The Gap

Hosted by Shannon Edwards

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Oct 2026

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Most hard-working Americans are not saving enough for retirement and will come up short. Even with all of the focus over the past decades, most Americans don't have access to an employer sponsored retirement plan, or aren't adequately saving in their existing plan. This equates to a sizable GAP in American's retirement savings. Get ready for a dose of insightful conversations with Shannon Edwards and her expert guests as they explore innovative strategies to bridge the retirement savings gap. Whether you're an employer, benefits manager, or a financial advisor looking to excel in the retirement plan arena, listening in will help you unlock the secrets to closing The GAP and stay ahead of the future!

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21 recent

October 1, 2026Episode 2138 min

Cannabis 401(k) Plans, Automatic Enrollment & ROBS Explained

Episode Intro: The GAP with Kirsten Curry Cannabis employees were locked out of retirement plans for years, even when their companies were operating legally. That wasn’t because a 401(k) is “not allowed” for cannabis businesses. It was because the retirement ecosystem around the plan, recordkeepers, custodians, and banking partners often refused to participate. We walk through what actually stood in the way, how compliant cannabis 401(k) plans get built, and why this work matters for real people trying to save for retirement. Episode Description: We also dig into new data from a large set of cannabis retirement plans and what it says about participation, minimum wage workforces, and the power of automatic enrollment. If you’ve ever wondered how to set a default deferral rate without triggering mass opt-outs, or how dispensary-heavy companies compare to restaurants and other high-turnover industries, you’ll get practical takeaways you can use with any plan sponsor. Then we switch gears to ROBS, Rollovers as Business Startups, and explain it in plain English: how entrepreneurs can fund a business using retirement dollars, how the 401(k) plan invests in the company through qualified employer securities, and where compliance mistakes happen once employees get hired. We close with what gives us hope about expanding coverage through SECURE-style rules and state mandates, plus a candid look at rising expectations for “real-time” service, payroll integration, and the role AI may play. If you found this useful, subscribe, share it with a plan sponsor or advisor who needs it, and leave a review with your biggest question about cannabis plans, ROBS, or automatic enrollment. Guest Bio: Kirsten Curry Two enduring principles have guided Kirsten Curry, Founder and CEO of Leading Retirement Solutions, throughout her life: hard work pays off, and we have a duty to take care of one another. These values were instilled in her during her upbringing in a commercial fishing family in Alaska, and they remain just as true today as she leads LRS toward becoming a key player in the financial services industry. Kirsten’s dedication to helping clients and their employees achieve financial security is rooted in her early experiences in Alaska, where her entrepreneurial and pioneering spirit first took shape. Today, Kirsten has woven that same principle into the culture at LRS, fostering an environment where every team member supports one another. Kirsten always knew that her life’s work would extend beyond commercial fishing. Still, it provided the foundation and the funding for her to earn a political science degree from Gonzaga University and later a law degree from Seattle University. After practicing law at several firms, she helped launch a financial startup, where she gained firsthand experience scaling a company from seven to 150 employees and driving $15 million in revenue within three years. Over time, however, Kirsten saw a gap in the industry. The company wasn’t placing enough emphasis on encouraging employers to adopt 401(k) plans that could help their employees build long-term financial security while also providing tax advantages to the business. After five years, she recognized both a challenge and an opportunity and made the bold decision to leave and launch her own firm. From day one, Leading Retirement Solutions has been on a mission to proactively guide companies toward a more secure financial future. With a unique, business-minded and entrepreneurial approach, the firm supports businesses, their owners, and employees in a holistic and strategic way. Kirsten and her team are deeply committed to helping clients understand the critical importance of creating pathways for employees to save for retirement. She believes that every company, including her own, has a moral responsibility to ensure employees have the opportunity to achieve financial security in retirement. As a forward-thinking entrepreneur, Kirsten is always seeking new ways to grow and serve emerging markets. It was a natural progression for her to partner with financial, legal, and retirement industry experts to meet a growing need in the financial sector, offering 401(k) solutions tailored to specialized industries, including the cannabis industry. Contact Our Guest: Kirsten Curry CEO Leading Retirement Solutions LeadingRetirement.com LinkedIn Contact Our Host: Shannon Edwards President TrisStar Pension Consulting TriStarPension.com LinkedIn

September 1, 2026Episode 201 hr 1 min

How Plan Sponsors Can Run A Smart Advisor Search - Eric Dyson

Episode Intro: The GAP with Eric Dyson Your retirement plan advisor can be the difference between a 401(k) that simply exists and a plan that actually changes employees’ lives. We sit down with Eric Dyson, executive director of 90 North Consulting and host of Be More Than a Fiduciary, to get brutally practical about how plan sponsors can evaluate an advisor, run a meaningful advisor search, and avoid getting fooled by the best presentation in the room. Episode Description: We start with the fundamentals that protect you as a fiduciary under ERISA: understanding your duties, defining what you need before you hire, and setting priorities that reflect the reality of your workplace. Eric shares what strong RFPs and competitive bids look like today, including how to spot copy-and-paste answers, why case studies and sample reports matter, and how great advisors tailor solutions to your plan demographics, participant behavior, and internal bandwidth. Then we dig into what sponsors should expect as “table stakes” from a retirement plan advisor: recurring investment reviews, a usable investment policy statement, and ongoing fee and service benchmarking. We also get specific about participant education, how to measure whether it’s working with clear KPIs and employee feedback, and why culture fit and true partnership with your recordkeeper and TPA can make or break outcomes. If you’re a small business owner, CFO, or HR lead with no committee and no benefits department, you’ll leave with a simple roadmap to find the right advisor and an annual habit that strengthens your due diligence: reviewing your 408(b)(2) fee disclosure to understand what you pay, what you get, and whether your advisor is a fiduciary. Subscribe, share this with a fellow plan sponsor, and leave a review with the #1 question you wish more advisors would answer. Guest Bio: Eric Dyson Eric Dyson is a graduate of the United States Naval Academy. After graduation, he served for ten years as a highly decorated nuclear-trained submarine officer. Eric has been a professional in the financial services industry for over 30 years, serving ERISA plan sponsors for over 25 years. He is currently the Executive Director of 90 North Consulting, where he provides services including advisor and broker RFPs, fiduciary training, best practices audits, and adjunct committee membership. Eric is also the host of the Be More Than a Fiduciary Podcast and delivers keynotes focused on actionable lessons from ERISA litigation. Contact Our Guest: Eric Dyson Executive Director 90 North Consulting https://90northllc.com/ LinkedIn Contact Our Host: Shannon Edwards President TrisStar Pension Consulting TriStarPension.com LinkedIn

August 3, 2026Episode 1955 min

The Fiduciary Process Made Practical

Episode Intro: The GAP with Will Hansen Your 401(k) committee can be doing its best and still be one missing document away from a compliance mess. That tension, doing meaningful work under complicated rules with limited time, is exactly what we unpack with Will Hansen, Chief Government Affairs Officer at the American Retirement Association and Executive Director of the Plan Sponsor Council of America (PSCA). Episode Description: In this episode We get practical about what strong retirement plan governance actually looks like: a consistent fiduciary process, clean documentation, and decisions you can defend later. Will explains why “process” is the common thread across the best-run committees, where documentation gaps really start, and how shared drives and scattered emails quietly become governance risks. We also zoom in on one of the most common technical traps for plan sponsors: the plan document, especially the definition of compensation, and how a mistake there can ripple into deferrals, match calculations, and testing corrections. Then we dive into Knowa powered by PSCA, an AI-powered plan governance solution designed to bring plan documents, compliance dates, collaboration, meeting agendas, and institutional knowledge into one system. We talk about capturing conversations from Outlook, onboarding years of scattered files, and using AI in a way that relies on trusted sources, your plan records plus PSCA guidance, without replacing fiduciary judgment. We also highlight PSCA research and the CPSP credential as a free, practical education path for plan sponsors. If you want fewer fire drills and more time to focus on participation, savings, and participant outcomes, hit subscribe, share this with a committee member, and leave a review with the governance challenge you want solved next. Guest Bio: Will Hansen Will Hansen joined the American Retirement Association (ARA) in January 2019 in the new role of Chief Government Affairs Officer. In this position, Will oversees all advocacy activities at the federal, state, and local levels on behalf of the five trade organizations within ARA. In addition, Will is the Executive Director of Plan Sponsor Council of America (PSCA) as of January 2020. Founded in 1947, PSCA has been at the forefront of protecting the American retirement system and is committed to improving workers’ retirement security by providing advocacy, insights, and education to plan sponsors. Hansen, an attorney with an LLM in Employee Benefits from The John Marshall Law School, joined ARA from The ERISA Industry Committee (ERIC), where he was the Senior Vice President of Retirement and Compensation Policy. He joined ERIC from the Holland America Group where he served as Senior Manager of Global Employee Benefits overseeing employee benefit programs for five cruise brands under the Carnival Corporate umbrella. Hansen previously served as the Executive Director of the United States Congress Joint Economic Committee, as well as Legislative Counsel for Senator Robert Casey, Jr. (D-PA), advising the Senator on tax, pension, budget, and social security issues, and as Legislative Director for Senator Tammy Baldwin (D-WI). He also has experience as an employee benefits attorney with McDermott Will & Emery LLP, where he focused on qualified and non-qualified retirement plans. Contact Our Guest: Will Hansen Chief Government Affairs Officer American Retirement Association https://araadvocacy.org LinkedIn Contact Our Host: Shannon Edwards President TrisStar Pension Consulting TriStarPension.com LinkedIn

July 14, 2026Episode 181 hr 30 min

Raising a Generation of Women Ready for Retirement

Episode Intro: The GAP with Stephen M. Welch and Cindy Hounsell Retirement doesn’t begin at retirement, and for many women, the biggest risks show up decades earlier in quiet ways. Money messages that discourage questions, lower pay over time, career pauses for caregiving, and missed access to a workplace 401(k) can all stack up into a retirement savings gap that feels impossible to catch. We created Women’s Retirement Security Day to name that reality and to focus on what actually helps. Episode Description: We’re joined by Cindy Hansel, founder of WISER (Women’s Institute for a Secure Retirement), and Steven Welch, managing partner of Crown Mark Wealth Advisors. Cindy shares how a pension freeze nobody could explain turned into a lifelong mission to make retirement rules and resources understandable. Steven tells the story of losing a large chunk of savings after concentrating his 401(k) in company stock and how that pain shaped his commitment to education, better plan design, and real guidance for everyday workers. Together, we dig into the drivers that compound fastest, including longevity, caregiving, and gaps in participation, and we challenge the lazy advice to “just save more.” We talk about retirement planning in plain English, why retirement is a financial condition not an age, and the practical basics that prevent heartbreak, like keeping beneficiary forms updated and getting one-on-one support. We also highlight what plan sponsors and advisors can improve now, including automatic enrollment, auto-increase features, and communication that meets people where they are. If you want a clearer path to women’s retirement security, listen, share this with someone you care about, and subscribe so you don’t miss what we publish next. After you listen, will you leave a review and tell us the biggest retirement question you want answered? Guest Bio: Stephen M. Welch Stephen M. Welch is the Managing Partner of Crownmark Wealth Advisors, launched in 2025, and headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia. With a proven track record of excellence in retirement planning and corporate financial strategies, Stephen specializes in empowering individuals and businesses to achieve their financial goals through comprehensive, tailored solutions. During his successful tenure at Morgan Stanley, Stephen served as a Retirement Plan Advisor and Corporate Retirement Director, guiding businesses in optimizing their retirement plans to attract and retain top talent while ensuring compliance and sustainability. His designation as a Financial Planning Specialist underscores his ability to approach each client’s financial journey holistically, incorporating investment strategies, retirement planning, and estate planning to deliver growth and stability across life stages. Stephen’s approach is defined by his commitment to building strong, personalized relationships with clients. Leveraging cutting-edge technology and a deep understanding of the financial landscape, he transforms challenges into opportunities, ensuring that every financial decision aligns with his clients’ long-term objectives. As a co-founder of Crownmark Wealth Advisors alongside Sean Foote, Stephen brings a shared vision of providing a boutique wealth management experience that prioritizes client success. Together, they offer a comprehensive range of services for high-net-worth individuals, business owners, and corporate executives. Stephen’s dedication to his clients’ financial well-being ensures that they are not just planning for the future but thriving in it. Whether optimizing retirement strategies or navigating complex financial decisions, Stephen delivers the expertise and guidance clients need to secure their financial legacy. Guest Bio: Cindy Hounsell Cindy Hounsell is the Founder and President of the Washington D.C. based Women’s Institute for a Secure Retirement (WISER), a nonprofit organization founded in 1996 to improve opportunities for women to secure retirement income and to educate the public about the inequities that disadvantage women in retirement. An attorney and retirement expert, Ms. Hounsell has been widely quoted in various media and publications including The New York Times , The Wall Street Journal , Forbes/PBS Next Avenue , Barrons , U.S. News and World Report , CNN , CNBC and NPR’s 1A , All Things Considered, Morning Edition and Marketplace. Ms. Hounsell also serves as Director of the National Resource Center on Women and Retirement; the Center WISER operates in partnership with the U.S. Administration on Aging. Through the Center, Ms. Hounsell provides technical assistance to national organizations and trains leaders and grassroots advocates across the country. Ms. Hounsell has testified before Congress and has served as a delegate for a number of White House summits and conferences. She has authored many chapters, columns, articles, op-eds, papers and booklets focused on women’s retirement issues. In 2018, Ms. Hounsell was awarded a lifetime achievement award by the Plan Sponsor Council of America. Ms. Hounsell was also named a 2015 Influencer in Aging by PBS- Next Avenue. The Influencers in Aging list highlights 50 thought leaders, researchers, experts, executives and everyday people who are redefining what it means to grow older in America. Ms. Hounsell was named by Women’s eNews as one of 21 Leaders for the 21st Century, and Money magazine named her one of its 40 Money Heroes for helping women secure their financial futures. Contact Our Guests: Stephen M. Welch Managing Partner Crownmark Wealth Advisors CrownmarkWealth.com Cindy Hounsell, JD Founder and President WISER W iserWomen.org Contact Our Host: Shannon Edwards President TrisStar Pension Consulting TriStarPension.com LinkedIn

July 1, 2026Episode 1750 min

Why Women's 401(k) Balances Fall Behind—and How to Change It - with Erika Goodwin & Madison Oakley

Episode Intro: The GAP with Erika Goodwin and Madison Oakley Women retire later, live longer, and often try to do it with less money and less margin for error. That isn’t a personal failure, it’s a system of pay gaps, caregiving interruptions, and uneven access to workplace retirement plans colliding over decades. We sit down with Erika Goodwin and Madison Oakley from the American Retirement Association to introduce the first annual National Women’s Retirement Security Day and explain why it’s designed as a call to action, not just another date on the calendar. Episode Description: We dig into the stats that should make plan sponsors and advisors pay attention, including how women’s 401(k) balances can be dramatically lower than men’s and how small differences in contribution rates turn into thousands of dollars when income is lower. We also talk about the practical fixes that already work in the private retirement system, like expanding access to employer-sponsored retirement plans, automatic enrollment, and automatic escalation, plus what recent retirement legislation has unlocked for small employers and savers juggling student loans and long-term goals. Then we get tactical. We share how RaiseHER gives communities a ready-to-use financial literacy program, what success looks like in year one, and the simplest actions anyone can take right now: log into your account, reset your password, check your contribution rate, confirm beneficiaries, and ask HR who you can call for help. We also talk about the added hurdles women of color face, and why the most powerful form of advocacy can start with one conversation at a cookout or dinner table. If you want clearer next steps, better language to talk about retirement, and resources you can trust, press play. Subscribe, share this with a friend or colleague, and leave a review so more people can find Women’s Retirement Security Day and join the movement. Guest Bio: Madison Oakley Madison is the Advocacy Engagement Manager for the American Retirement Association (ARA). In this role, she executes strategies aimed at enhancing member engagement in advocacy initiatives, including D.C. Fly-in meetings for constituents, grassroots advocacy campaigns, and the Political Action Committee. She also facilitates volunteer committee activities for ARA members, including the Thrive Mentoring Program for women, Third Thursdays with Women in Retirement, and the ASPPA and NAPA Government Affairs Committees. Madison has a background in political fundraising. Prior to joining ARA, she spent four years Molly Allen Associates LLC where she was responsible for PAC fundraising strategies for several Members of Congress and candidates. Previously, she was Deputy Finance Director for a congressional campaign in Nevada and interned for a Senate campaign in Wisconsin. Madison has a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science and Critical Identity Studies from Beloit College, and a Certificate in PAC and Grassroots Management. Madison lives in Arlington, VA with her husband and two cats. In her spare time, she enjoys knitting, crocheting, reading, and spending time with friends. Guest Bio: Erika Goodwin Erika Goodwin is the Director of Advocacy Engagement at the American Retirement Association (ARA), where she leads select advocacy engagement strategy at the federal level and grass top engagement to advance retirement security solutions. Erika leads Women's Retirement Security Day, a national initiative focused on raising awareness of the challenges women face in preparing for retirement and bringing together advocates, policymakers, and industry leaders around solutions. She has also led several initiatives to advance women and expand opportunity within the retirement industry, including the Women in Retirement Conference (WiRC), the Nourishing Our Wealth and Thrive mentoring programs, the ARA Council for Women, and efforts to create pathways for HBCU students to earn ARA professional certificates. A graduate of Lincoln University in Pennsylvania, Erika holds Project Management Professional (PMP) and Certified Meeting Professional (CMP) designations. Outside of work, she is an urban farmer and a Caribbean carnival enthusiast. Contact Our Guests: Madison Oakley Advocacy Engagement Manager American Retirement Association MOakley@usaretirement.org 703-516-9300 Erika Goodwin Director of Advocacy Engagement American Retirement Association EGoodwin@usaretirement.org 703-516-9300 Website: https://www.usaretirement.org

June 1, 2026Episode 161 hr 1 min

How Plan Sponsors Can Cut Through 401(k) Noise With Grant Ellis

Episode Intro: The GAP with Grant Ellis Your 401(k) plan might be “working” on paper, but are your people actually getting clearer, calmer, and more confident about retirement? We sit down with Grant Ellis, founder of Ellis Retirement Services, to talk about what plan sponsors are up against right now: nonstop vendor outreach, confusing regulatory updates, payroll integrations that break, and a flood of tools that often adds friction instead of results. Episode Description: We get practical about what helps sponsors cut through the noise. Grant shares why independence matters in the retirement plan advisory space, especially for fiduciary decisions like recordkeeper selection, fee benchmarking, and building a defensible investment process. We also make the case for the often-underappreciated “engine” of the system: the third-party administrator. When a specialist advisor and a strong TPA work as true partners, sponsors get better plan operations, smarter plan design, and real checks and balances that reduce risk. Then we zoom in on the end user: the participant. Grant argues that participant education and financial wellness are where the industry too often mails it in, swapping human conversations for another app. We talk about what actually moves the needle, including simple explanations, live Q and A, thoughtful plan design tweaks, and when auto enrollment can help close the retirement coverage gap without making employees feel tricked. Subscribe for more candid conversations about retirement readiness, share this with a plan sponsor who feels overwhelmed, and leave a review to help more employers find the playbook for better 401(k) outcomes. Guest Bio: Grant Ellis Grant Ellis began his retirement planning career in 2005 and has been serving the needs of his clients ever since. As an analytical person and a student of the industry, Grant loves the complexities involved with 401(k)’s and retirement planning. More than that, however, he loves that he gets to take those complex subjects and connect them to his clients’ needs and desires. Whether he’s working with a CFO, HR team, or an individual prepping for retirement, his goals are the same…helping them define goals and create a plan to achieve them. When he isn’t serving his clients, Grant likes to live as full a life as possible. He plays guitar and sings at his church (he even got to sing with Garth Brooks once!). He used to own a peanut butter company, wrote a book, guest lectures at Universities, and plays a little golf every now and then. More than anything though, Grant values the time he spends with his family. He and his wife Cara live in Eads, Tennessee with their two kids. Walker is nine and loves to play baseball, and Callan is eleven and loves to sing like her daddy. Contact: Grant Ellis 901-519-7734 hello@ellisretirement.com Website: https://ellisretirement.com/

