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Fiduciary Governance

Working with clients to build
strong fiduciary governance structures.
FG_Service PageContact-Us_advisor_v2A strong fiduciary governance structure is the bedrock of a successful retirement plan program.
A sound framework limits fiduciary liability within the organization and empowers those delegated to proactively manage the plan to ensure its ongoing benefit to participants.

Proper governance is well-documented, identifies the parties involved with the plan, delegates responsibilities to the appropriate parties, and creates a process to make decisions about vendors, services, fees, and investments.

Fiduciary governance structures are as unique as the organizations that utilize them. Multnomah Group assists clients with the development of structures, documentation, and processes in:

  • Assessment of fiduciary processes and documents
  • Committee charters
  • Board resolutions
  • Investment policy statements

Annual Fiduciary Program

We developed an Annual Fiduciary Program to help our clients manage their ongoing fiduciary responsibilities. Our service model is structured to address the major components of a sound fiduciary governance program over the course of our quarterly meetings throughout the year.

The following is a brief outline of the typical focus of each quarterly Committee meeting:

Revised-Annual-Fiduciary-Program (7)

Fiduciary Resources

In addition to the services we offer to help plan sponsors with their fiduciary duties to their plan, we create and share resources throughout the year that help navigate to the responsibilities facing plan sponsors as it relates to their retirement plan benefit programs. 

  • Understanding 408(b)(2) Disclosures
    What is in a 408(b)(2) disclosure? Why is it necessary? We walk plan sponsors through this important disclosure in our short FAQ. 
    Download the FAQ.
  • Fiduciary Education for Your Retirement or Investment Committees
    Many plan sponsors delegate day-to-day administration and oversight of the plan to an investment committee or retirement committee. This typically results in committee members becoming fiduciaries for the plan. It is important for all committee members to understand that they are a fiduciary to the plan and what their fiduciary responsibility entails.
    Download the guide.
  • Meeting Minutes: The Importance of Documenting Your Process
    Meeting minutes capture the discussion and decisions of the investment committee. Several sets of meeting minutes help weave together the story of the actions the committee has taken related to their retirement plan. All employer sponsored retirement plans are different. As the industry evolves, plans adopt different strategies at various times. A committee may take several years executing plan changes. Meeting minutes provide the roadmap on what the committee was doing and how the committee reached its desired result.
    Download the resource.

Frequently Asked Questions

Q: What compliance resources does your firm provide?

A: We have an internal Technical Services Committee that provides compliance support to the firm’s clients. The Technical Services Committee meets monthly to set firm policy on areas of ERISA technical and fiduciary issues as well as to review specific technical compliance items that clients may be facing. The Technical Services Committee is led by our senior consultant and director of ERISA technical services Greg Johnson, J.D.

Q: What investment policy statement support do you offer?

A: We believe that an Investment Policy Statement (IPS) is one of the most important components of a well-defined fiduciary governance structure. We believe proper fiduciary governance begins with a clear delegation of authority from the board of directors/trustees, the adoption of a charter that establishes the Committee(s) and assigns roles and responsibilities to individual parties, and ultimately an IPS that guides that Committee in the work that they do. We help clients implement proper governance by providing support in the development of the proper governance documents. For clients with an existing IPS, we will review the documentat the outset of our engagement and make recommendations to the Committee if we believe there are opportunities for improvement. For clients without an IPS, we will provide a draft IPS that incorporates what we believeto be best practices in governance design. Ultimately, the IPS is the client’s governance document, and we utilize our experience to provide input in helping our clients draft an IPS that meets the needs of each client.

Q: What fiduciary education do you offer to committees/board members?

A: We have developed formal committee training materials for new committees and new committee members. The focus of those training materials is fiduciary responsibility and best practices in fiduciary governance. Our proprietary fiduciary training curriculum is structured to maintain and develop the committee members' knowledge over time, no matter if the member is new to their fiduciary role or has been serving for an extended period of time. In additional to our fiduciary training program, we provide a wide range of other committee support, training, and education opportunities. On an ongoing basis, we host webinars for clients and prospective clients on a wide range of industry topics. Most clients and committee members use these webinars as an opportunity for ongoing training. We have developed committee education on fiduciary governance, retirement readiness, and investment topics that can be used to educate the committee as a whole, or for new members. Additionally, we support client committees by drafting white papers, FAQs, and other research on topics relevant to clients.

Our Technical Services Committee sets firm policy on areas of ERISA technical and fiduciary issues and reviews specific technical compliance issues that clients may be facing. 
Greg Johnson_360px

Greg Johnson

Senior Consultant and Director of ERISA Technical Services

Hailey Fields_360px

Hailey Fields

Consultant & Director of Client Services

Erik Daley_360px

Erik Daley

Managing Principal

Brian Montanez_360px

Brian Montanez

Principal

To contact one of our committee members,
or to learn more about our fiduciary governance capabilities,
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