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Eric Dyson: Lessons for Fiduciaries from the Courtroom to the Committee Room
About Eric Dyson: Eric Dyson is a graduate of the United States Naval Academy. After graduation, he served for ten years as a highly decorated nuclear-trained submarine officer. Eric has been a professional in the financial services industry for over 30 years, serving ERISA plan sponsors for over 25 years. He is currently the Executive Director of 90 North Consulting, where he provides services including advisor and broker RFPs, fiduciary training, best practices audits, and adjunct committee membership. Eric is also the host of the Be More Than a Fiduciary Podcast and delivers keynotes focused on actionable lessons from ERISA litigation.
In this episode, Shannon and Eric Dyson discuss:
- How courtroom experience informs fiduciary best practices
- Common governance pitfalls in retirement plan management
- Strategic approaches to advisor oversight and selection
- Educating fiduciaries to go beyond basic compliance
Key Takeaways:
- Many fiduciaries unknowingly increase legal exposure by using vague investment policy statements and recycling boilerplate meeting minutes, which courts interpret as a lack of real, documented process, even if good discussions occurred.
- Writing checks directly from the employer for plan services like recordkeeping, advisory, and audit, rather than using plan assets, can virtually eliminate scrutiny around fees and demonstrate clear fiduciary prudence, even if only done gradually.
- Due to increasing litigation around forfeiture usage, plan sponsors should not rely solely on ambiguous plan language but instead create a written policy that clearly outlines how forfeitures will be applied, reducing uncertainty and legal risk.
- Fiduciaries who fulfill only the legal minimums—like holding quarterly meetings or monitoring investments—may still fall short in improving participant outcomes, and should instead aim to be more than a fiduciary by actively removing barriers to retirement readiness.
"If I see meeting minutes that are copy and paste, say the exact same thing for two years, for eight quarters, there’s a failure." — Eric Dyson
Connect with Eric Dyson:
Website: https://90northllc.com/
Show: Be More Than a Fiduciary Podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/be-more-than-a-fiduciary/id1734315426
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/401kguy/
Connect with Shannon:
Website: https://www.tristarpension.com/
Email: [email protected]
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/shannonedwardsplanconsultant/
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By Shannon Edwards
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About Eric Dyson: Eric Dyson is a graduate of the United States Naval Academy. After graduation, he served for ten years as a highly decorated nuclear-trained submarine officer. Eric has been a professional in the financial services industry for over 30 years, serving ERISA plan sponsors for over 25 years. He is currently the Executive Director of 90 North Consulting, where he provides services including advisor and broker RFPs, fiduciary training, best practices audits, and adjunct committee membership. Eric is also the host of the Be More Than a Fiduciary Podcast and delivers keynotes focused on actionable lessons from ERISA litigation.
In this episode, Shannon and Eric Dyson discuss:
- How courtroom experience informs fiduciary best practices
- Common governance pitfalls in retirement plan management
- Strategic approaches to advisor oversight and selection
- Educating fiduciaries to go beyond basic compliance
Key Takeaways:
- Many fiduciaries unknowingly increase legal exposure by using vague investment policy statements and recycling boilerplate meeting minutes, which courts interpret as a lack of real, documented process, even if good discussions occurred.
- Writing checks directly from the employer for plan services like recordkeeping, advisory, and audit, rather than using plan assets, can virtually eliminate scrutiny around fees and demonstrate clear fiduciary prudence, even if only done gradually.
- Due to increasing litigation around forfeiture usage, plan sponsors should not rely solely on ambiguous plan language but instead create a written policy that clearly outlines how forfeitures will be applied, reducing uncertainty and legal risk.
- Fiduciaries who fulfill only the legal minimums—like holding quarterly meetings or monitoring investments—may still fall short in improving participant outcomes, and should instead aim to be more than a fiduciary by actively removing barriers to retirement readiness.
"If I see meeting minutes that are copy and paste, say the exact same thing for two years, for eight quarters, there’s a failure." — Eric Dyson
Connect with Eric Dyson:
Website: https://90northllc.com/
Show: Be More Than a Fiduciary Podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/be-more-than-a-fiduciary/id1734315426
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/401kguy/
Connect with Shannon:
Website: https://www.tristarpension.com/
Email: [email protected]
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/shannonedwardsplanconsultant/