Director Advisor Plan Services

THE COMPANY

TIAA-CREF is a Fortune 100 financial services company that is America's leading retirement system for people who work in the academic, research, medical and cultural fields. The company manages $476 billion in combined assets under management on behalf of 3.6 million people and more than 15,000 institutions. TIAA-CREF is headquartered in New York City, with major operations in Charlotte and Denver, Colorado, and some 65 offices nationwide. The company has a workforce of 7,000 employees.

TIAA-CREF's retirement plans provide participating individuals and institutions with a range of options to help meet their financial needs. They include variable annuities, mutual funds, tax-deferred and after-tax annuities, IRAs and brokerage accounts, and investment advice that Forbes magazine calls 'the most comprehensive workplace advice.' Two-thirds of TIAA-CREF's mutual funds and annuity accounts exceeded their Morningstar median over the past three and five years.

Summary:
The Director of Plan Services role is responsible for supporting advisor distributed plan business in the K-12, small plan market, and other segments where independent advisors are the primary provider of education, communication, and/or advice services. The role will be the primary liaison between the plan sponsor and advisor to ensure the best possible results for the plan, advisor, and TIAA-CREF. This means working closely with internal and external partners in all phases of the business from the RFP, implementation, and ongoing production support.
The individual in this position will also play an important role in the strategic planning and building of the Advisor Plan Services team as the number of advisor distributed plans grows over time.

Primary Responsibilities:
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The primary responsibility of the Director, Advisor Plan Sales/Services manage a team responsible for ensuring that Advisor distributed plans are properly implemented and supported to ensure that TIAA-CREF is meeting their obligations to these plans and maximizing the institutional relationship through the advisor.
- The Director will be responsible for setting the direction of his team and allocating resources to support advisor distributed plans.
- The Director will work closely with Advisor Sales, Strategic Sales, Advisor Operations, implementation teams, and segment leads to ensure that we have a fully integrated process from end-to-end.
- Work closely with marketing partners to develop and manage co-branded materials for advisor Communication and Education programs.
- Position requires a strong knowledge of the various institutional segments we support, plan design, fiduciary responsibilities, ongoing plan management, product offerings, and the advisor market.
- Supports RFP process by ensuring that RIA model is appropriately positioned in RFP responses and may be asked to participate in finalist presentations to position RIA value proposition to improve win rate.
- Assists with the implementation process to ensure that the RIA model is fully integrated by working with business partners including Strategic Sales, Segment Heads, Operations, Marketing, Legal and Compliance.
- Work closely with RIA to facilitate secondary sales of offering if appropriate.
- Is responsible for ensure ongoing production support for RIA is sufficient to achieve Communication and Education requirements and penetration at the participant level to achieve stated growth objectives to support plan.
- Work closely with segment leads, sales team, and RIAs to develop business strategy and goals to execute the RIA value proposition
- Proactively support RIAs and Plan Sponsors to ensure that the Plan Sponsor's overall satisfaction with TIAA-CREF meets or exceeds expectations.
- Acts as a liaison between Plan Sponsor, RIA, and TIAA-CREF to ensure plan is supported appropriately to ensure best practices are achieved for the plan.
- Supports the sales process by communicating with customers to deepen the overall relationship and ensure a positive client experience that results in greater retention of assets and increased sales
- Educate clients on TIAA's wide range of financial products and services
- Provide strategic business plan for delivering results year over year based on sales
- Communicate impact of legal and regulatory changes to RIA's, Administrators, staff and key decision makers
- Applies knowledge and communication skills to integrate investment and product offerings into the sales and service processes
- Provides quality oversight of all processes to ensure a high level of service to customers and to allow for continuous process improvement
- Works closely with Inbound and Operations to ensure that advisors' service and operational expectations for shared clients are fully achieved.
- Broad understanding of investment products, operations and support systems
- Build relationships with key local, regional and National firms in the RIA, TPA and Emerging Market and Consulting Business.
- Provide strategic and tactical leadership to our Emerging Market business.

- BS/BA or equivalent combination of education and experience.
- 10 years of industry consultative sales, institutional client relationship management experience, and/or appropriate experience at a client institution
- 15 years financial industry experience preferred
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Series 7 and 63 required
Series 24 preferred
- 403b Institutional client experience required
- Advisor experience preferred
- Prior experiencing managing a team preferred
- Ability to develop a strategic plan and implement the plan
- Ability to influence and direct those that are not direct reports
- Proven ability to meet and/or exceed sales goals and deadlines
- Demonstrated interpersonal, investment analysis, excellence in written and verbal communications skills required
- Strong investment knowledge
- Working knowledge of Microsoft Office and Siebel CRM software preferred
- Knowledge and/or experience working with intermediaries (RIAs,consultants,TPAs)
- Willingness to travel where appropriate
- Excellent communication, time management and organizational skills
- Superior presentation, communication and listening skills
- Proven ability to successfully manage your time