Confero Summer 2015: Issue 11 | Page 25

from committees to costs: 5 key areas of fiduciary focus By Dave Burns, ERISA consultant and manager in Vanguard Strategic Retirement Consulting B ecause retirement plan fiduciaries are held to an exceptional level of duty and care under ERISA, the fiduciary standards that plan sponsors, investment committee members, and others in fiduciary roles must abide by can be summarized by a single phrase: “doing the right thing.” In fact, the legal and regulatory environment, which i ́