Better Together: Three Concepts To Improve Employer & Retirement Industry Partnerships

In this unprecedented economic and market environment it is more important than ever for employers and their retirement service partners to work well together. This week I am excited to welcome back Tom Kmak, the CEO of Fiduciary Benchmarks to share his perspectives. Tom has a great message that is simple in concept but not always followed by employers or their service partners. We also delve into his forward looking thoughts around the effectiveness of workplace retirement plans, creating retirement income for employees, as well as some potential threats and obstacles for employers and the retirement industry. If you like what you hear from Tom today, be sure to check out our prior conversations on the podcast as well.

Before we get started, I would encourage you to look up and follow our guests on the podcast on LinkedIn and Twitter. They love the connections and have a lot to share. Also, if for any reason you are not following me on LinkedIn or Twitter or you are not subscribed to the podcast you can take care of that today by going to 401kfridays.com/subscribe.

Guest Bio

Tom Kmak is the CEO and co-founder of Fiduciary Benchmarks, 2007 to current. Fiduciary Benchmarks (FBi) is a financial services technology firm that helps clients protect their current revenue streams via their patented benchmarking service. Since being founded in 2007, FBI has developed other technologies that help services providers grow their business, manage their business as well as provide research and competitive intelligence on a number of retirement related issues. Their most recent innovation, the Business Management Dashboard, has been selected by a number of the most prestigious Advisory firms in the business.

Prior to founding FBi, Tom Started the JPMorgan Retirement Plan Services business in 1990 with American Century. Upon leaving in October 2007, that business employed 1,100 people serving 200 large plan sponsors with over 1.5 million participants and more than $115 billion in assets.

During his 18 years with Retirement Plan Services, the company initiated numerous industry firsts including no blackout conversions and the innovative employee education program, Audience of One. Tom also served on the Executive Committee for JPMorgan’s asset management business.

Named by Ingram’s magazine as one of Kansas City’s inaugural class of “Forty most influential people under Forty,” Tom is a recognized expert in the retirement services industry who has been a featured speaker at various conferences and has published articles in some of the most well-known periodicals in the industry.

Graduated Phi Beta Kappa from DePauw University with B.A. degrees in Economics and Computational Mathematics. First graduate of Management Fellows Program and 3 year letterman in inter-collegiate basketball.

401(k) Fridays Podcast Overview

Struggling with a fiduciary issue, looking for strategies to improve employee retirement outcomes or curious about the impact of current events on your retirement plan? We've had conversations with retirement industry leaders to address these and other relevant topics! You can easily explore over 175 prior on-demand audio interviews here. Don't forget to subscribe as we release a new episode each Friday!