Trisha Brambley

President

Trisha@ResourcesForRetirement.com

“Intelligence, Integrity, Innovation and Independence ... are the central characteristics of our team.”

“Together we develop thoughtful solutions for retirement plan sponsors that address their desired outcomes for competitive high quality retirement programs.”

As President of RESOURCES, Trisha leads the firm with the same client dedication which has been its hallmark since its inception over a decade ago. “Our values, individually and collectively, are to offer a wide array of solutions to perfectly fit each client’s needs and to do so in a straight-forward, ethical manner. Our service-centered culture translates to long term clients and an ever-growing list of new ones.”

As part of the team that developed the country’s first 401(k) plans, and as a forerunner in the development of the plan advisory services model, Trisha has been named one of the most influential in the retirement plan industry (401kWire) and recognized as one of the most successful advisors in the country (Plan Sponsor Magazine).

Trisha carried this same dedication and philosophy to her three-year term on the Department of Labor’s ERISA Advisory Council. "It’s an honor to serve on the council. I hope I can use this opportunity to contribute to the pool of knowledge that makes our retirement plan system a vital component to the financial security of employees.” As an advisor to the DOL, she has worked on vitally important topics including target-date funds, stable value funds and financial literacy.

Noted Expert
Trisha is frequently quoted in the press including The Wall Street Journal, USAToday, Money Magazine, Pension & Investment Age, The Philadelphia Inquirer, CFO Magazine and hundreds more. In addition, she is a speaker on many national forums that focus on retirement plan issues, including the Profit Sharing Council of America, the Center for Due Diligence and the Department of Labor.

Innovator
“As one of the premier plan advisory firms in the country, we bring independent, expansive and practical insight to plan sponsors.” In 1995, Trisha launched RESOURCES for Retirement dedicated to helping plan sponsors select the best plan provider, obtain competitive plan pricing, consider defined benefit alternatives, and adopt the best practices in running their plan. Ongoing fund monitoring, constructing plan effectiveness reviews and combining this with deep plan consulting expertise is what makes our services stand out.

Trisha has her series 6, 63, 65 registrations and is a Registered Investment Advisor, Health Insurance, and Property and Casualty Representative. She is also a member of the Profit Council of America’s Editing committee and Signature Award Judge and was appointed by Labor Secretary Elaine L. Chao and then by her successor, Secretary Hilda L. Solis, to the Department of Labor's ERISA Advisory Council.

National Plans Consultant
As Vice President, Retirement Plan Services for Johnson Companies, and then Noble Lowndes, who acquired them, Trisha’s role included senior management, national leadership, and serving as lead consultant for the firm’s largest and most prestigious clients.

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Carmela L. Elco

Vice President of Client Services
& Accredited Investment Fiduciary®
CElco@ResourcesForRetirement.com

“We work to help eliminate the stress of decision making for our clients. That’s a big part of why our Advisory Services Program is structured the way it is. So you can be confident that we are going to provide you with a reassuring experience and a clear decision making process.”

RESOURCES for Retirement’s reputation for excellence is due, in part, to the efforts of Carmela Elco. Carmela has been with the firm since, 1999, and as Vice President of Client Services our clients look to her for sound advice.

Her client service mentality, along with her professionalism and superior technical expertise, fuels our mission “to create the best possible retirement plan solutions for our clients.” She brings years of leadership, knowledge, and effective strategy to complex fiduciary matters. “It’s about more than managing investments; it is about making a difference in the lives of our clients and their most valuable assets—their people.”

With an enduring attention to detail, she enjoys working with finance and human resources professionals to help them comply with ever-changing rules and regulations, work through complex and sensitive retirement plan mergers, build thoughtful and responsible defined benefit replacement plans, monitor investments and help them understand the challenges and available opportunities to build an effective and competitive program.

Ms. Elco has extensive training as a Human Resources professional. She is a graduate of the University of Pittsburgh and holds an MA in Human Resources Management from St. Francis University where she was awarded an Academic Excellence Award for her exemplary scholarly achievements. Ms. Elco is certified as a Professional in Human Resources and is an active member of numerous local HR Organizations. She has her Series 6, 63, 7 and 24 licenses and has obtained her Accredited Investment Fiduciary designation from the Foundation of Fiduciary Studies.

Prior to joining RESOURCES, Carmela served as a Retirement Benefits Manager for an internationally recognized shipbuilding company where she was responsible for the retirement benefits of 7,000 active and 5,000 retired employees. She has hands on experience with multiple plan consolidations, employee communication and administration from a plan sponsor perspective.

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Dana Brigandi

AVP, Business Development

Dana@ResourcesForRetirement.com

“Everyday is an opportunity to discover something new or to see the world with a fresh perspective. I try to bring this philosophy into the work I do for our clients.”

Optimistic, energetic and creative- three words commonly used to describe Dana by her colleagues. Whether it’s helping our clients stay up-to-date with critical information, trends and alerts or preparing a topical and engaging presentation she brings clarity to complicated matters. Dana leads the firm’s well-respected and award winning financial education program and is a creative planner of educational events for plan participants, investment committee members, plan fiduciaries and CPA's.

