Nevin E. Adams, JD
Now “retired” (whatever that means), Nevin is the former Chief Content Officer and Head of Retirement Research for the American Retirement Association. One of the retirement industry’s most prolific writers, these days he’s “retired”, which means he writes less, but continues to keep his eye on developments in, and threats to, the nation’s private retirement system. In addition to helping guide the agenda development for the NAPA 401(k) Summit, he’s also the “Nevin” in the Nevin & Fred podcast (along with renowned ERISA attorney Fred Reish), offering irreverent, but relevant perspectives on the critical issues confronting plan sponsors, advisors, and retirement industry professionals.
Prior to his time at the ARA, he was the Employee Benefits Research Institute’s Director of Education and External Relations, Co-Director of EBRI’s Center for Research on Retirement Income and Director of the American Savings Education Council, and prior to that spent a dozen years as Global Editor-in-Chief of PLANSPONSOR magazine and PLANSPONSOR.com, as well as PLANADVISER and PLANSPONSOR Europe magazines. He was the originator, creator, writer and publisher of PLANSPONSOR.com’s NewsDash. He began his retirement services career at Northern Trust in Chicago, where he later served in a variety of management roles, culminating in the development of a proprietary recordkeeping platform, and at Wachovia Bank, leading their defined contribution/recordkeeping businesses.
He has been honored three times by the National Association of Government Defined Contribution Administrators (NAGDCA) with their Media Recognition Award (in 2002, 2004 and 2013), and has regularly been noted as one of the Most Influential People in Defined Contribution by the 401kWire, most recently ranked #7 of the top 100. In 2023 his contributions to the nation’s private retirement system were acknowledged with ASPPA’s Harry T. Eidson Founder’s Award. He graduated summa cum laude with a BS in Finance from DePaul University in Chicago, Illinois and after a number of years working with retirement plans, also received his JD from DePaul University.
Fred Reish
A partner in Faegre Drinker’s Benefits & Executive Compensation practice group, the Investment Management group, and the Financial Services ERISA Team, Fred’s practice focuses on fiduciary issues, prohibited transactions, tax-qualification and retirement income. He works with both private and public sector entities and their plans and fiduciaries; represents plans, employers and fiduciaries before the governing agencies (e.g., the IRS and the DOL); consults with banks, trust companies, insurance companies and mutual fund management companies on 401(k) investment products and issues related to plan investments and retirement income; and represents broker-dealers and registered investment advisers on issues related to fiduciary status and compliance, prohibited transactions and internal procedures.
One of the retirement industry’s most prolific and widely quoted legal minds, Fred has NOT yet retired. In addition to his co-host role on the Nevin & Fred podcast, he continues an active speaking (and writing) legal practice focused on fiduciary responsibility, and prohibited transaction and plan qualification issues, including DOL investigations and IRS audits. His blog posts on https://www.fredreish.com have provided, and continue to provide, extraordinarily valuable insights on, among other things, the fiduciary rule (the old one, the proposed and then vacated, and now the new one).
He has been recognized as one of the “legends” of the retirement industry by both PLANSPONSOR and PLANADVISER magazines, and has also been given lifetime achievement awards by Institutional Investor and PLANSPONSOR publications, as well as recognition by the Internal Revenue Service for his contributions to the retirement community. He’s been acknowledged by the American Society of Pension Professionals & Actuaries (ASPPA)/Morningstar 401(k) Leadership Award for directly and positively influencing the ability of Americans to build successful retirements, and received the Eidson Founder’s Award from ASPPA for his significant contributions to that organization and to the benefits community.
Fred received a J.D. from the University of Arizona James E. Rogers College of Law and a B.S. from Arizona State University.