The Standard recently announced that it has named Mark Christensen as the pooled employer plans sales director in the firm’s Retirement Plans division.
Christensen has 20 years of experience in financial services, most of that in retirement plans. He previously held roles at Voya, Principal Financial Group and Sallus Retirement, a PEP startup, according to the firm’s announcement.
With the addition of Christensen in this new role, The Standard continues to be at the forefront of the PEP market with its private-labeled offering. In August 2023, the firm introduced seven new products and services to its retirement plan recordkeeping business, including PEPs, following its acquisition of Securian Financial’s retirement plan recordkeeping business.
“Our approach to PEPs continues to attract advisors and employers and we want to invest in this success,” stated Steven Chappell, vice president of distribution in Retirement Plan Sales at The Standard. “Mark’s experience will help ensure all the resources at The Standard are available to our advisors as we grow our private label PEP business.”
Last February, the firm announced that it had surpassed $1 billion in pooled employer retirement plan assets under administration.
“Successful PEPs reflect the strong partnerships that allow us to provide retirement products that work for everyone,” Ted Schmelzle, second vice president of retirement plan services at The Standard, said at the time. “Our PEP strategy is a natural extension of our approach to standalone plans, which is based on our strong customer service proposition, industry-leading fiduciary responsibility programs and emphasis on providing easy-to-implement solutions for employers.”
Meanwhile, The Standard’s announcement this week came as Cerulli also announced that the PEP market has acquired more than $10 billion in assets and more than 24,000 participating employers. Of all the pooled plan structures, PEPs have garnered the lion’s share of headlines and attention from retirement industry stakeholders in recent years, the firm noted in The Cerulli Report—U.S. Retirement Markets 2024.
Consequently, asset managers will need to periodically revisit their approach to prioritizing defined contribution intermediaries to capture the burgeoning PEP market, the report suggests. Plan advisors and consultants are the primary investment decision-makers across most plan asset segments and serve as the 3(38) investment fiduciaries for many of the top PEPs. The growth of these PEPs underscores the importance of forging strong relationships with consultants working with these plans, Cerulli further emphasizes.