Living Life with Zero Remorse

For Peter Preovolos, working in the financial services industry has always been about doing the right thing. Peter started his Financial Services career at Wells Fargo Bank and Trust, working from trust administrator to Vice President in charge of Southern Operations. From there, he advanced to Southern California First National Bank as the V.P. Pension Services.

But Peter always dreamed of running his own business. As he surveyed the financial landscape, he saw an industry that far too often put its own interests ahead of its fiduciary responsibility to clients. So Alpha & Omega Financial Management Consultants, Inc. was founded in 1975 and incorporated in 1979. A & O specialized in trust administration and the design, legal support and administration of retirement plans for individuals and corporations. I built that company to where we were serving approximately four hundred different clients that offered their employees some form of retirement plan. The plans that we designed were the following:

1. Traditional Defined Benefit Pension Plan

2. Profit Sharaing Plans

3. Money Purchase Pension Plans

4. Cash Balance Plans

5. Stock Bonus Plans

6. 401(k) Plans

7. ESOP (Employee Stock Ownership Plans)

8. Administer Traditional Trust Accounts and acting the named Fiduciary which was not commonly done outside of the trust industry when it came to the retirement field. I was a pioneer in that area.

While still the CEO of Alpha & Omega, He took the helm at PenChecks Trust and set about building a different kind of financial services company – one that puts the needs of its clients first while helping to reunite American workers with their hard-earned retirement money.

As President of PenChecks Trust, Peter’s commitment to doing the right thing manifests itself in many ways. It started with forming a partnership with leading members in the industry. It has played a key role in the company’s success over the years. Then he assembled a hard-working staff that shares his values and understands the importance of delivering superior customer service. Once he had the right team in place, Peter focused on developing a culture that values innovation and problem-solving – two attributes often in short supply in the financial services industry. This led to many new products and services that have kept PenChecks Trust at the forefront of retirement plan distributions for more than two decades.

Ongoing Innovation and Education

When PenChecks Trust introduced the missing participant IRA to help plan sponsors appropriately manage unclaimed retirement assets, the biggest issue was locating the missing participants. To help resolve this problem, Peter led the way in launching the National Registry of Unclaimed Retirement Benefits (NRURB). This nonprofit website enables employers to list missing plan participants and former employees to search for any left-behind retirement assets. PenChecks Trust operates this site at no cost to employers or plan participants because it’s the right thing to do.

When uncashed retirement plan checks grew into a billion-dollar problem, PenChecks Trust developed an innovative Missing Participant service to help locate missing participants and reunite them with their money. It also created an uncashed check service to help plan sponsors and institutions to uphold their fiduciary responsibilities while ensuring the unclaimed assets are managed fairly and accurately on behalf of the participant.

A firm believer in the value of a well-educated retirement plan industry, Peter also led the way in developing thought leadership and other resources to help industry professionals enhance their skills and expertise. In addition to producing thought-provoking blogs, articles and white papers on a regular basis, PenChecks Trust also sponsors two annual industry scholarships designed to support the educational needs of pension professionals and the industry as a whole. The NIPA APA Designation Scholarship assists six individuals in completing the Accredited Pension Administrator (APA) designation program, while the ASPPA QKA Scholarship assists four individuals in obtaining certification for the Qualified 401(k) Administrator credential program.

Giving Back, Having Fun

For Peter, doing the right thing also includes getting involved with the San Diego community. He sat on the Sharp Grossmont Hospital foundation board for nearly 10 years, serving as its president for one term. He also served on the National Conference of Christians and Jews for over a decade, including a one-year term as its senior chairman, and as past president of his local church community.

Peter probably made his most significant civic contribution to the city of San Diego when, at the request of the mayor and city council, he agreed to lead the city’s retirement system out of its financial and legal difficulties. After five tumultuous years of working pro bono, during which time he had to defend himself and the system against multiple lawsuits, Peter is generally credited with saving the city’s retirement system from financial ruin and securing the majority of the board, even when six of its board members were forced off by threats of lawsuits by the city attorney.

Peter’s proudest personal achievement is the creation of the Greek Folk Dance Festival in 1975, with the incredible assistance of 15 enthusiastic teenagers who bought into his vision. The annual event, which brings together people of all ages to compete in Greek Folk Dancing, started with five teams and 39 dancers. Now it regularly attracts an average of 100 teams and several thousand dancers from all over the world. The three-day show was operated for thirty-five years by young adults ages 14 to 21, and served as a valuable training ground to teach them powerful skill in business, marketing and budgeting.

When he’s not creating retirement programs for individuals & corporations and reuniting people with their retirement money, Peter works hard to stay in shape, an endeavor that includes three trips to the gym each week as well three trips to the Pilates studio with his personal trainers. An occasional marathoner and regular 10K runner in his younger days, he still hits the road once or twice a week (when his aging knees permit) for a short 2.5-mile jog.

Peter enjoys traveling the globe, and has a real fondness for good restaurants. He regularly attends the theater and opera in San Diego, and like most Greeks he loves music and dancing. A dedicated family man, Peter has three grown children, one of whom works as the current President and CEO for PenChecks Trust and Alpha & Omega.

Pushing the Boundaries

Perhaps his strongest asset as a company and industry leader is Peter’s refusal to settle for the status quo. Combined with his penchant for accepting big challenges and solving big problems, this attribute has driven PenChecks Trust to continually develop innovative products and services that redefine and reshape the retirement distribution industry. His answer to the question “What was the most valuable advice anyone ever gave you?” probably says it best:

1. Don’t be a clock watcher.

2. Never buy into the idea that something can’t be done.

3. When you take on a job or assignment, work it to death. You’ll be amazed at the results you get!