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Committed to Give Back

Commitment is at the core of NTSA activities, as well as the motivation behind the establishment of the Elite Advisor Council (EAC), says NTSA President Kris Coffey.

Coffey made her comments in the first NTSA Elite Advisor WOWcast — the inaugural edition of a series of podcasts by NTSA Elite Advisors. The Elite Advisors are those whom the NTSA recognizes as the “best of the best” excelling in advocacy, practice management, and leadership. Their experience and unique insights provide a special perspective that can, and has, helped best practice standards in the 403(b) and/or 457(b) retirement industry.

In the first WOWcast, Coffey discusses the role the NTSA plays, as well as that of the new EAC.

Coffey told past NTSA President Randy Aranowitz that she wanted to communicate “that the members are what we’re about. Members are the most important thing,” adding that the NTSA also puts a priority on knowing what members’ goals and objectives are, as well as the groups that they connect with, and the employers and employees they serve. “Your goals and objectives are our goals and objectives,” Coffey said. She continued that “there are a number of things that the NSTA believes in,” such as commitment to ethical behavior, open access and the importance of the advisor.

“We also are very committed to the public sphere of the tax-exempt marketplace,” Coffey remarked, elaborating, “In other words, our association’s target markets really are the K-12 market for teachers and staff involved in the important human right, if you will, of educating our children in the public sphere.”

“We are also committed to the ERISA 403(b) area of the business. In other words, the higher education marketplace and the health care marketplace,” as well as the entire non-profit marketplace. Coffey also noted that “the churches are an important aspect of the specialized marketplace, and, of course, the Taft-Hartley aspect as well.”

How does the NTSA do it? Coffey cited three main ways:

  1. by serving as thought leaders;
  2. educating; and
  3. advocacy.

Coffey said that advocacy entails working with the federal and state policymakers, so that “rules, regulations and the public policy all work together for the best results and the best outcomes — for not just our members, but even more importantly, for the millions of clients that our members touch every single day.”

The EAC, Coffey said, is dedicated to leadership and to mentoring. “I would say that the core qualities of these NTSA members are the highest level of professionalism, integrity and innovation. These EAs are role models for new entrants into the profession, and also for their colleagues.”

Coffey continued, “The EAC is committed to giving back to the industry by enabling EAs to have a platform for working with NTSA members and working with the retirement community as a whole, the clients and their families, their supervisors, their school districts, their superintendents, their principals.”

One of the first projects of the EAC is setting up high-quality audio interviews of the current EAs, Coffey said. “This series should be a really nice compilation of the best of the best of the industry,” said Aranowitz.

The inaugural NTSA Elide Advisor WOWcast is available here.