With ADP Strategic Plan Services (SPS) you can rely on us to provide investment services to help you manage your fiduciary obligations, gain access to a diverse group of investment options, and offer plan participants varied investment options with low expense fund fees.
A Trusted Professional in
Fiduciary Investment Services
$28.7 Billion
Assets under managementi
Flexibility
Options and choices that are right for your business
90,000+
Clientsi
Our Fiduciary Services
With two services to choose from, you can select the investment support best suited to your plan needs.
3(21) Investment Advisory Services
What are 3(21) Investment Advisory Services?
Provides advice and guidance to your plan’s investment fiduciary and assists with the selection and monitoring of your plan’s investment options.
Who are 3(21) Investment Advisory Services best for?
- Those who have an investment manager or committee.
- Those who seek additional guidance with selection and monitoring.
- Those who want to be involved in making critical investment decisions for their business.
3(38) Investment Management Services
What are 3(38) Investment Management Services?
Acts as an investment manager for your plan and assumes full investment discretion for selecting, monitoring, and replacing investment options for your plan.
Who are 3(38) Investment Management Services best for?
- Those who need an investment manager for their plan.
- Those who want someone to perform the selection and monitoring for them.
- Those who want a do-it-for me approach to making critical investment decisions for their plan.
ADP Strategic Plan Services can help ease the fiduciary burden
of selecting and monitoring your plan’s
investment lineup.
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Authorized by members of the SPS Investment Committee
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Protection from Fiduciary Risk
When it comes to selecting plan investment options, you have a legal responsibility to follow the fiduciary standards outlined in the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (ERISA). This is a high standard that requires certain levels of expertise in areas like investment selection and monitoring, among others.
Hiring Strategic Plan Services as your investment manager may also reduce the risks associated with certain third-party, ERISA-related lawsuits pertaining to investment selection and monitoring. In 2023, the EBSA recovered $1.435 billion for the benefit of plans, participants, and beneficiaries.1 This included:
$ 844.7 million
recovered from over 731 civil investigations
$444.1 million
restored to workers through informal participant complaints
$84.5 million
Voluntary Fiduciary Correction Program
$61.2 million
distributed to participants as a result of the Abandoned Plan program
Our Investment Committee
Meet the experienced investment professionals behind ADP Strategic Plan
Services.
Our Investment Committee is there to help you make the most of your retirement plan.
Kevin Merrow, CFP®, CMFC®, CRPS®
President
Kevin Merrow is President of ADP Strategic Plan Services ("SPS"), a SEC Registered Investment Advisor (RIA) and currently serves as the Chairman ...
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Neil Fentress
Sr. Director Investment Services
Neil Fentress, Sr. Director of Investment Services also serves as a member of the SPS Investment Committee. For clients who engage SPS as an investment manage...
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Greg Anderson, CMFC®
Institutional Investment Consultant
Greg Anderson is a member of the SPS Investment Committee. For clients who engage SPS as an investment manager, the Investment Committee has overall responsibility for ...
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Kevin Drever, CMFC®, CRPS®
Institutional Investment Consultant
Kevin Drever is a member of the SPS Investment Committee. For clients who engage SPS as an investment manager, the Investment Committee has overall responsibility for ...
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Michael Haggerty, CRPS®
Director, Institutional Investment Consultant
Michael Haggerty is a member of the SPS Investment Committee. For clients who engage SPS as an investment manager, the Investment ...
Read Full BioFrequently Asked Questions
ADP Strategic Plan Services, LLC is an affiliate of ADP, Inc. (ADP) and a separate, indirect subsidiary of Automatic Data Processing, Inc. that provides fiduciary investment services including the analysis, selection, monitoring, and if necessary, replacement of investment options on behalf of employee-sponsored retirement plans.
Frequent fund changes can be disruptive, so we only recommend changes when they are clearly prudent. We minimize disruption so participants can stay focused, and our decisions are intended to reflect prudent investment of your plan’s retirement assets. When making investment decisions for your lineup, we:
- Objectively evaluate the widest possible range of investment options available
- Take a comprehensive approach to fund analysis, including qualitative factors
- Analyze investment risk and volatility when evaluating returns
- Make only meaningful and prudent plan investment changes
- Consider industry trends and behavioral finance research in our ongoing due diligence process
ADP Strategic Plan Services is committed to providing our defined contribution retirement plan clients with investment services that help them effectively manage their investment fiduciary obligations, gain access to a diverse groups of funds, which in turn offers plan participants a diversified fund menu.
We are focused on contributing toward your participants' retirement readiness. Our objective is to help you design an investment menu that fits the investing needs of your plan and its participants.
