PLANSPONSOR Announces Finalists for Retirement Plan Adviser and Adviser Team of the Year Awards

STAMFORD, Conn., Jan. 27 /PRNewswire/ -- PLANSPONSOR, an Asset International company, has announced the finalists for its annual Retirement Plan Adviser and Adviser Team of the Year awards. The finalists were drawn from a pool of more than 425 nominations.

The winners will be announced at the annual PLANSPONSOR/PLANADVISER Awards Dinner on March 25, 2010, in New York City.

The finalists for the Retirement Plan Adviser of the Year are:

• Timothy Black, Mosse & Mosse Associates, Marlborough, Massachusetts
• L. Rita Fiumara, UBS Financial Services, Inc., Chicago, Illinois
• Jennifer San Fillippo, La Bri Group, Brookfield, Wisconsin
• Attila Toth, Portfolio Evaluations, Inc., Warren, New Jersey
• Rick Wedge, Northgate Benefits, an NRP member firm, Novato, California

The finalists for the Retirement Plan Adviser Team of the Year are:

• Lockton Dallas (David W. Altimont, Lucas M. Barton, Courtney Stroope, Erika Chavez), Dallas, Texas
• Michael M. Kane and Associates (Michael M. Kane, Addie Kane, Jeff Hale), Alpharetta, Georgia
• Plan Sponsor Advisors (Jennifer Flodin, Don Stone), Chicago, Illinois
• Precept RPS (Linda Bright, Doug Igel), Irvine, California
• The Prince Group (Douglas Prince, Brea Dantin, Deana Harmon), Indianapolis, Indiana

Launched in 2005, these Awards recognize the contributions of the nation's best financial advisers in helping make retirement security a reality for workers across the nation. "Advisers have become indispensable members of the team for most workplace retirement plans," said Nevin Adams, Editor-in-Chief of PLANSPONSOR. "The criteria that underlie the award are simple but impactful; we want to recognize advisers who make a difference through increased participation, higher deferral rates, enhanced asset allocation, and/or programs that deliver expanded service or better expense management."

The Retirement Plan Adviser of the Year and the Retirement Plan Adviser Team of the Year will be profiled in more detail in future issues of PLANSPONSOR magazine and PLANADVISER magazine, and will receive a free registration to the 2010 PLANADVISER National Conference, to be held in Orlando, Florida, September 20-22.

Nominations for the Retirement Plan Adviser and Adviser Team of the Year awards were solicited online from retirement plan advisers, their employers and/or broker/dealers, and plan sponsors, as well as from working partners of these advisers, including investment vendors, accountants and attorneys, and pension administrators (advisers who have attained the PLANSPONSOR Retirement Professional designation receive an automatic nomination).  The finalists were selected by an expert panel of judges from a list of semifinalists compiled from a quantitative evaluation of their current service levels and, based on feedback from their plan sponsor clients.

Previous winners of the PLANSPONSOR Retirement Plan Adviser of the Year award include Steven Dimitriou, of Mayflower Advisors, LLC, in Boston, Massachusetts (2009); John Barry with JMB Wealth Management in Torrance, California (2008); Chad Larsen with Moreton Financial Solutions in Denver, Colorado (2007); Dorann Cafaro of The Cafaro Group in Little Silver, New Jersey (2006); and John Mott of Smith Barney in Houston, Texas (2005).

Previous winners of the PLANSPONSOR Retirement Plan Adviser Team of the Year are Fiduciary Investment Advisors of Windsor, Connecticut (2009); FFoA in Pearl River, New York (2008) and the STAR Group with Merrill Lynch in Akron, Ohio (2007).

A list of the most successful advisers taken from those nominated for the award can be found at http://www.planadviser.com/MagazineArticle.aspx?id=8457&magazine=8517.

About PLANSPONSOR

PLANSPONSOR magazine is the nation's leading authority on retirement issues and benefits programs. PLANSPONSOR.com provides comprehensive news and commerce services dedicated solely to helping employers and financial advisers navigate the complex world of retirement plans and benefit programs on behalf of their employees or clients. For more information, see www.plansponsor.com. PLANSPONSOR also has an education and consulting division called PLANSPONSOR Institute. The distinguished faculty at PLANSPONSOR Institute adheres to a distinctive educational philosophy that has led to the development of high-end educational programs. For more information, see www.plansponsorinstitute.com.

About Asset International

Asset International is a privately-held publisher and information provider to global pension funds, asset managers, financial advisers, banking service providers, and other financial institutions in the private and public sector. Asset International produces and distributes print and digital publications, conferences, research and data resources via its industry-leading brands PLANSPONSOR, PLANADVISER, Global Custodian, ai5000, Strategic Insight and The Trade. The company was acquired in January 2009 by Austin Ventures and has offices in New York, London and Stamford, CT.

SOURCE PLANSPONSOR