Additionally, Dana periodically conducts surveys on topics requested by our clients, manages our press and media mentions, develops sales and marketing strategy, shapes our telemarketing program, and organizes our research, white papers and statistics on a variety of topics. She graduated with a Bachelor of Arts degree from Indiana University of Pennsylvania, has her Series 6 and 63 registrations.

Prior to joining RESOURCES, Dana worked as a Project Manager at The Hibbert Group where she worked for some of the firm’s largest and most prestigious clients, including Merck and Eli Lilly. While on the Eli Lilly team, they were awarded Vendor of the Year an unprecedented 2-years running.

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Kristen Maldonado

Participant Fiduciary Advisor and Investment Consultant

Kristen@ResourcesForRetirement.com

“General Education is not enough; participants need a customized road map to retirement.”

Kristen meets with clients to provide participant support, asset allocation advice, and customized 401(k) strategies.

Prior to joining RESOURCES, Kristen served as an Investment Counselor in Silicone Valley, California, specializing in asset management for high net worth individuals. Her experience results in a strong understanding of both equity market fundamentals and portfolio administration.

She later joined Lincoln Investment Planning, Inc. where she provided individual investment solutions and implemented strategies to assist pre-retirees in achieving their financial goals. Kristen has her NASD Series 7, 6, 63, 65 registrations, Pennsylvania insurance licenses and the elite Fiduciary Adviser Designation. She has extensive 403(b) experience with participants.

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Abraham "Braam" Nel

Investment Analyst

Abraham@ResourcesForRetirement.com

“The difference between a good technician and a consultant is the ability to put oneself in the client's shoes.”

Braam puts his investment knowledge to work for our clients by providing the framework for a sound fiduciary process. With his focus on investments, he creates critical decision-making tools to help our clients make informed decisions, adhere to a stringent fiduciary monitoring process and meet all Investment Policy Statement guidelines.

Braam’s prior hedge fund experience brings an added dimension to serving the needs of our corporate and non-profit clients. “I understand that the investment decisions our clients make will impact them now and in the future. This drives me to provide the best tools to help build a successful retirement plan program for them and their employees.”

Prior to joining RESOURCES, Braam was a senior portfolio analyst at ING Clarion Real Estate Securities where he analyzed a $600 million hedge fund portfolio. After graduating from Bucknell University, he joined SEI where he was a hedge fund accounting supervisor. Braam is currently completing coursework towards attaining his MBA at Villanova University.

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John Fletcher, CPC, QPA, QKA

Vice President, Special Consulting Services

John@ResourcesForRetirement.com

Who was the first 401(k) participant in the country? Our very own -- John Fletcher!

As part of the team that developed the country’s first 401(k) plans, John was instrumental in designing the plan provisions of this revolutionary program; many of which are still in existence today.

John has more than thirty years of experience in all aspects of retirement plan consulting and has gained the ultimate trust and respect of our clients. As a man of exceptionally high personal standards, John has helped our clients resolve and prevent challenging non-compliance issues. In addition, John offers our clients years of experience with plan audits, conducts contract reviews and evaluates complicated and often difficult to understand stable value contracts. John also specializes in defined benefit plan consulting, cost benefit analysis and provides defined benefit replacement plan alternatives.

Before becoming Vice President of Special Consulting Services at RESOURCES, John owned and managed his own TPA firm, where he served as President and CEO until it sold to Century Business (CBIZ). Prior to that, John was with The Johnson Companies, as their Senior Technical Consultant and worked on many special projects; most notably developing an Employee Stock Ownership Plan “modeling” program that would assess whether it was feasible for a company to establish an ESOP.

John is a graduate of George Washington University, a member of the American Society of Pension Professionals & Actuaries (ASPPA) where he holds several of their professional credentials and served on the Exam Committee of the American College.

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Cindy DeGulis

Client Services Coordinator

Cindy@ResourcesForRetirement.com

As the very first RESOURCES’ employee, Cindy has a faithful dedication and commitment to our firm and our clients.

Throughout her career, Cindy has gained extensive technical and hands-on experience to provide the high level service our clients deserve. In her role as Client Services Coordinator, Cindy leverages this experience to successfully carry out a broad variety of projects designed to improve the retirement readiness of our clients and their employees.

“Collaboration within our organization is vital to meeting the needs of our clients.” Whether it’s working with clients and staff to gather and assemble critical client information, outlining the objectives and scope of the assignment or drafting complex RFPs, Cindy brings this philosophy to her work and is a highly valued member of our team. In addition, Cindy creates web-based questionnaires for compiling vendor responses and assists in preparation of key client deliverables.

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Richard A. Lord

Chief Financial Officer

As Chief Financial Officer, Mr. Lord is responsible for the oversight of financial, management and regulatory reporting. 

In addition to his current position with the organization, Mr. Lord has more than fifteen years of financial services experience including financial/operations principal for First Union Securities and regional controller for American Title Insurance Company.