The 2014 Summary Annual Report (SAR) was mailed to all participants. Please CLICK HERE to view this report online.

Greetings!

I have some exciting news to share with you today.  Due to the retirement of the Chief Investment Officer for the Plan, the Board of Directors (“Board”) for the Directed Account Plan has hired Mercer Investment Consulting (“Mercer”) as an independent advisor and Consultant to the Board.  Mercer will serve as a co-fiduciary to the Plan in conjunction with the Board and will assist the Board in monitoring investment performance, structuring the investment lineup provided to the participants, and will provide manager selection, portfolio modeling and asset allocation services.

Mercer was selected after an extensive review process that began last year.  Mercer is a leading global provider of investment advice and services with extensive research capabilities.  There are over 110 staff members involved in the research process alone and the majority (79%) have an MBA, CFA, Actuarial, Masters and other relevant qualifications.  In the end, the Board decided that Mercer represented the best of the best and is looking forward to a great partnership with them going forward. 

The Board will still retain the ultimate decision making capability with regards to investment decisions, but we now will have a co-fiduciary going forward that will help us in this area.  Your Plan will still maintain the same excellent investment structure, but new enhancements like Target Date funds will be added in the near future.  Mercer has proven to be a value added partner to many prominent clients in the past.  A dedicated team of three highly qualified individuals (Philip Suess – CFA, Joseph Libbra – CAIA and CIMA, and Austin Roberds) will work directly with the Board.  It is our belief that this partnership will continue to move the DAP to the forefront with regards to a lifelong retirement solution for our participants.

Sincerely,

 Vincent Lombardi

Chairman – Directed Account Plan

 Fund Merger Notification

On June 9, 2015, shareholders voted to approve the merger of Fidelity Fifty Fund into Fidelity Focused Stock Fund on or about July 24, 2015.

Effective July 24, 2015, investments in Fidelity Fifty Fund will automatically be converted to shares of equal value of the acquiring Fidelity Focused Stock Fund at the completion of the merger.

This merger was administered by Fidelity Investments.

DAP FLYING HIGH! One of the Top 29 401(k)s in America. Read about it in the July 2015 Heads Up newsletter. CLICK HERE to read.

The DAP Recordkeeper, Empower Retirement, will conduct scheduled web maintenance on Saturday, July 25^th at approximately 6:00 am CT through Sunday, July 26^th at 1:00 pm CT.  You may experience intermittent access to the web site during these times.

The following notices were mailed to all of the DAP participants regarding  investment option changes in the Fidelity Funds.

February 2015 Mailing – Notification of Investment Option Changes

May 2015 Mailing – Noticication of Investment Option Changes

The Best in Class 401(k) Plans are now online at http://www.plansponsor.com/2015-Plansponsor-401k-Best-in-Class-Plans/

BEST IN CLASS PLANS

Arkansas Blue Cross Blue Shield
Black & Veatch
BlackRock, Inc.
Bohannan Huston, Inc.
Bristol-Myers Squibb Company
CliftonLarsonAllen LLP
The Cooper Companies
DENSO International America, Inc.
Directed Account Plan
Essenita Health
FairPoint Communications, Inc.
First National Bank Alaska
Francis Investment Counsel
Grange Mutual Casualty Company
Lancaster General Health 401(k)
Land O’Lakes, Inc.
MasterCard
MDU Resources Group, Inc.
Motorola Solutions
National Futures Association
North Shore–LIJ Health System
Pitney Bowes
Portland General Electric
Providence Health & Services
Solix, Inc.
TASC, Inc.
TD Ameritrade
TriMas Corporation
Westinghouse Electric Company LLC

The 2015 Best in Class 401(k) Plan designation was given to 401(k) retirement plan sponsors that meet the highest standard of excellence, as deemed by PLANSPONSOR’S research and editorial team. Recipients of the 2015 Best in Class 401(k) Plan designation were selected from the almost 4,000 401(k) plans that responded to PLANSPONSOR’s annual Defined Contribution (DC) Survey.

Each 401(k) plan participating in the survey was evaluated and scored on its usage and implementation of more than 30 criteria related to plan design, oversight/governance and participant outcomes. Plans needed to have certain features to be considered, such as an above average participation rate, use of automatic escalation and an employer contribution—discretionary or nonelective. Other criteria were not mandated but did earn the plan additional points, such as auto-enrollment, short eligibility schedules and immediate vesting.

The 29 plans we recognize here as “best in class” represent diverse industries and participant demographics. However, they still share many attributes—for example, all offer both matching and profit-sharing/nonelective contributions. As one might expect, the winning plans also consistently topped their peers in terms of outcomes and the prevalence of participant-friendly practices, featuring higher average deferral rates, more available advice and regular fee benchmarking.

The American Century Intl. Growth Fund was terminated and removed from the International Stock Option on 5/29/15. The fund was terminated due to a recent manager change and performance that had consistently detracted from this investment option.  The funds were moved into the International Stock Option’s index fund – BlackRock ACWI Ex US IMI Index until the board finds a suitable replacement fund.  The new International Stock Option target allocation is as follows:

The DAP was awarded “2015 Best in Class 401(k) Plans” by PLANSPONSOR Magazine, a leading publication in the retirement plan industry.  The Directed Account Plan made the top 30 list of 401(k) plans amongst a group of top employers offering 401(k)’s.  Please take a look at the link below. Recipients of the 2015 Best in Class 401(k) Plans designation were selected from more than 4,500 plans responding to PLANSPONSOR’s annual Defined Contribution (DC) Survey. 401(k) plans were evaluated and scored on more than 30 criteria related to plan design, oversight/governance, and participant outcomes.

The news of this honor will be shared with the DAP participants in the July Heads Up Newsletter. Please click here for a  preview of the April Heads Up newsletter that will go out April 27^th with your quarterly statements.

The TCW International Small Cap Stock Fund was terminated and removed from the International Stock Option on 4/13/15. The fund was terminated after the board was notified that the fund manager was leaving this fund. This fund had been on the manager watch list for performance that was consistently detracting from the International Stock Option performance.  The funds were moved into the International Stock Option’s index fund – BlackRock ACWI Ex US IMI Index until the board finds a suitable replacement fund.  The new International Stock Option target allocation is as follows: