Chris Thixton, Director, Vendor Services, spends his days communicating with clients, record keepers and internal staff. His role at Pension Consultants is to help clients determine where they want to go, define a clear path to get there and set expectations for services along the way. Chris has been with Pension Consultants since 1995, and as one of the company’s most tenured staff members he relishes the opportunity to teach clients, emphasizing informed decision-making at every step.
In business as usual, people clip along, they have a retirement plan, but it’s a deferred benefit. Plan sponsors start out with a good relationship with their vendor, but, over time, things change. The industry changes, vendor business models change, the clients themselves change. Each year the question is how to improve the plan. We help them with that. The whole reason you have this benefit is so people can retire. To do that, you have to regularly make sure the plan is healthy.
According to Chris, the difficulty with the retirement plan industry for most plan sponsors is that when you ask for an apple, record keepers may give you a clock. An industry standard for evaluating vendors simply doesn’t exist. Retirement plan sponsors need an advocate who understands how record keepers, custodians and trustees operate. Someone who goes beyond the sales pitch to understand how the industry really works. Someone who understands how a plan compares to what else is out there, and what record keepers leave unsaid when they want you to buy.
Chris embraces this challenge. He created (and constantly updates) a full vendor research system with comparative analysis systems and a database of record keepers and what they provide. His department works with clients to establish expectations, and holds record keepers accountable if they fall short of them. Sometimes this entails changing record keepers, but more often he finds ways to work with the existing record keeper to make meaningful improvements to a client’s plan. In his estimation, the problem isn’t that record keepers are inherently bad; it’s the conflict of interest. They are selling a product that not everyone understands in an industry that’s constantly changing. He views his role in the client’s selection process as taking something intricate – something with countless moving parts and independent variables – and simplifying it so clients can make an informed decision. What Chris does isn’t easy: he spends an immense amount of time conducting research, interviewing and negotiating because the process by which clients make a decision is as important as the decision itself.
Education, Designations and Experience
- Qualified Pension Administrator
- Bachelor of Science, Business, Missouri State University
- Testified in Washington D.C. at the Department of Labor Employee Benefit
Security Administration Hearing on Reasonable Contracts or Arrangements Under Section 408(b)(2) Fee Disclosure - Member of the American Society of Pension Professionals and Actuaries
Outside Interests
Chris spends much of his time outside of work with his family outdoors camping, attending ball games or enjoying a family night. He is also very active in his church and teaches a weekly Young Adult Sunday School class.
What drives you to do what you do?
“I want to know the answers to questions before they’re asked. That’s my fuel. In my position, I have the opportunity to dig into something and make it better, to take something apart, layer by layer, put it back together and be able to say, ‘I know how this works and how it can be better.’ We make sure we can see from A-Z before we move to B. That’s why we’re different.”
