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PLANADVISER: Tell us about your role at your firm and how you contribute to its growth and progress.
Wilson: At Newfront Retirement Services, I have the privilege to play two key roles supporting our clients.
First, I lead Newfront’s investment committee that advises more than $22 billion in participant assets across more than 400 retirement plans. As the leader of the investment committee, I help drive the research, monitoring and communication of Newfront’s investment philosophy. Additionally, I host our quarterly market and economic webinar series, “Meet the Experts,” where I interview various asset managers and economists to bring our clients new perspectives on the markets.
Second, but equally important, I am an account executive supporting some of Newfront’s largest clients. As an account executive, I advise and help drive the strategy for key relationships. By implementing a strong governance process, providing industry insight, and supporting vendor management and investment advice, I help plan sponsors best serve their participants.
PLANADVISER: How did you end up in the retirement advisory industry?
Wilson: I had my first experience working with financial advisers during an internship my senior year at James Madison University. This experience cemented that the investment advice and consulting industry fit my career goal, simplifying the complex for clients.
Most of my career was spent at one of the largest asset managers, Vanguard. In my time at Vanguard, I had the opportunity to work in sales, product marketing, strategy and relationship management, mostly focused on advisers. In 2020, I moved into a role consulting defined contribution plans on their investments and education programs. This is when I first crossed paths with Newfront Retirement Services. After working closely with Newfront from the asset manager side of the table, I had the opportunity to join the team to apply my background in investments, client service and marketing to help plan sponsors manage their fiduciary responsibilities.
PLANADVISER: What steps do you think will help improve the retirement industry and participant outcomes in the future (particularly ways in which your firm can help with that progress)?
Wilson: I think that the industry needs to continue making retirement planning simpler and less intimidating. I give us, advisers in general, a little of the blame historically for making investing seem complex and requiring advice. At Newfront, we want to simplify the decisions that both plan sponsors and participants need to make. Gone are the days of long, complex lists of investment options. In are the days of target-date funds, managed accounts and better access to in-plan advice.
We view our role as the translator for plan sponsors and participants, taking industry lingo and breaking it down to actionable insight. I see us helping plan sponsors continue to adopt and improve the use of automatic features in the plan. Pushing vendors to bring the solutions to market that participants truly need and will be able to use. Then, at the end of the day, connecting all the dots so that the actions plan sponsors take are clear to the end participants, giving them the best chance for a successful retirement.