If you haven't heard, Carnegie's own Wendy Eldridge was just named PLANADVISER's Adviser of the Year in the Plan Participant Services category. We couldn't be prouder! It's a reflection of the hard work and genuine dedication she brings to her clients every single day. Way to go, Wendy!"
Now that the confetti has settled, we wanted to get curious about the why. What makes an adviser or firm the best? What makes clients so thrilled with their service that they go out of their way to nominate them for an award? And what should HR professionals and plan sponsors everywhere be looking for when they ask if their adviser is truly delivering?
The answer is an adviser who knows how to show up for your employees, not just your plan.
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You can have the best investment lineup in the world and it won't matter if your employees aren't engaging with it. That's why the best advisers today are taking the burden off plan sponsors by helping employees engage with the plan, make better decisions, and stay on track toward retirement.
A decade ago, many plan sponsors evaluated advisers primarily on investment selection and fiduciary oversight. Those responsibilities still matter, but today's employees face a very different set of challenges. Rising costs, financial stress, and constant market headlines make it harder for participants to make confident decisions. As a result, engagement has become one of the strongest predictors of whether employees actually benefit from the retirement plan being offered.
What Wendy will tell you about the employees inside your retirement plan right now is this: "Most participants are not making poor choices because they do not care. They are making them because they are overwhelmed, scared, and focused on immediate financial needs." Employees are constantly bombarded with noise about recessions, market crashes, and economic uncertainty. The result is a snowball effect. People stop contributing, move money at the wrong time, or take early withdrawals when they can least afford to. By the time a plan sponsor notices, the damage is already done. So, what does it actually take to get ahead of that?
Wendy's approach offers a useful framework for what effective participant engagement looks like in practice.
One of the biggest lessons Wendy says she learned the hard way is that knowing and doing are two very different things. "Early in my career, my focus was on explaining the importance of contributing to the plan," she says. "What I've learned over time is that life happens. And sometimes it hits hard. You can know exactly what you should be doing, but financially, you may not even have an extra dollar to contribute."
It changed her whole approach. Instead of leading with what someone should be doing, she starts by listening. And that shift matters more than it might sound. When employees feel heard, trust gets built. And trust is what opens the door to a real conversation.
For plan sponsors, this is worth asking your own adviser about. Are they showing up to your employee meetings with a presentation, or are they showing up with questions? There's a big difference.
Early-career employees are trying to cover day-to-day expenses while being told to think about retirement decades away. Mid-career employees are juggling mortgages, kids and competing savings priorities. Employees closer to retirement want to know if they've done enough and what comes next. Those are three completely different conversations.
Wendy puts it simply: "It has become more important than ever to meet participants where they are." That means different formats, different content, and different access points depending on who's in the room. Younger employees engage with short, digestible content they can access on their own time. Others want a structured conversation with someone who can answer their specific questions.
"What hasn't changed is the importance of connection," she says. "Regardless of age or income, participants still want to talk to someone about their specific financial situation."
If your adviser is running one annual meeting and calling it participant engagement, that's a problem worth addressing.
This might be the most important thing Wendy shared. It doesn't take a financial overhaul to move an employee in the right direction. It takes access.
"We are seeing that when participants engage in even one conversation, they are more likely to increase deferrals or stay invested during volatility," she says. That means on-site one-on-one meetings during the workday, consistent communication throughout the year, and access to a Certified Financial Planner.
"I believe good advisers have to be just as good at listening as they are at advising if they want to truly help people move forward. When participants feel heard, trust can be built, and that's when the real conversations can begin."
For plan sponsors, the question is simple. When one of your employees is stressed, scared and about to make a bad financial decision, is there someone they can talk to for guidance? If the answer is unclear, it's time to challenge your plan adviser.
Wendy's clients didn't nominate her because of a fund lineup or a quarterly report. They nominated her because their employees are better off. They're saving more, staying invested when markets get volatile, and making better financial decisions because someone took the time to meet them where they are. That's what great participant engagement does for a company. And that's the standard every plan sponsor should be holding their adviser to.
If you want to know what this level of participant engagement could look like inside your company's retirement plan, contact Carnegie's retirement plan team today.
Read Wendy Eldridge's full PLANADVISER feature here to learn more about her approach to participant services and what earned her this recognition.
PLANADVISER’s Adviser of the Year in the Plan Participant Services Category disclosures
No fee was paid for participation in the award and Carnegie did not pay a fee to receive expanded profile features on PLANADVIERS’s website. For 2026 PLANADVISER Retirement Plan Adviser of the Year, only nominations from plan sponsor clients were permitted. The award was based on each nominee judged on a mixture of qualitative and quantitative measures, including tenure in the business; retirement plan business as a percentage of practice revenue; answers to essay questions; compliance records; and willingness to serve in a fiduciary role to clients’ plans. Finalists were interviewed by judges before the winner was selected. 2026 PLANADVISER Retirement Plan Adviser of the Year was published May 2026 based on a total of 89 nominations from plan sponsor clients and 29 finalists were selected in early 2026.
For informational purposes only. Opinions are subject to change.
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