Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA)

Steven R. Grenadier

William F. Sharpe Professor of Financial Economics,
Stanford Graduate School of Business;
Senior Advisor, Cornerstone Research

Laura T. Starks

George Kozmetsky Centennial Distinguished University Chair and Professor of Finance,
McCombs School of Business,
University of Texas at Austin

Laura Starks is an expert on capital markets; financial institutions; investment management; corporate finance; and environmental, social, and governance (ESG) issues. Her research covers a range of topics related to asset pricing, mutual funds, retirement plans, and corporate finance. Professor Starks’s ESG expertise includes ESG measurement, climate risk, board diversity, and impact investing. She was one of the first professors to develop courses on ESG investing, which she has been teaching for the past ten years to undergraduate and graduate students.

In her expert testimony, Professor Starks has addressed a variety of allegations. These issues have included retirement plan fees, institutional investing, mutual fund management and fees, employee stock options, spin-offs, investment prudence, board prudence, ESG-related issues including corporate governance, securities lending, and information effects on financial markets.

Professor Starks currently serves on the Academic Advisory Board of FTSE-Russell, the Academic Network Advisory Committee for Principles for Responsible Investment (PRI), the Academic Advisory Board for AIF Global, the Academic Advisory Council for the Pacific Center for Asset Management, and the Advisory Board of Texas Wall Street Women.

For many years, Professor Starks was an independent director for CREF Retirement Accounts and TIAA-CREF Mutual Funds. She served on the Investment Advisory Committee for the Employees Retirement System of Texas, the Board of Governors of the Investment Company Institute, and the Governing Council of the Independent Directors Council. In addition, she has been a member of the Strategy Council and the Expert Panel for the Norwegian Government Pension Fund (the largest sovereign wealth fund in the world).

Professor Starks is the current president of the American Finance Association, and has also served on its board of directors. In addition, she has been president and a member of the boards of directors for the Financial Management Association, the Society for Financial Studies, and the Western Finance Association. Professor Starks previously edited the Review of Financial Studies, and has served as an associate editor for the Journal of Finance, Financial Management, and the Journal of Financial Services Research, among others.

Professor Starks has published her research in leading journals. She has received numerous awards for her research, including the 2021 Moskowitz Prize, the premier global prize for research in sustainable finance. Professor Starks is also an award-winning educator, and has taught courses in corporate finance and investments, among other topics. She presents her research at academic and practitioner events all over the world.

Pete Swisher

Independent Fiduciary and Consultant;
Founder and President,
Waypoint Fiduciary, LLC;
Managing Partner,
Group Plan Systems, LLC

Pete Swisher is a recognized expert on retirement plans and retirement plan governance. Mr. Swisher has extensive experience with fiduciary practices related to Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) plans, including the ERISA Section 3(16) plan administrator, trustee, investment manager, and named fiduciary roles. He also focuses on group programs such as multiple employer plans (MEPs), pooled employer plans (PEPs), association retirement plans (ARPs), group trusts, and similar bundled service arrangements.

Mr. Swisher has testified before or provided technical feedback to the Department of Labor (DOL), the Internal Revenue Service (IRS), the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), and the Senate Finance Committee. He served as a subject matter expert for the American Retirement Association (ARA) with respect to the DOL’s 2016 “Conflict of Interest Rule—Retirement Investment Advice,” also known as the Fiduciary Rule, and the related package of prohibited transaction exemptions.

Mr. Swisher consults on a spectrum of issues arising in defined contribution plans, such as recordkeeping, administration, and investing, as well as industry issues such as product development and distribution strategies and methods. He has been retained as an expert witness in ERISA matters and testified in deposition.

A noted authority on retirement plans and their service providers, Mr. Swisher is the author of 401(k) Fiduciary Governance: An Advisor’s Guide, published by the ARA (third edition published 2012). He has published numerous articles in specialist publications, such as the Journal of Pension Benefits, the Journal of Financial Service Professionals, and 401(k) Specialist Magazine. Mr. Swisher speaks regularly at professional conferences on investment topics, the U.S. retirement system, and the fiduciary landscape.

A founding member of the National Association of Plan Advisors (NAPA), a subsidiary of the ARA, Mr. Swisher is also founding chair of NAPA’s Government Affairs Committee and one of the primary drafters of its first code of professional conduct.

As managing partner of Group Plan Systems (GPS), Mr. Swisher serves as an independent fiduciary and pooled plan provider. At Waypoint Fiduciary, which is a part-owner of GPS, Mr. Swisher consults to organizations on ERISA-governed retirement plans.

Previously, he was a senior executive at Pentegra, which provides retirement services, fiduciary outsourcing, and MEPs. Mr. Swisher is a former captain in the United States Marine Corps.