Human Resources

Retirement Plan Committee

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Retirement Plan Committee Purpose

The Retirement Plan Committee is an administrative Committee charged with administering the Retirement Plan, the members of which are appointed by the President of The Colorado College.

The Committee is a "named fiduciary" for purposes of Section 402(a)(1) of the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (ERISA) with respect to the Plan. The Committee has discretionary authority to control and manage the operation and administration of the Plan and is responsible for complying with all of the reporting and disclosure requirements of Part I of Subtitle B of Title 1 of ERISA.

The Committee has discretionary authority to administer the Plan in all of its details subject to ERISA and discretionary powers necessary to carry out the terms of the Plan including, but not limited to, the power:

  • to make and enforce such rules as it deems necessary or proper for the efficient administration of the Plan;
  • to interpret the Plan, to decide all questions concerning the Plan (including factual questions) and the eligibility of any person to participate in the Plan;
  • to decide which Annuity Contracts and Custodial Accounts will be available for contributions, from time to time;
  • to authorize the payment of benefits;
  • to appoint such agents, counsel, and consultants as it deems necessary to assist in administering the Plan; and,
  • to allocate and delegate, by written instrument, its duties and responsibilities.

Any interpretation of the Plan or other determination with respect to the Plan by the Committee or its delegate shall be final and conclusive on all persons in the absence of clear and convincing evidence that the Committee or its delegate acted arbitrarily and capriciously.

Committee Members

Lori Seager, Vice President and Chief Financial Officer (Chair)

Pedro de Araujo, Dean of the College & Chief Operating Officer

Ryan Simmons, Vice President for Human Resources

Maria Capp, Director, Operations & Divisional Effectiveness

Jen Smithwick, Associate VP, Finance

Danielle Ellsworth, Assistant Professor (non-voting)

Cameron Martin, Director, Total Rewards (non-voting)

Committee Partners

Multnomah Group is an independent retirement plan consulting firm headquartered in Portland, OR. This fee-for-service consulting firm, serves the college as a fiduciary to the retirement plan, providing investment advice to the retirement plan committee along with the services bulleted below.

Their consulting philosophy is to help plan sponsors make sound decisions informed by the data, knowledge, and experience that they have accumulated working with plan sponsors in similar situations.

Multnomah Group (Erik Daley & Greg Johnson)

  • Investment Manager & Mutual Fund Searches
  • Performance Monitoring & Evaluation Report
  • General Market Updates
  • Plan Document Review
  • Annual Regulatory Updates
  • Vendor Service Contract Renegotiations
  • Annual Fee Benchmarking

Read more about them at www.multnomahgroup.com

Colorado College was the first educational institution to send a contribution to TIAA and TIAA still serves as the financial institution and record-keeper for CC's retirement plan. TIAA helps employees select investment vehicles for their retirement funds from among those offered at TIAA (or through a brokerage window). TIAA provides financial counselors onsite and via telephone and has tools for individual investment selections online at www.tiaa.org/coloradocollege. See below for a list of the services they provide.

TIAA (Melissa Thorpe)

  • Financial Institution
  • Education and retirement planning services
    • Workshops
    • One-on-one sessions
    • 24/7 web access
  • Recordkeeping
  • Fiduciary & Compliance

Insero & Company annually audits CC's retirement plan and Emeriti plan. Insero is one of the top 25 employee benefit plan accounting firms in the United States based on plan assets audited, providing audit and compliance services to over 150 benefit plan clients across more than 30 states. Insero's employee benefit plan audit team receive specialized training on benefit plan matters in addition to extensive on the job training. They have an extensive and well-established quality control process to ensure audits and financial statements comply with DOL standards. They are committed to upholding the standards of the American Institute of Certificated Public Accountants (AICPA), and undergo a peer review by an outside public accounting firm every three years. They are registered with the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (PCAOB), and are members of the AICPA Employee Benefit Plan Audit Quality Center and the AICPA Center for Public Company Audit Firms. Peer reviews and routine examinations by the PCAOB and DOL have resulted in no findings or quality control matters.

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Report an issue - Last updated: 04/28/2026