PLANSPONSOR - April/May 2019 - 60

Michael Akan
He works proactively to address problems before
they arise
RECORDKEEPER COMPANY: Securian Financial
CLIENT: Southside Machine Works Inc.
CLIENT INDUSTRY: Manufacturing - Industrial products
CLIENT HEADQUARTERS: Lake Charles, Louisiana
PLAN ASSETS/PARTICIPANTS: >$10mm - $25mm/75
BIO: Michael Akan, core premier market account manager with
Securian Financial in St. Paul, Minnesota, has been with the firm
for 21 years. He was promoted from account manager in 2018.
J
ames Jarreau, owner of Southside Machine Works Inc., in
Lake Charles, Louisiana, considers Michael Akan part of his
company's team, not just a provider customer-contact. To the plan
sponsor, Akan, who is a core premier market account manager
with Securian Financial, provides consistent service.
Since the sponsor began partnering with Securian,
Southside has nearly doubled its workforce and more than tripled
its plan assets. As it continues to grow, Jarreau says, " other
providers have solicited us about working together. While the
company will follow through on the fiduciary responsibility to
look at other opportunities, none comes close to the service Akan
has presented. "
Services include a level of proactivity that will be hard to
find elsewhere, Jarreau notes. " Michael has remained proactive
on our company's plan, from issuing deadline reminders weeks
in advance to recommending changes for select features. "
Although Southside does not describe itself as technologically
advanced, Akan suggested implementing an electronic
notification system. Through it, plan compliance notices are now
sent to plan participants. This has streamlined the documentation
process.
When Hurricane Katrina hit, in 2005-in the early days
of Akan and Southside's relationship-Securian contacted the
company. Although no employees of the company were affected
by the storm or needed help with hardship withdrawals, it was
this sort of proactive service that stood out.
The loyalty between the plan sponsor and relationship
manager goes both ways. Several years ago, when Securian tried
to move the plan, because it had grown, to a different servicing
area, Southside refused to move unless Akan came along as relationship
manager. When he was promoted last year, the client
followed him to his new division.
" He's on our team, looking out for our best interest, and
we're working together in this process, " says Jarreau. " It's hard to
find someone you can work with every day, for many years, and
without a doubt know he has your back. " -Amanda Umpierrez
60 PLANSPONSOR.com April - May 2019
Jennifer Bogus
She guided the client through a complex merger
of retirement plans due to an acquisition
RECORDKEEPER COMPANY: Vanguard
CLIENT: Leidos Inc.
CLIENT INDUSTRY: Aerospace and defense
CLIENT HEADQUARTERS: Reston, Virginia
PLAN ASSETS/PARTICIPANTS: >$1b/43,000
BIO: Jennifer Bogus has been project manager, implementation
services department, at Vanguard, in Valley Forge, Pennsylvania,
for the last five years and has been with the company for 15 years.
A
s a project manager, Jennifer Bogus is frequently asked to
help her firm's largest clients maneuver such challenges as
merging retirement plans because of an acquisition. This was
the case with Leidos Inc.
The merger was significant-it doubled the number of
active participants and was more in-depth than a straight merger.
Bogus says, " The conversion piece included payroll programming
updates, and Leidos made plan provision changes to its existing
plan, already at Vanguard. It was like three projects in one and was
one of the more complex projects I have worked on. "
In Leidos' case, the company it acquired included union and
nonunion employees. Bogus, who has served Leidos as project
manager for five years, notes that she worked closely with the
Vanguard administration team to coordinate the closing of two
outside retirement plans and a migration to the existing platform.
" We transferred the union people over to create a brandnew
plan for them under Leidos, " she says.
The changes that Leidos wanted to make in the existing
plan included offering after-tax contributions, in-plan Roth
conversions, and severance and after-tax withdrawals, Bogus
says. The entire project took a full year, with the new plan going
live in December 2017.
To keep everything in order, Bogus created a project plan and
a schedule of times by which everything needed to occur during
the conversion. " The reason we were successful comes down to
communication, " she says. This meant " continually updating all
of the stakeholders, answering questions to make sure everyone
was on the same page and setting realistic expectations. At every
step of the way, everyone knew where the project stood. "
Beth Pattillo, director, retirement programs, at Leidos, says
it was Bogus' steady direction that kept the train on the rails.
" Throughout all of the extensive changes and meetings held with
multiple Leidos teams and vendors, Jennifer kept clear objectives
and held people accountable to established time frames, " Pattillo
says. " She also provided exceptional project status reports, keeping
me and my team fully involved. " -Lee Barney
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