As a fiduciary, it’s important to follow the standards of conduct outlined in the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA). Among other responsibilities, this includes carrying out your duties prudently — a high standard that requires expertise in a number of areas, like investment selection and monitoring.
To help plan sponsors manage fiduciary risk, ADP, Inc. makes investment fiduciary support services available through its affiliate ADP SPS. With these services, you can effectively manage fiduciary risk associated with investment selection and monitoring by adding the level of ERISA fiduciary support that’s right for your organization.
A 3(21) fiduciary is named by a retirement plan sponsor to ensure that your plan is meeting specific Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (ERISA) provisions regarding rights and responsibilities in managing an employer-sponsored retirement account. The fiduciary may be a third party that specializes in these functions.
A 3(21) Investment Advisor guides a plan sponsor on managing the plan's investments. While the 3(21) advisor acts as a co-fiduciary, it's important to note that they do not make investment decisions.
A 3(38) Investment manager is a third party hired by a plan sponsor to manage, monitor and sustain the investment options for its plan participants, maintaining full discretion of the investment lineup.
With the support of an investment professional (such as SPS) acting as a plan's 3(38) investment manager, a plan sponsor is able to meet ERISA requirements in respect to their 401(k)-investment lineup. This role assumes full discretion for selecting, monitoring and replacing investment options as needed.
A 3(38) plan is one that has an investment manager. After extensive due diligence, a 3(38) investment manager oversees a set of investment options that they are confident using within a 401(k) plan, as the basis for all their client's plan investment lineups. Plan sponsors that choose to hire 3(38) investment managers must adopt their plan's investment lineups and trust the 3(38) investment manager's judgment to make adjustments as necessary.
Trust ADP Strategic Plan Services to manage your
investment lineup with fiduciary expertise.
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James Buccella, CMFC®
Member of the Investment Committee
Since the formation of SPS, James T. Buccella (Jim) has been an integral part of the organization, originally serving as SPS President for over 7 years, and now currently serving as a member of both the SPS Board of Managers and the SPS Investment Committee. He has been instrumental in the growth and success of SPS as it has grown to manage over $20B and advise over $4B in assets as of 12/31/24 since its inception in 2017.
Jim has 17 years of experience at ADP Retirement Services (“ADPRS”) and has been responsible for all relationship management activities for ADPRS clients. He is a FINRA registered principal with ADP Broker Dealer, Inc, with Series 7, 24 and 63 registrations.
Jim joined ADP Retirement Services in 2008 from HSBC Bank, USA where he was First Vice President of Retirement Services, managing both Sales and Relationship Management. Prior to HSBC, Jim was a Managing Director at JP Morgan Chase Asset Management responsible for all retirement services product offerings to Chase’s middle market client base. Jim has over 31 years of industry experience in retirement plans, asset management, and institutional trust.
Jim holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in Communication from the State University of New York at Buffalo and an MBA with a concentration in Finance from the State University of New York at Albany. He earned a CMFC® designation from the College for Financial Planning and a certification from the National Association of Corporate Directors (NACD.DC).
Neil Fentress
Sr. Director Investment Services
Neil Fentress, Sr. Director of Investment Services also serves as a member of the SPS Investment Committee. For clients who engage SPS as an investment manager, the Investment Committee has overall responsibility for selecting, monitoring, and replacing funds in plan investment line-ups. For clients who engage SPS as an investment advisor, the Investment Committee has overall responsibility for reviewing and monitoring funds in plan investment line-ups as needed, and supervising the preparation of performance reports and the provision of investment advice to client plans.
Neil has over 20 years of experience with ADP Retirement Services. Neil currently leads the SPS Investment Advisory 3(21) team, while previously leading the Investment Sales Consulting team and Client Investment Services, which are responsible for conducting ongoing investment service, investment reviews and investment education for ADP clients.
Neil is a FINRA Registered Representative with ADP Broker-Dealer, Inc. and holds Series 7, 26 and 63 securities registrations. Prior to joining ADP Neil worked at Edward Jones Investments, Wells Fargo Financial, and Integrity Life Insurance Co. in various roles in financial services and retirement planning. Neil received his Bachelor of Science degree in Economics from the University of Louisville.
Kevin Drever, CMFC®, CRPS®
Institutional Investment Consultant
Kevin Drever is a member of the SPS Investment Committee. For clients who engage SPS as an investment manager, the Investment Committee has overall responsibility for selecting, monitoring, and replacing funds as needed in the plan investment lineups. For clients who engage SPS as an investment advisor, the Investment Committee has overall responsibility for reviewing and monitoring funds in plan investment lineups, supervising the preparation of performance reports and the provision of investment advice to client plans.
