Founded in 2005, Pinnacle Pension Consultants, LLC is a boutique consulting firm that has evolved to serve clients regionally and nationally.
The experience of our consultants is our most valuable resource. Pinnacle Pension Consultants, LLC is staffed not with generalists,
but with experts in their field who must have at least 15 years of experience before directly servicing accounts.
Ron York
Ron has over 25 years of experience as an investment and retirement plan professional. Prior to joining Pinnacle in 2003, he was a Vice President at Diversified Investment Advisors (now Transamerica), a leading institutional retirement plan provider for both defined benefit and defined contribution plans. Prior to Diversified, Ron was a Vice President at Scudder, Stevens & Clark (Scudder Investments), where he worked for over 10 years with plan sponsors in plan design, investments and developing, evaluating and implementing participant communications programs.
Education, honors, designations and other credentials:
Ron holds a B.A. in Economics from Pennsylvania State University. He has passed the FINRA Series 6, 63, and 65 examinations and has been named on 401k Wire’s TOP 300 Most Influential Advisors in Defined Contribution.
Greg Lewis
Greg has been working with employer-sponsored retirement plans since 1999. Prior to joining Pinnacle in 2006, Greg was a retirement plan consultant at a regional benefits firm, advising plan sponsors of all sizes and types on investment advisory services, fee analysis, participant communication and product due diligence. Prior to that Greg was a Team Leader at Fidelity correcting operational errors in plans in excess of a billion dollars. Greg started his career as an investigator for the Massachusetts Securities Division.
Education, honors, designations and other credentials:
Greg is a graduate of The Roxbury Latin School. He holds a B.A. in Economics from Colgate University, and an M.S. in Finance from Boston College. He holds an Accredited Investment Fiduciary (AIF) designation. He has successfully passed the FINRA Series 7, 63, and 65 examinations and is both a registered representative and an investment advisor representative. Greg was named to the inaugural Financial Times Top 401 Retirement Advisor list.
Greg is active in his community, volunteer coaching for Parkway Youth Hockey, Parkway Soccer, Parkway Little League, Coppinger Court Hockey, and Roxbury Latin’s junior hockey team.
Lee Schmertzler
Lee joined Pinnacle in 2009. As a consultant in the Retirement Benefits Practice, Lee works with Pinnacle’s clients in meeting their fiduciary obligations and handling the day-to-day administration of their qualified retirement plans. In particular, Lee helps coordinate and implement investment monitoring, participant education and plan monitoring. Lee came to Pinnacle with over 10 years of industry experience with investments and retirement plans. Prior to joining Pinnacle, Lee was a Retirement Client Relationship Manager with ING (now Voya Financial). While at ING, Lee met with defined contribution plan sponsors for plan reviews and conducted education and enrollment meetings for plan participants. Prior to ING Lee spent 8 years at Commonwealth Financial Network on the Retirement Marketing and Product desk where he assisted advisors with questions on qualified and non-qualified plans.
Education, honors, designations and other credentials: Lee earned a B.A. in history from Union College as well as an M.B.A. from Babson College. Lee holds FINRA series licenses 7, 63, 65 and 24 as well as Massachusetts health and life insurance licenses. Lee also earned the designations of Accredited Investment Fiduciary (AIF) and Certified Fund Specialist (CFS).
Chris Garrison
Chris has almost 30 years of experience working with corporate and not-for-profit clients on their retirement plans. He worked at industry-leading retirement providers for 24 years, and his experience at Fidelity, Financial Engines, and TIAA has given him a unique insider’s perspective on the delivery of retirement plan services. Chris believes employees need more help planning for retirement and employers want employees to take full advantage of their 401(k) or 403(b) plan. His approach addresses the needs of both by focusing on two critical areas – transforming his client's retirement plan and developing a strategic plan to ensure employees can take full advantage of it. Chris is an expert on investment lineup design, advisory services, investment products, and retirement plan fees. He helps his clients by reviewing the effectiveness of their plans, assessing the reasonableness of their plan’s fees, and using the findings to develop a strategic plan tailored to their employees’ needs.
Education, honors, designations and other credentials:
Chris is a graduate of McGill University and obtained his Masters of Science in Taxation and Financial Planning from Bentley University. He is also active in a variety of charitable endeavors and fund-raising.
