Retirement Plans Management Committee

Members

Dorothy Anderson, Vice President of Human Resources and Chief Human Resources Officer - Chair, Norman, Health Sciences Center, Tulsa

Michael Allgood, Comptroller - Rogers State University

Brad Avery, Assistant Vice President for Administration and Finance and Controller, OU Health Sciences Center 

Terry Henson, Retired Senior Associate Vice President for Administration and Finance, Outside Member

Michael Ferguson, Associate Dean for Finance & Administration, College of Dentistry - Health Sciences Center

Michael Coponiti, Vice President for Administration and Finance, Cameron University

Marvin Williams, DO, FACOG, Anadarko Presidential Professor of Excellence; Professor, Division of Maternal-Fetal Medicine, Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology

Purpose & Duties

The OU Retirement Plans Management Committee (RPMC) was created in 2008 to help ensure the university’s retirement plans are managed in the best interest of plan participants and in compliance with applicable regulations.This committee consists of members with financial, human resources, and investment experience and expertise.

The RPMC provides stewardship for the retirement savings programs sponsored by the university including the 401(a) Defined Contribution Plan (DCP), the 401(a) Optional Retirement Plan (ORP), and the 403(b) and 457(b) voluntary savings plans. The Oklahoma Teachers’ Retirement System is sponsored by the State of Oklahoma and is not affected by Committee recommendations. 

Duties of the Committee include:

• Completing a competitive bid process to select a record keeper company for recommendation to the OU Board of Regents in 2010,
• Understanding administrative and investment fees paid from plan assets, including those charged directly to participants and making sure they are at the lowest reasonable levels,
• Using appropriate due diligence in the selection of vendors and investment options and in the implementation of contractual service arrangements,
• Ensuring that the plans provide appropriate benefits and services at reasonable cost to participants,
• Making sure participants understand the benefits of participation, and encouraging participants to increase savings rates and investment diversification.

The RPMC is supported by the investment consultants at Callan Associates and by the OU Benefits Counsel from McAfee & Taft .

Record Keeper and Consolidated Fund Line-up

Improvements recommended by the RPMC in 2010 remain in place and relevant today. These improvements had two main purposes. The first was to meet new federal regulations for retirement plans offered by public sector plan sponsors like OU. The RPMC believes compliance with these new and emerging regulations continues to be achieved, and at the lowest possible cost to participants, through a single administrative record keeper structure like the one approved by the OU Regents on March 24, 2011.

The second and more important goal for all of us, was to identify changes that will allow us to increase our savings for retirement. Having a single record keeper reduces expenses associated with investing and simplifies retirement savings decisions for the 10,000 OU employees that participate in the retirement savings plans. 

Overview of Plan Structure

• Fidelity Investments provides record keeping services for all of OU’s defined contribution plans. Fidelity is one of the country’s largest providers of investment services to public and private retirement plans and provides state-of-the art services to plan participants. A record keeper monitors the transactions in employee retirement accounts and ensures that they happen in a timely and accurate manner. A record keeper also provides reporting and any other administrative tasks related to an account. Fidelity replaced the multiple vendors that were providing record keeping services previously.
• Participants have the ability to direct their investments to a variety of different fund options and companies. Investment choices are organized in a four tier structure with options that fit a range of participant investment styles from professionally guided options to a self-directed brokerage window. Learn more about the investment options here. This simplified investment line-up is an additional benefit of having a single record keeper. 
• The RPMC, with the support of professional investment consultants, selects and actively monitors the funds offered through the plans.
• Participants have the flexibility to keep existing money in current TIAA-CREF investment funds or to transfer to new investment options. A TIAA-CREF Traditional Annuity Option remains available.
• Overall administrative fees are kept low and a transparent fee structure for retirement investments is provided.
• Participants have access to personal financial assistance to help them make informed investment decisions. 
• Participants receive one consolidated statement listing all their investments that are recordkept by Fidelity. If participants have investments with TIAA-CREF, they receive a separate statement from TIAA-CREF.

Administrative Fees

Fund Updates

January 2017

Tier 1: AF Target Date 2060 (RFUTX) was added to the Target Date Line Up.

August 2014 

Tier 1: Target Retirement Date Funds were changed from the Fidelity Freedom K® Funds to the American Funds Target Date Retirement Funds Class R6 Series. 

Tier 2: Index Funds, Fidelity Freedom® Index ‐ Class W Funds, were also replaced by the American Funds Target Date Retirement Funds Class R6 Series.

March 2014

Tier 3: Wells Fargo Advantage Discovery Fund Institutional Class (WFDSX) replaced the Dreyfus/The Boston Company Small/Mid Cap Growth Fund Class 1 (SDSCX).