Having a strong process in place to keep momentum and decisions moving forward is critical.