May 4, 2026Episode 1544 min

Closing the Gap with Lisa Gomez - Part 2

Episode Introduction - The Gap with Lisa Gomez A retirement plan can look like a line item on a pay stub until you’re the person without one. That’s where this conversation starts, and why it gets so real so fast. I’m joined by Lisa Gomez, a nationally recognized employee benefits leader and the former head of the Employee Benefits Security Administration at the U.S. Department of Labor, the agency responsible for protecting the workplace benefits of more than 150 million Americans. Episode Description We sit down with Lisa Gomez to talk about what the retirement industry gets right, where the real breakdowns still happen, and how we can close the retirement savings gap and coverage gap without falling into defeatism or victory laps. We dig into the practical reasons people don’t participate even when they have access to a 401(k) or workplace retirement plan: confusing communication, benefits that look good on paper but don’t solve day-to-day needs, and the emotional reality that money stress and mental health are tightly linked. Lisa pushes us to get out of the echo chamber and talk directly with workers and employers, especially the demographics that keep getting left behind, so we can design solutions that actually change behavior. We also explore what financial advisors can do best when they serve as a whole-person guide, not just an account manager. From there we zoom out to policy and infrastructure: responsible financial data sharing that supports holistic planning, clearer and more consistent ERISA fiduciary expectations across shifting investment debates, and the opportunity for small employers through PEPs, state programs, and underused tax credits. We close with a challenge to plan sponsors and advisors: schedule real plan design reviews, strengthen governance, and keep asking whether the plan is truly helping people build retirement security. If you found this helpful, subscribe, share it with a plan sponsor or advisor, and leave a review so more people can find the show. What’s the biggest obstacle you see to improving retirement readiness? Guest Bio: Lisa is the founding member of LMG Collaborative Consulting Solutions, a firm providing comprehensive public policy and other consulting services in all aspects of employee benefits, including compliance, plan administration, plan design, advocacy, communications, government agency engagement, and strategic planning. In this new chapter, Lisa seeks to partner with employers and other plan sponsors and administrators, labor organizations, service providers, and worker advocates and use her experience and voice to help them successfully achieve their goals. Lisa can also serve as a professional trustee or independent fiduciary, expert witness, arbitrator, or mediator. Lisa was nominated by President Joseph R. Biden as Assistant Secretary of Labor for Employee Benefits Security for the U.S. Department of Labor in July 2021 and was confirmed by the U.S. Senate in September 2022. She was sworn in by Secretary of Labor Martin J. Walsh on October 11, 2022, and served in that position until January 20, 2025. Previously, Lisa was a long-standing partner with the law firm Cohen, Weiss and Simon LLP, representing labor organizations and employee benefit plan sponsors and administrators, and the chair of the firm’s management committee. Contact Lisa M. Gomez: LMG Collaborative Consulting Solutions https://lmg-ccs.com lisamgomez@lmg-ccs.com 917-757-5100 LinkedIN: https://www.linkedin.com/in/gomezlisam/

