Junior Retirement Plan Administrator

Strongpoint Partners announces partnership with Bates & Company. Strongpoint Partners Sep 24, 2026, 10:30 ET Bates & Company brings nearly four decades of expertise in complex plan design to the coast-to-coast network, becoming Strongpoint's 25th partner firm and the first headquartered in Florida CHICAGO, Sept. 24, 2026 /PRNewswire-PRWeb/ - Strongpoint Partners ("Strongpoint"), a leading tech-enabled retirement services platform serving small- to mid-sized businesses with integrated retirement third-party administration, actuarial, recordkeeping, payroll, and HR solutions, announced a new partnership with Bates & Company ("Bates"), based in Winter Park, Florida. Founded in 1987 and led by President John Laskowitz, Bates is a retirement plan administration and consulting firm serving small to mid-sized businesses, with a depth of expertise in complex plan design across 401(k), profit sharing, cross-tested, age-weighted, defined benefit, and cash balance plans. Bates joins Strongpoint as its 25th partner firm and the first headquartered in Florida. "Nearly all of Bates & Company's growth has come through referrals, which tells you how highly regarded their team is in the industry," said Danny Hest, CEO of Strongpoint Partners. "They've earned that reputation by delivering complex, highly tailored plan designs, including cash balance and cross-tested allocations. Welcoming Bates as Strongpoint's 25th partner, and our first in Florida, brings plan design expertise our whole network can draw on and gives us a home base in one of the country's fastest-growing small business markets." "Joining Strongpoint Partners opens a new chapter for our firm," said John Laskowitz, President of Bates & Company. "We looked carefully at what a partner would mean for our clients and then we looked at what it would mean for the firm. Strongpoint was the only platform where the answer to both was the same: our clients keep the account executives and the direct relationships they have relied on for years, and now they sit behind nationwide technology, regulatory, actuarial, and recordkeeping capabilities we could not have built alone, and a network of specialists we can call on when a plan gets complicated. For our team, it means room to grow here in Central Florida and beyond." "Expanding to Florida has been on our roadmap for a while," said Jack Toner, Chief Development Officer at Strongpoint Partners. "It is one of the largest and fastest-growing small business markets in the country. Reaching 25 partner firms hasn't changed our approach: we look for firms whose reputations we want to protect, then give them more resources to work with rather than asking them to become something different. Bates is exactly the kind of firm we are proud to partner with. Adding their team gives plan sponsors across Florida a local partner backed by a national platform." This partnership represents another step toward Strongpoint's mission of making retirement work for everyone through access to new markets, tailored solutions, expanded services, and a depth of expertise. As with all of Strongpoint's partnerships, the Bates & Company team will remain in their current roles, continuing to deliver the same trusted service their clients have come to expect. Bates will also contribute its consulting and complex plan design experience to the broader capabilities of the Strongpoint coast-to-coast network. About Strongpoint Partners Strongpoint Partners is a tech-enabled retirement services platform serving small- to mid-sized businesses with integrated retirement third party administration, recordkeeping, payroll, actuarial, and HR solutions. Recognized as one of Inc. 5000's Fastest Growing Private Companies in America and certified as a Great Place to Work for two consecutive years, Strongpoint offers a suite of services that prioritizes accuracy, compliance, and reduction of regulatory risk for its clients, delivered by local client success teams that understand the nuances of the markets they serve. With a coast-to-coast network of leading firms including HowardSimon, Jocelyn Pension Consulting, Retirement Strategies Group ("RSG"), Retirement Planners and Administrators ("RPA"), Pension Financial Services ("PFS"), Pollard & Associates, Carlson Quinn, SI GROUP, Retirement Planning Consulting Group ("RPCG"), Karel-Gordon & Associates, Cash Balance Actuaries ("CBA"), Pension Consultants, Inc. ("PCI"), Actuaries Unlimited ("AUI"), CRP - California Retirement Plans ("CRP"), Benefit Equity, Inc. ("BEI"), United Benefit Pensions, LLC ("UBP"), Associated Pension Consultants ("APC"), Creative Retirement Systems, LLC ("CRS"), Allied Consultants, Inc. ("ACI"), American Retirement Plan Services, LLC ("ARPS"), SMS Retirement ("SMS"), Bidwell Consulting Services, Inc. ("BCS"), Integrated Pension Design, Inc. ("IPD"), The Finway Group ("TFG"), and Bates & Company ("BAC"). Strongpoint Partners combines a relentless passion for service and innovation with the experience and expertise required to make retirement work for everyone. For more information, please visit: www.strongpointpartners.com. About Bates & Company Bates & Company is a retirement plan administration and consulting firm based in Orlando, Florida. Established in 1987, the firm provides consulting, administration, and actuarial services for qualified retirement plans, including 401(k), profit sharing, age-weighted and cross-tested, money purchase pension, defined benefit, cash balance, and 412(e)(3) plans, as well as 403(b), 457, and SEP arrangements. Bates works primarily with small to mid-sized businesses and their advisors, among them medical practices, law firms, and accounting firms across the state of Florida. With more than 120 years of combined experience in retirement plan administration, the Bates team is known for assigning every client a dedicated account executive and for a practice built largely on client referrals. For more information, please visit: www.batesco.com. About Shore Capital Partners Shore Capital, a Chicago-based private equity firm with offices in Nashville, is an investor in lower middle market companies in the Healthcare, Food and Beverage, Business Services, Industrial, and Real Estate industries. Shore's strategy is to support management partners to grow faster with less risk through access to capital, world-class board and operational resources, and unmatched networking, development, and shared learnings across the portfolio. From 2020-2026, Shore received recognition from Inc. Magazine as a 7x Top Founder Friendly Investor and by Pitchbook Research for leading U.S. Private Equity deal volume for the past 10 years, from 2016-2025. Shore targets investments in proven, successful private companies with superior management teams, stable cash flow, and significant potential to grow through industry consolidation and organic growth to generate value for shareholders. Shore has approximately $17 billion of assets under management and in additional investment platforms to which it provides business and operational consulting services. For more information on these awards and investment platforms, please visit: www.shorecp.com. Media Contact SOURCE Strongpoint Partners

Strongpoint Partners jumps more than 700 spots on the Inc. 5000, marking its third consecutive year of recognition. Strongpoint Partners Aug 11, 2026, 10:30 ET Climbing from #1,235 to #530 in a single year, Strongpoint Partners' platform assets under administration have surpassed $58 billion across a network of 24 partner firms, as the company continues to advance its mission of making retirement work for everyone CHICAGO, Aug. 11, 2026 /PRNewswire-PRWeb/ - Strongpoint Partners ("Strongpoint"), a leading tech-enabled retirement services platform serving small- to mid-sized businesses with integrated retirement third-party administration, recordkeeping, payroll, actuarial, and HR solutions, has climbed more than 700 spots on the Inc. 5000 list of America's fastest-growing private companies, landing at #530 this year, up from #1,235 in 2025. It's Strongpoint's third consecutive year on the list, and its highest ranking yet, a reflection of the market's continuing demand for high-quality, person-to-person service delivered by the best experts in the industry. The jump comes as Strongpoint's platform has scaled quickly across nearly every measure: more than $58 billion in assets under administration, a network of 24 partner firms reaching clients in more than 43 states, and repeat certifications of Great Place to Work(R) in 2025 and 2026. "Earning this recognition for a third consecutive year means something a little different to me each time, because the story behind it keeps building," said Danny Hest, CEO of Strongpoint Partners. "This year, our growth isn't just about the partner firms who've joined us. It's about the infrastructure we've built so that each partner can bring their expertise and also leverage a broader platform to help it grow faster: a national sales team we've more than doubled in size, our administrator-facing digital tools starting to provide our teams competitive efficiency advantages across the network, and our first Actuarial Career Development Program building the next generation of talent from within. None of it works without the incredible collection of talent who