Episode Introduction - The Gap with Bonnie Treichel
Today on The Gap, I'm excited to welcome Bonnie Treichel, a true leader and innovator in the retirement plan industry. Bonnie is the founder and chief solutions officer of Endeavor Retirement, where she focuses on simplifying retirement plan governance so advisors and plan sponsors can spend less time navigating complexity and more time helping participants save successfully for retirement. She is also a partner at Endeavor Law and brings a unique perspective as an ERISA attorney, former advisor, and plan sponsor. Bonnie is widely recognized for her thoughtful leadership on fiduciary responsibility and retirement plan governance.
Episode Description
Governance isn’t glamorous, but it’s the difference between a plan that hums and a plan that hijacks your week. We sit down with Bonnie Treichel —ERISA attorney, former advisor, and founder of Endeavor Retirement—to translate fiduciary responsibility into a simple, repeatable system you can actually run. From future‑proofing your investment policy statement to building a one‑page map of duties, Bonnie shows how clear roles, documentation, and cadence stop finger pointing and free up time to help participants save more.
We dig into the risk spectrum behind real-world corrections, where legal black and white meets the gray of business judgment. You’ll hear how to right‑size best practices for a five‑person plan versus a 5,000‑person plan, what truly belongs in a committee charter, and why actionable education beats dense white papers. We also tackle today’s biggest pressure points—cybersecurity, privacy, missing participants, fee confusion—and outline practical steps for data mapping, vendor oversight, and secure workflows that meet DOL expectations without overwhelming your team.
Training advisors to train sponsors scales good governance and raises outcomes across the system. With steady process in place, you can shift attention to participant engagement—re‑enrollment, smart defaults, timely nudges—and keep people invested through market noise. Bonnie also shares optimism about bipartisan momentum on coverage and the growing pipeline of next‑gen talent, plus a preview of her new book, Your Retirement Sketchbook, designed to make planning approachable and fun.
Guest Bio Bonnie Treichel:
Bonnie Treichel is the Founder and Chief Solutions Officer of Endeavor Retirement, a consulting firm dedicated to solving problems for plan sponsors, advisors and service providers in the retirement plan industry. Her unique experience as an ERISA attorney and advisor helps her bring governance solutions for day-to-day issues that are an inevitable part of running a successful retirement plan. Bonnie is also a Partner at Endeavor Law, a firm dedicated to supporting the ecosystem of financial services with their retirement plan-related decisions, documentation, compliance, regulation and litigation. As a thought leader on retirement plan governance issues, Bonnie has been quoted in publications such as The Wall Street Journal, InvestmentNews, 401(k) Specialist, Ignites, PlanAdviser, NAPA Net Daily, and Journal of Pension Benefits. She is an active member of the American Retirement Association and has served in various leadership
roles as well as the American Bar Association’s Tax Division where she is on the Lifetime Income Committee. When she isn’t working on retirement plan issues, Bonnie enjoys traveling, spending time with her golden retrievers, Sadie and Sunny, running, riding her bike and volunteering for Make a Wish.
Contact Bonnie:
bonnie.treichel@endeavor-retirement.com
https://endeavor-retirement.com
816-284-2180
@btreichelesq
