MALVERN, Pa. -- A Web site that allows plan sponsors -- at no charge -- to confidentially compare experiences was launched this month.
Plansponsorexchange.com is open to all retirement plan sponsors. Consultants and investment managers can pay to have links on the site, but only qualified plan sponsors are allowed into the private discussion forums.
Although statistics on the Internet habits of U.S. pension fund executives are hard to come by, the men behind Plansponsorexchange believe Internet use is increasing. Some fund executives say they are devotees.
"Everyone on the staff here has access and we use it for almost everything," said Mark Schmid, director of pension fund investments for the $22 billion Chrysler Corp. retirement plan in Auburn Hills, Mich.
"We go into manager Web sites for Y2K information or check updated economic views. We check mutual fund Web sites. We use it for overall research, check on investment companies and people. . . . And we keep thinking of more ways to use it."
The plan sponsor site was created by Colin Wahl, former marketing executive at SEI Investments Inc., Oaks, Pa. Last year, Mr. Wahl formed Plan Sponsor Exchange Inc. in Malvern, Pa., which is funded in part by a minority partner, Internet Capital Group Inc., Wayne, Pa.
Mr. Wahl is an investor and the chief operating officer. Steve Darby, a former marketer at Pilgrim Baxter & Associates in Wayne, is senior vice president in charge of product development. Together, Messrs. Wahl and Darby built a proprietary, customized Internet site. Frank P. Minard, former head of global marketing and client service at Morgan Stanley Dean Witter Investment Management, New York, just joined as president, investor and chief marketer.
"For years at conferences, you would see the plan sponsors off in a corner, by themselves, talking about allocating assets and other things," Mr. Wahl said. "When they left the conference, all that great conversation just died. I saw this as a perfect way to allow those types of exchanges to continue."
Once he had the idea for the site, Mr. Wahl said he sought the opinions of numerous plan sponsors, including Jay Yoder, director of investments for the $570 million endowment of Vassar College, Poughkeepsie, N.Y.
"There's value in sharing data with your peers," Mr. Yoder said. "Except for conferences and a few relationships you develop over time, there's no easy way to do that. The Internet is a growing part of what I do. I research ideas, find data and look for sources that would be useful."
Said Mr. Minard: "The industry needs a new way to communicate."
Plan Sponsor Exchange has signed its first paying client, Atlanta-based INVESCO Inc., which will have a link on the site and can provide an expert for the forums, Mr. Minard said.
The site now has four break-out areas: real-time surveys; discussion forum; panel of experts; and research links.
To create a real-time survey, a plan sponsor poses a question on the site to other sponsors. For example, a discussion might evolve around asset classes and where to increase exposure, Mr. Wahl said.
Other plan sponsors respond to the query, using a site survey form, and the responses are tabulated in real time. Only the running tally is displayed, Mr. Wahl said; a sponsor's individual response remains private.
"When we talked to plan sponsors, it was important to them that their survey responses remain confidential. But the aggregate data will be available and it will create a rich reservoir of information," he said.
In the discussion forum, sponsors can post questions on a bulletin board; anonymity is allowed. Other plan sponsors can post replies.
The expert panel will include experienced plan sponsors, consultants and investment management professionals. Sponsors click on individual names and submit a question; e-mail replies must be sent within three days or the expert is removed from the site, officials said.
The research links take participants into the Web sites of such firms as Frank Russell Co., Tacoma, Wash., or Callan Associates, San Francisco.
