Stephen Dopp welcomes Joe Smolen, President of Workplace Solutions at Empower, to The Glide Path. Mr. Smolen has spent 27 years at the same company, starting as a sales rep driving across Iowa when Great-West Financial was the 38th largest of more than 500 recordkeepers. (Great-West rebranded its retirement division as Empower after corporate consolidation in 2014.) Empower is now the second largest recordkeeper, serving about 22 million Americans, and fewer than 80 recordkeepers remain. Mr. Smolen explains how acquisitions got the firm there and why diversifying beyond recordkeeping was essential in a fee-compressed business. On competition, he sees private equity showing up more in advisor and TPA consolidation than in recordkeeping and says fintechs and payroll providers bring great technology but little else: “They have absolutely no distribution. And distribution is still king.” Customer service, not funds or fees, is the No. 1 reason plans switch providers.
Mr. Dopp then runs a lightning round on industry trends. Mr. Smolen calls retirement income real but slow to catch on and sees personalized managed accounts as the future. He expects private assets to reach defined contribution plans faster than retirement income has, though daily valuation and liquidity hurdles remain. He believes pooled employer plans are how the industry will absorb a surge of new plans, and that CITs have arrived at every plan size. Mr. Smolen closes with leadership lessons from his father and mentors, and a dream dinner with Jesus, Eric Church and Kansas City barbecue.
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Speaker bio:Joe Smolen is President of Workplace Solutions at Empower, where he leads the firm’s workplace business, including 401(k), 403(b), 457, nonqualified, defined benefit, and stock plan services, as well as consumer-directed healthcare plans. He also oversees the teams that partner with Empower’s institutional recordkeeping clients and is responsible for the workplace product organization, including Empower Advisory Group, a registered investment adviser.
In this role, Joe has accountability for enterprise strategy and product development, new business acquisition, and overall client satisfaction, retention, and financial performance across all workplace business segments.
Joe joined the organization in 1999 and brings more than 25 years of industry experience. Throughout his tenure, he has held a range of sales and leadership roles, contributing to the company’s growth and evolution into a leading retirement and workplace solutions provider.
He holds a bachelor’s degree in management from Kansas State University. Joe currently serves as Vice Chair of the boards of the Children’s Diabetes Foundation and the Barbara Davis Center for Diabetes. He also serves on the Limra/LOMA Advisory Board and EAG Board. He has also served on the SPARK Advisory Board and as Chairman of the SPARK Governing Board.
Mr. Dopp joined DoubleLine in 2026 as a Relationship Manager on the Global Relationship Management team. Prior to DoubleLine, he was with Lord Abbett & Co. as National Director, Retirement. Mr. Dopp holds a B.S. in Business Administration from Columbia Southern University and an MBA from Rutgers Business School. He also holds the FINRA Series 7, 24 and 63 licenses.