Kevin Drever joined Strategic Plan Services, LLC in February 2018 and has over 21 years of industry experience. He has held positions in investment services, relationship management, and participant education during the last 21 years at ADP Retirement Services. For the last 12 years, he has focused on the investment arena. Prior to joining ADP, Kevin worked for the investment firm, Scudder Kemper Investments. Kevin is a FINRA registered representative with ADP Broker-Dealer, Inc. and holds the Series 6 and 63 registrations.
Kevin Drever graduated with a Bachelor of Arts degree in International Relations and Spanish with a Minor in Latin American Studies from Beloit College. Later, he completed a Master of Arts degree in Spanish from Middlebury College. He maintains the designations of Chartered Mutual Fund Counselor, and Chartered Retirement Plans Specialist.
Greg Anderson, CMFC®
Institutional Investment Consultant
Greg Anderson is a member of the SPS Investment Committee. For clients who engage SPS as an investment manager, the Investment Committee has overall responsibility for selecting, monitoring, and replacing funds in plan investment line-ups. For clients who engage SPS as an investment advisor, the Investment Committee has overall responsibility for reviewing and monitoring funds in plan investment line-ups, and supervising the preparation of performance reports and the provision of investment advice to client plans.
Separately, Greg has over 21 years of experience with ADPRS, where he has held various roles involving activities such as investment reviews, performance reporting and plan pricing evaluations for ADPRS’s plan clients. Greg is also a registered representative with ADP Broker Dealer, Inc. and holds FINRA Series 6 and 63 securities registrations.
Prior to joining ADP, Greg worked for Deutsche Bank / Scudder Investments (DBSI). Greg held multiple positions at DBSI, including with the Closed End Fund group, where he was responsible for providing client with pricing and performance return information on funds managed by DBSI. At DBSI, Greg also provided investment support to the High Net Worth Group, and served separately as an Education Specialist for retirement plan participants. Greg has a Bachelor of Arts degree in Business Marketing from Clarion University of PA. He also earned the Chartered Mutual Fund CounselorSM (CMFC®) designation from The College for Financial Planning.
Kevin Merrow, CFP®, CMFC®, CRPS®
President
Kevin Merrow is President of ADP Strategic Plan Services (“SPS”), a SEC Registered Investment Advisor (RIA) and currently serves as the Chairman of the SPS Investment Committee. For clients who engage SPS as an investment manager, the Investment Committee has overall responsibility for selecting, monitoring, and replacing funds as needed in plan investment lineups. For clients who engage SPS as an investment advisor, the Investment Committee has overall responsibility for reviewing and monitoring funds in plan investment line-ups, and supervising the preparation of performance reports and the provision of investment advice to client plans.
Kevin has 20 years of experience in the retirement services industry. Prior to presiding as President of SPS, he served as an Institutional Investment Consultant with ADP Retirement Services (“ADPRS”), where he provided investment analysis, performance reporting, and pricing support for ADPRS client plans. Prior to joining ADPRS, Kevin worked for AARP Financial as a financial planner, helping AARP members meet their financial goals for retirement. Prior to AARP, Kevin worked for MFS Investment Management in Boston, Massachusetts as a qualified plan representative.
Kevin holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Business Administration with a concentration in Finance from the University of Vermont. Kevin earned and holds the following designations: Certified Financial Planner (CFP®), Chartered Mutual Fund Counselor® (CMFC), and Chartered Retirement Plan Specialist® (CRPS) from The College for Financial Planning. Kevin is a FINRA registered representative with ADP Broker-Dealer, Inc. and holds Series 6, 26 and 63 securities registrations.
Michael Haggerty,CRPS®
Director, Institutional Investment Consultant
Michael Haggerty is a member of the SPS Investment Committee. For clients who engage SPS as an investment manager, the Investment Committee has overall responsibility for selecting, monitoring, and replacing funds in plan investment lineups. For clients who engage SPS as an investment advisor, the Investment Committee has overall responsibility for reviewing and monitoring funds in plan investment line-ups, supervising the preparation of performance reports and the provision of investment advice to client plans.
Michael joined ADP Strategic Plan Services, LLC in March 2021 and has been with ADP, Inc. since 2013. He has over 29 years of industry experience and has held various positions in client service, relationship management and investment services throughout his career. Prior to joining ADP, he was employed by Deutsche Asset Management.
Michael is a FINRA registered representative with ADP Broker-Dealer, Inc. and holds his Series 7, 63 and 26 registrations. He graduated from Stonehill College in 1995 with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Psychology. He also maintains the designation of Chartered Retirement Plan Specialist (CRPS).