call Strongpoint and our national partner network home, and that's still what I'm proudest of." With the addition of new partner firms including Allied Consultants, American Retirement Plan Services, SMS Retirement, Bidwell Consulting Services, Integrated Pension Design, and The Finway Group over the past year, Strongpoint Partners now represents more than $58 billion in assets under administration, with a network of 24 partner firms reaching clients in more than 43 states. In 2025 alone, Strongpoint welcomed 10 new TPA partners, onboarded more than 2,500 new clients, and grew its team by more than 270 new employees. The Inc. 5000 recognition comes soon after Strongpoint Partners was also recognized as a Great Place to Work(R) for the second consecutive year, a prestigious certification based entirely on employee sentiment about their work experience. This year, 93% of Strongpoint employees said Strongpoint is a great place to work, 36 points higher than the average U.S. company. Strongpoint also continues to invest in collaboration, training and development, and compliance leadership, including a newly formalized Compliance Committee that brings leaders from across the network together to standardize best practices and respond to regulatory change, and internal online forums focused on best practices, where administrators across Strongpoint can share expertise on topics like loan processing, force-outs, and plan implementation. Together with the platforms and resources that let team members share knowledge across the talent base, these investments help make every Strongpoint partner a better version of itself. "For the second year in a row, our team told us in their own words that Strongpoint is a great place to work," said Marta Sullivan, Chief People Officer at Strongpoint. "This year, that recognition sits alongside a further investment in our people: our first Actuarial Career Development Program, a growing set of working groups where team members across the network solve problems together, and a sales organization we've built from the ground up. Culture and growth aren't separate conversations here; it's the investment in our people and our culture that enables our tremendous growth." "When we joined Strongpoint back in September 2022, it was a really big idea," said Nick Jocelyn, President of Jocelyn Pension Consulting, one of Strongpoint's first TPA partners. "To see how far the platform has come - and to earn this recognition for a third consecutive year - says a lot about how deliberately Strongpoint has been built. We're not just adding partners for scale; we're building a network that gets stronger with every firm that joins, and I'm proud to have been part of it from the beginning." "I joined Strongpoint a little over a year ago, and this recognition confirms what drew me to the partnership in the first place," said Kaezad Setna, President of Creative Retirement Systems. "Strongpoint continues to invest in the resources, technology, and career paths that let my team keep serving our local clients the way we always have, while giving us access to a national network of expertise we never had on our own. Seeing Strongpoint named to the Inc. 5000 for a third year, now with 24 partner firms across the country, shows this model isn't just working. It's thriving." Additional partner firms are expected to join Strongpoint in the coming months, positioning the company for continued growth in 2026 and beyond. About Strongpoint Partners Strongpoint Partners is a tech-enabled retirement services platform serving small- to mid-sized businesses with integrated retirement third party administration, recordkeeping, payroll, actuarial, and HR solutions. Recognized as one of Inc. 5000's Fastest Growing Private Companies in America and certified as a Great Place to Work for two consecutive years, Strongpoint offers a suite of services that prioritizes accuracy, compliance, and reduction of regulatory risk for its clients, delivered by local client success teams that understand the nuances of the markets they serve. With a coast-to-coast network of leading firms including HowardSimon, Jocelyn Pension Consulting, Retirement Strategies Group ("RSG"), Retirement Planners and Administrators ("RPA"), Pension Financial Services ("PFS"), Pollard & Associates, Carlson Quinn, SI GROUP, Retirement Planning Consulting Group ("RPCG"), Karel-Gordon & Associates, Cash Balance Actuaries ("CBA"), Pension Consultants, Inc. ("PCI"), Actuaries Unlimited ("AUI"), CRP - California Retirement Plans ("CRP"), Benefit Equity, Inc. ("BEI"), United Benefit Pensions, LLC ("UBP"), Associated Pension Consultants ("APC"), Creative Retirement Systems, LLC ("CRS"), Allied Consultants, Inc. ("ACI"), American Retirement Plan Services, LLC ("ARPS"), SMS Retirement ("SMS"), Bidwell Consulting Services, Inc. ("BCS"), Integrated Pension Design, Inc. ("IPD"), and The Finway Group ("TFG"). Strongpoint Partners combines a relentless passion for service and innovation with the experience and expertise required to make retirement work for everyone. For more information, please visit: www.strongpointpartners.com. About Shore Capital Partners Shore Capital, a Chicago-based private equity firm with offices in Nashville, is an investor in lower middle market companies in the Healthcare, Food and Beverage, Business Services, Industrial, and Real Estate industries. Shore's strategy is to support management partners to grow faster with less risk through access to capital, world-class board and operational resources, and unmatched networking, development, and shared learnings across the portfolio. From 2020-2026, Shore received recognition from Inc. Magazine as a 7x Top Founder Friendly Investor and by Pitchbook Research for leading U.S. Private Equity deal volume for the past 10 years, from 2016-2025. Shore targets investments in proven, successful private companies with superior management teams, stable cash flow, and significant potential to grow through industry consolidation and organic growth to generate value for shareholders. Shore has approximately $17 billion of assets under management and in additional investment platforms to which it provides business and operational consulting services. For more information on these awards and investment platforms, please visit: www.shorecp.com. Media Contact SOURCE Strongpoint Partners

Strongpoint launches one-stop portal for retirement plan advisors. Strongpoint Partners announced the launch of Advisor Growth Lab, a new digital portal built to give retirement plan advisors a single destination to manage their existing book of business. Advisor Growth Lab was designed to provide a seamless experience to advisors, who have often relied on fragmented tools to track plans, request proposals, answer client questions, and learn about regulatory changes and compliance updates, the firm's announcement explained. The new digital platform, which is available now for advisors, also extends access to the firm's nationwide network of TPA firms to grow their collective business. "Our mission is to make retirement work for everyone, and that means giving the advisors who work alongside our partner firms the same national support and resources our partners experience," noted Strongpoint Partners CEO Danny Hest. "Advisor Growth Lab is how we make good on that promise: one platform, built specifically for how advisors work, so they can spend less time chasing information and more time with their clients." The platform centers on four core capabilities: * Plan Dashboard: An up-to-date view of an advisor's full book of business with Strongpoint, including plan status, participant counts, plan assets, and pending action items. * Request a Proposal: A direct line to the firm's national sales team, so advisors can request a proposal, explore a new plan design, or start a conversation about growing a client relationship. * Content Hub: Plan design content and curated compliance and regulatory updates to help advisors grow their expertise and gain new business. * AI Assistant: A secure, in-portal AI assistant that answers plan design questions, walks through compliance requirements, and can summarize Content Hub articles on demand. While advisors are the primary users of Advisor Growth Lab, any professional tied to a plan, including CPAs, can log in to access the same view of a client's book of business, the announcement further noted. The platform also expands what advisors can bring to their client relationships. For advisors new to retirement planning, step-by-step guides help facilitate conversations with existing clients. For seasoned advisors, Strongpoint is equipping them to have more in-depth retirement planning conversations. "What advisors really need is confidence that someone has their back when a client asks a hard question," said Mike Shamburger, Vice President and Head of National Sales at Strongpoint Partners. "Advisor Growth Lab gives our sales team another way to show up for advisors, with plan data, compliance guidance, and answers on demand, right alongside the relationship they've already built." Strongpoint added that it will continue to expand the platform, with additional features planned in the months ahead. Please log in or create a free account to comment on this article. Share to: Publish date: July 30, 2026 By: Sponsored by MFS