April 2, 2026Episode 1453 min

Closing the Gap with Lisa Gomez

Episode Introduction - The Gap with Lisa Gomez A retirement plan can look like a line item on a pay stub until you’re the person without one. That’s where this conversation starts, and why it gets so real so fast. I’m joined by Lisa Gomez, a nationally recognized employee benefits leader and the former head of the Employee Benefits Security Administration at the U.S. Department of Labor, the agency responsible for protecting the workplace benefits of more than 150 million Americans. Episode Description Lisa takes us through her journey from a working-class upbringing with limited access to employer benefits to nearly three decades as an ERISA and employee benefits attorney. We talk about what she learned advising plan sponsors across every kind of industry, and why that on-the-ground experience matters when regulators write retirement policy that has to work in the real world. If you care about retirement security, 401(k) access, fiduciary responsibility, and what it actually takes to help workers retire with dignity, her perspective is hard to beat. We also get into the moment she stepped into EBSA leadership during a period of major retirement policy evolution. Secure 2.0, ESG debates, lifetime income questions, and a constant drumbeat of stakeholder pressure all collided at once. Lisa explains how she thinks about collaboration versus enforcement, why “good actors” need support as much as bad actors need consequences, and what she’s most proud of that most people never notice. One of the biggest practical takeaways is communication: disclosures only matter if people can read them, understand them, and use them. We discuss why clearer disclosures can improve participant outcomes, strengthen accountability, and help close the retirement savings gap and retirement coverage gap over time. If Part 1 sparks questions for you, share it with a colleague and tell me what you want answered in Part 2. Subscribe, leave a review, and send this episode to someone who needs a clearer path to retirement security. Guest Bio: Lisa is the founding member of LMG Collaborative Consulting Solutions, a firm providing comprehensive public policy and other consulting services in all aspects of employee benefits, including compliance, plan administration, plan design, advocacy, communications, government agency engagement, and strategic planning. In this new chapter, Lisa seeks to partner with employers and other plan sponsors and administrators, labor organizations, service providers, and worker advocates and use her experience and voice to help them successfully achieve their goals. Lisa can also serve as a professional trustee or independent fiduciary, expert witness, arbitrator, or mediator. Lisa was nominated by President Joseph R. Biden as Assistant Secretary of Labor for Employee Benefits Security for the U.S. Department of Labor in July 2021 and was confirmed by the U.S. Senate in September 2022. She was sworn in by Secretary of Labor Martin J. Walsh on October 11, 2022, and served in that position until January 20, 2025. Previously, Lisa was a long-standing partner with the law firm Cohen, Weiss and Simon LLP, representing labor organizations and employee benefit plan sponsors and administrators, and the chair of the firm’s management committee. Contact Lisa M. Gomez: LMG Collaborative Consulting Solutions https://lmg-ccs.com lisamgomez@lmg-ccs.com 917-757-5100 LinkedIN: https://www.linkedin.com/in/gomezlisam/

March 2, 2026Episode 1354 min

Raising Confidence, Closing Retirement Gaps

Episode Introduction - The Gap with Toni Whaley Today's episode of The Gap is one I've been really excited to record. If you listen to this podcast regularly, you know that while we spend a lot of time talking about the retirement savings gap and the coverage gap in America, we also make a point to recognize something that doesn't get enough attention. The private retirement system works and it has made a meaningful difference in millions of American lives. American workers are far more likely to save for retirement when they have access to a workplace plan and when education, confidence, and guidance are layered on top of that access, the impact can be life-changing. That's why I am thrilled to welcome today's guest, Toni Whaley. Toni is the co-founder and CEO of Paladin Advisor Group , a plan member financial center serving more than 3,500 clients across the greater Baltimore and Washington, D.C. area. With more than 20 years as a financial professional, Tony has dedicated her career to helping people, especially those who serve others, gain confidence, clarity, and peace of mind around their financial futures. Episode Description We trace Toni’s path from early uncertainty to leadership, uncovering the moments that reshaped her philosophy—like the day a client reframed “mad money” as real retirement money. That mindset shift powers Paladin’s education-first approach across educators, federal employees, nonprofits, and small businesses. Toni explains why adults learn best through relevant stories, bite-size concepts, and visible progress, and how that approach outperforms generic content and market noise. The takeaway: confidence and clarity are as valuable as any fund lineup. We also dive into Raise Her, a bold five-year movement to empower one million women with practical tools and a clear plan for every stage: early learning, informed decisions, consistent saving, and smart retirement spending. Toni shares how Raise Her removes barriers—student debt stress, time scarcity, fear of asking—and invites action through social settings and ready-to-use materials. Guest Bio: Toni Whaley 2024 NTSA President and 2024 Marquis Who's Who Honoree , Toni E. Whaley is Co-Founder and CEO of Paladin Advisor Group, A PlanMember Financial Center. She has been a financial planner for over 20 years. Together with her husband Mike, she has grown Paladin Advisor Group to nine associate financial professionals, servicing several counties in the greater Baltimore and Washington DC area. Paladin services over 3,500 clients and manages over $290 million in client assets. Toni currently holds series 6, 65, 63 and life and health licenses; and a CRES – Certified Retired Education Specialist designation. As a financial professional, Toni focuses on helping those who make it their mission to serve others. Her clients include education professionals and their spouses, Federal employees, and employees of for-profit and non-profit organizations as well as Small Business. Helping people discover who they are, who they want to become and plan for their future is a major focus for Toni. Toni belongs to the Howard County Chamber of Commerce, the National Association of Professional Women, the Financial Services Institute, and the Howard County Estate Planning Council. Paladin Advisor Group is listed as an A+ accredited company with the Better Business Bureau. Contact Toni: Here is the link for Rai$e Her: https://www.ntsa-net.org/education/rai$e-her/ Toni Whaley: twhaley@planmembersec.com

