Rasch Cousineau is an executive director and senior principal for the Hyas Group and focuses on the firm’s retirement plan sponsor clients. With over 20 years of experience in the public sector retirement services industry, he offers clients a rich perspective on investment portfolio construction, retirement plan design, vendor management, plan governance, fee negotiation, RFP management, and fiduciary training. Prior to joining the Hyas Group, Mr. Cousineau served as national vice president, defined contribution markets for an industry-leading record keeper. This prior experience enables Mr. Cousineau to provide his clients with a unique behind the scenes understanding of how record keepers evaluate, administer, and ultimately price relationships. His ability to help clients monitor plan costs and renegotiate favorable contracts stems from his previous role where he worked closely with industry consultants, investment advisers, plan sponsors, unions, and investment committees during the third party administrator RFP process. He now works directly with retirement plan sponsors and committees, helping them to create better retirement outcomes for their plan participants and ultimately fulfill their fiduciary responsibilities.
Mr. Cousineau has spoken at conferences and worked with industry organizations such as CPAAC, CCMF, OMFOA, CPPC, IPMA, CSMFO, CalPELRA, NFOP, ICMA and GFOA. He has spoken about topics such as defined contribution industry trends, plan design, fiduciary responsibility, and plan best practices. He has made media appearances on National News services discussing retirement plan financial wellness from a consultant’s perspective. He is the Hyas Group’s primary representative for the SPARK Institute—a member-driven, non-profit organization that is the leading voice influencing federal retirement plan policy. He serves on SPARK’s Data Security Oversight Board (DSOB) which is dedicated to creating measurable cybersecurity benchmarks for the retirement industry and on SPARK’s Defeating Fraud Intelligence Task Force. He is also a member of the National Association of Government Defined Contribution Administrators (NAGDCA) where he currently serves as Chair on NAGDCA’s Awards Committee. Mr. Cousineau received a Bachelor of Arts in public relations/marketing from Marist College in Poughkeepsie, New York. He is a current FINRA Series 65 license-holder and formerly held Series 6, 63, licenses, along with an insurance license with the State of Nevada.