PLANSPONSOR Announces 2009 Retirement Plan Adviser of the Year Finalists

Launched in 2005, these Awards recognize the contributions of the nation’s best financial advisers in helping make retirement security a reality for workers across the nation.

The finalists for the Retirement Plan Adviser of the Year are:

• Claiborne B. “Chip” Morton, III, Corporate Advisors Group, Destin, Florida
• Mark D. Temple, O’Hanlon Michener & Douglas, NRP, Slingerlands, New York
• Paul D’Aiutolo, UBS, Rochester, New York
• Philip Steele, Pension Architects, NRP, Malibu, California
• Steven Dimitriou, Mayflower Advisors, LLC, Boston, Massachusetts

The finalists for the Retirement Plan Adviser Team of the Year are:

• Fiduciary Investment Advisors (Mark Wetzel, Michael Goss, Karen Paulson, Kate Fournier, Ryan Gardner, Chris Kachmar, Tony Tranghese, Bill Peck), Windsor, Connecticut
• Kelliher Group at Morgan Stanley (Stephen Kelliher, Joseph McLaughlin, Bennett White), Norwell, Massachusetts
• Pensionmark Retirement Group (Troy Hammond, Laura Battle, Devyn Duex, Deanna Bamford, Mike Woods, Daren Alcantar, Denisse Hernandez), Santa Barbara, California
• SageView Advisory Group (Randall Long, Jon Upham), Irvine, California
• The Kieckhefer Group, RBC Wealth Management (Rob Kieckhefer, Janet Ganong, Brian Kertscher, Darlene Roslawski, Meghan Madigan), Milwaukee, Wisconsin

The winners will be announced at the annual PLANSPONSOR/PLANADVISER Awards for Excellence Event on April 2, 2009, in New York City. The Retirement Plan Adviser of the Year and the Retirement Plan Adviser Team of the Year will be profiled in PLANSPONSOR and PLANADVISER magazine, and will receive a free registration to the 2009 PLANADVISER National Conference to be held in Orlando, Florida, September 23-25.

This year’s finalists were drawn from a pool of more than 550 nominations representing more than 80 advisers or adviser teams. Information was collected from 203 advisers or adviser teams and, of those, 38 individuals and 65 teams completed the entry form in its entirety, making them eligible for the award.

Nominations for the Retirement Plan Adviser and Adviser Team of the Year awards were solicited online from retirement plan advisers, their employers and/or broker/dealers, and plan sponsors, as well as from working partners of these advisers. Finalists were selected by an expert panel of judges from a list of semifinalists compiled from a quantitative evaluation of current service levels, and based on interviews with their plan sponsor clients.

“Advisers have become indispensable members of the team for most workplace retirement plans,’ said Nevin Adams, Editor-in-Chief of PLANSPONSOR. “This award acknowledges advisers who are truly making a difference in helping build a secure retirement for others.’

A list of the most successful advisers taken from those nominated for the award can be found here.