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Business at a Glance as of 12/31/23
- Location: Boston, Massachusetts
- How many plan assets do you have under advisement? $9.7B
- What is your median plan size (in assets)? $18.3M
- How many plans do you have under administration? 529
- How many participants in total do you serve? 275,000
- Parent firm: Marsh McLennan Agency
PLANADVISER: Tell us about your practice and how you got into advising retirement plans.
Bayliss: At Marsh McLennan Agency Retirement, we have a dynamic team that is solely focused on retirement plans, both qualified and non-qualified. Our team is profoundly tenured, with individual experiences from every corner of the defined contribution industry, making us a deeply respected team of experts. Our clients rely on us to not only manage their 401(k) plan and their fiduciary liability, but also to navigate the complex world of mergers and acquisitions, and be the expert resource to ensure their benefit is top-rated and competitive. Because we focus solely on retirement plans, we have innovated to create service models and solutions that go beyond most of our competitors’.
MMA focuses on helping companies manage their benefits, insurance programs and overall risk exposure unique to their industry, so that our philosophy and mindset filters down to all divisions. Our team first and foremost wants to ensure that our clients have a retirement plan benefit that is robust and properly managed.
PLANADVISER: How is your team unique/competitive in the marketplace?
Bayliss: Our team is unique in the sense that we consider ourselves innovators. We routinely challenge the status quo as to our deliverable and look for gaps in the industry and how we can provide value to our clients. Some ways we have done that:
- Prosper Wise – We created a multi-faceted financial wellness program that gives individual participants access to online education and unlimited one-on-one sessions with financial coaches on any financial topic.
- CPSP Designation – We pioneered the Certified Plan Sponsor Professional designation in conjunction with the Plan Sponsor Council of America as a way to better educate our clients on their fiduciary responsibility.
- PEMA Team – With M&A and private-equity-backed transactions on the rise, we developed a team of experts to specifically help clients navigate the complex world of consolidating benefits.
All of this is on top of our standard delivery model, which we have tailored to meet the different needs of our clients. Our enterprise team focuses on larger plans with big committees and managing growing risk and liabilities, while our signature team are specialists for smaller plans that need additional support, want to explore outsourcing and deal with the growing pains as their companies continue to mature.
PLANADVISER: How do you grow your business? What changes to your practice or service model are you planning for 2024?
Bayliss: Our team of producers focuses on growing our business through a mix of organic new business initiatives, M&A support to consolidate acquired businesses and cross-selling with Marsh counterparts in other lines of business.
Our practice is always adapting to the regulatory landscape, helping plan sponsors navigate both national legislation such as the SECURE 2.0 Act of 2022, but also state legislation such as the Maine Retirement Investment Trust program. Being subject matter experts on 401(k) and other DC plans helps us not only be a resource for our current clients, but for prospective clients as well.
PLANADVISER: How does your firm incorporate mentorship into its practice to advance the next generation of plan advisers?
Bayliss: MMA incorporated mentorship programs on many levels, both formal and informal. We have a formal training program we call Growth in Relationships and Opportunities at Work that employees can join as either a mentor or mentee. We pair people up based on where they are in their professional journey and what they look to achieve. No one is turned away.
Aside from the GROW program, all new members of our team are given a mentor for their first year at MMA. The purpose of this is to give all new employees peer support as they navigate getting settled with the company, learn our processes and how to apply them in a client-facing setting. This practice has been hugely successful as all new advisers are able to receive feedback, training and support while learning our best practices, mission and deliverables.
PLANADVISER: What advice can you give to industry peers about developing successful experiences for both mentors and mentees?
Bayliss: Make people care and personally vest yourself. If you are setting up a mentor program, it is important not to have your potential mentors look at it as a burden or extra responsibility on their plate. Many of us can recall a time when we joined a company and were left to figure it out on our own, and we made a lot of mistakes on the way. Making mistakes is a great way to learn and grow, and it can be a positive experience if there is a safe environment for new hires and younger peers to learn and expand their professional skills. Recalling past experiences and making the team a place where people want to work is an ethos all will buy into, and we have had tremendous success with the approach. The reason we have virtually no turnover is because of the camaraderie we have developed and sense of belonging for all.
By vesting yourself in the mentor program, you play a direct role in the outcome of the culture you want to create. I personally make time for all team members, but go out of my way to ingratiate myself with new mentees specifically so that they know there is a culture of support. My door is always open.