February 3, 2026Episode 1245 min

Bonnie's Journey in Retirement Plans

Episode Introduction - The Gap with Bonnie Treichel Today on The Gap, I'm excited to welcome Bonnie Treichel, a true leader and innovator in the retirement plan industry. Bonnie is the founder and chief solutions officer of Endeavor Retirement, where she focuses on simplifying retirement plan governance so advisors and plan sponsors can spend less time navigating complexity and more time helping participants save successfully for retirement. She is also a partner at Endeavor Law and brings a unique perspective as an ERISA attorney, former advisor, and plan sponsor. Bonnie is widely recognized for her thoughtful leadership on fiduciary responsibility and retirement plan governance. Episode Description Governance isn’t glamorous, but it’s the difference between a plan that hums and a plan that hijacks your week. We sit down with Bonnie Treichel —ERISA attorney, former advisor, and founder of Endeavor Retirement—to translate fiduciary responsibility into a simple, repeatable system you can actually run. From future‑proofing your investment policy statement to building a one‑page map of duties, Bonnie shows how clear roles, documentation, and cadence stop finger pointing and free up time to help participants save more. We dig into the risk spectrum behind real-world corrections, where legal black and white meets the gray of business judgment. You’ll hear how to right‑size best practices for a five‑person plan versus a 5,000‑person plan, what truly belongs in a committee charter, and why actionable education beats dense white papers. We also tackle today’s biggest pressure points—cybersecurity, privacy, missing participants, fee confusion—and outline practical steps for data mapping, vendor oversight, and secure workflows that meet DOL expectations without overwhelming your team. Training advisors to train sponsors scales good governance and raises outcomes across the system. With steady process in place, you can shift attention to participant engagement—re‑enrollment, smart defaults, timely nudges—and keep people invested through market noise. Bonnie also shares optimism about bipartisan momentum on coverage and the growing pipeline of next‑gen talent, plus a preview of her new book, Your Retirement Sketchbook, designed to make planning approachable and fun. Guest Bio Bonnie Treichel: Bonnie Treichel is the Founder and Chief Solutions Officer of Endeavor Retirement, a consulting firm dedicated to solving problems for plan sponsors, advisors and service providers in the retirement plan industry. Her unique experience as an ERISA attorney and advisor helps her bring governance solutions for day-to-day issues that are an inevitable part of running a successful retirement plan. Bonnie is also a Partner at Endeavor Law, a firm dedicated to supporting the ecosystem of financial services with their retirement plan-related decisions, documentation, compliance, regulation and litigation. As a thought leader on retirement plan governance issues, Bonnie has been quoted in publications such as The Wall Street Journal, InvestmentNews, 401(k) Specialist, Ignites, PlanAdviser, NAPA Net Daily, and Journal of Pension Benefits. She is an active member of the American Retirement Association and has served in various leadership roles as well as the American Bar Association’s Tax Division where she is on the Lifetime Income Committee. When she isn’t working on retirement plan issues, Bonnie enjoys traveling, spending time with her golden retrievers, Sadie and Sunny, running, riding her bike and volunteering for Make a Wish. Contact Bonnie: bonnie.treichel@endeavor-retirement.com https://endeavor-retirement.com 816-284-2180 @btreichelesq