Advisory
Independent Fiduciary Governance Advisory for Retirement Committees and Advisors
Brian works with plan sponsors, retirement committees, and advisory firms as an independent voice, no investment products to sell, no revenue tied to the recommendation. His background at Fidelity and in academia is what makes that independence useful: he knows how these products are built and sold.
Who Brian works with: 401(k) plan sponsors, committees and advisors
Clients
Defined-contribution plan advisors, investment committees and trustees, and trust companies who need to be able to explain how their investment decisions are governed and where that governance is written down.
Sponsors
401(k) plan sponsors
Committees
Investment committees and trustees
Advisors
Defined-contribution plan advisors
Trust Cos.
Trust companies
Three ways to work together
Services
01
Investment & QDIA Review
A structural look at what your plan actually holds: glide paths, fee layers, manager choices, measured against the objectives your committee wrote down.
02
Fiduciary Process Design
A documented, repeatable review cycle: criteria, cadence, and minutes, so oversight holds up to an auditor, a regulator, or a plaintiff.
03
Committee Education & Keynotes
Plain-language sessions for boards, HR leaders, and advisor teams, translating current research into the questions worth asking at the next meeting.
Committee Education & Keynotes
Plain-language sessions for boards, HR leaders, and advisor teams
How an engagement is structured
Process
Engagements are project-based and clearly scoped, and they are built to leave the committee with durable documents rather than a slide deck. Many begin with a governance assessment, then move to a written governance framework; the full offering is described at Fiduciary Governance Advisors. The thinking behind each step is the framework in his forthcoming book on target-date funds.
01
Step 1
Governance assessment
02
Step 2
Written governance framework
What Brian does not do
Scope
Brian's advisory work does not include managing assets, selecting or recommending investment products, evaluating managers for replacement, or providing legal advice or ERISA counsel. That independence is the point.
The question every retirement plan fiduciary now faces
Governance
The fiduciary question is no longer only which investments were selected. It is whether the committee can explain how the decision is governed and how that governance is documented. Brian sets out ten questions committees can use in Ten Questions Every Fiduciary Should Ask About Their Default Investment, and the research beneath them is set out under plan governance and target-date fund architecture.
Frequently asked questions
FAQ
What should an investment committee ask about its default investment?
Start with purpose: what problem is the default designed to solve, and whose assumptions about markets and risk are built into its glide path? Then ask how much discretion the manager has, how fees are weighed against services, how often the default is formally reviewed and what would trigger a change, and what is documented versus merely understood. Dr. Leite sets out ten such questions in an essay at Fiduciary Governance Advisors.
Does Dr. Leite manage money, sell products or give legal advice?
No. Dr. Brian Leite's advisory work is independent: he does not manage assets, recommend investment products, or provide legal advice. His engagements focus on how a committee structures, carries out and documents its oversight of investments such as a default target-date fund.
Let's Talk
Questions about a fund lineup, an event you're planning, or a story you're working on. Send a note and Brian will get back to you.