Living and running a business on the southern California coast may have its challenges, but scenery is definitely not one of them. Especially when it’s in Dana Point, evoking the ghost of Richard Henry Dana, Jr. trying to raise the Pilgrim replica from its watery grave in Dana Point Harbor.

Given this backdrop is it any wonder that Jack Cross founded his TPA firm, CrossPlans, right on scenic Pacific Coast Highway?

Chad Curtis proudly wears several hats at CrossPlans: he’s the firm’s technology leader and a senior retirement plan consultant. Which means he’s managing a significant portfolio of client plans (120 of them), balancing tech oversight and day-to-day plan administration.

He’s been with CrossPlans for over ten and a half years, “the longest-tenured employee there whose last name doesn’t start with Cross.”

Chad didn’t set out to work in the retirement industry – he was an accounting major. But the job market was tough when he graduated in 2011 and he struggled.

A post in Craigslist led to a job at a “not great TPA shop” through which he met his mentor. She arranged an interview for him with Jack and Jordon Cross when Chad was at a crossroad with his job. It went well, and they brought him on board at CrossPlans for his technology expertise.

Chad likes the retirement industry – it changes every day, especially with Secure 2.0 – and sees automation as the future. And Jordan, who is now head of the firm since his father passed away two years ago? “Jordan’s the best boss I’ve ever had,” Chad says. He understands how to motivate people and make things happen.

Company Overview
Name:

CrossPlans, founded 2006

Type of Company:

TPA (Third Party Administrator)

Locations:

Dana Point, California

Services Offered:

Sophisticated plan design focused on wealth accumulation and tax savings combined with ease of administration

Goals:

• Create clear dynamic retirement plan strategies for business owners and plan sponsors

• Provide documents and notices to plan sponsors needed by plan participants

• Assist client to understand the responsibilities they’ve assumed by offering a retirement plan

• Provide strategies for effective plan compliance

• Assist clients involved in merger, acquisition, or bankruptcy to manage their retirement plans through that process

All About Numbers

CrossPlans first learned about Stax.ai about two years ago when Jordan saw them at one of the conferences he attended. But initially there was about a six-month gap between what CrossPlans needed and what Stax.ai offered – a common challenge with a fast-moving technology. So they held off.

In June 2024, Chad attended Stax.ai’s CX webinar and told Jordan, “I think we need to consider Stax.ai – now.” Stax.ai’s trust accounting platform (TA) had caught up to the point CrossPlans needed it to be. TA was finally ready for prime time at CrossPlans. By July 2024, CrossPlans was part of the Stax.ai family.

Onboarding was easy, Chad reported. Early usage involved uploading scanned statements and assuming the system worked – and it did. There’s a “little bit of a learning curve,” he said, but once staff spend “a couple hours” in the system, it becomes intuitive. No more manual file renaming or sorting by client name.

The benefits to CrossPlans are phenomenal. They’ve only been with Stax.ai since last July (2024)…and it’s already saving time.

“Now it takes less than five minutes” to complete trust accounting for a plan. Chad can also spot and resolve data gaps faster – “if they’re not [correct], then I can figure it out.”

Numbers Yet to Come

CX is promising, Chad said, but hasn’t been adopted yet. It’s the numbers – the ones clogging the calendar – that are the culprit, not those on the balance sheet.

It’s not the technology or Stax.ai, Chad explained. It’s just that CX is a bigger change-over than anyone at CrossPlans has the time to take on right now. 2024 was a real struggle for the firm. Not only was it their first year fully remote, but they also lost three employees, leaving about 150 plans without an administrator. The team stepped up – with Jordan’s encouragement and incentives – and filled in the gaps. But they didn’t have the bandwidth to take on a new system. After all, money only goes so far when you’ve only got 24 hours in a day.

The Numbers Add Up

“The biggest thing for me,” Chad continued, “is that they [Stax.ai] are listening to TPAs. They’re trying to find out what TPAs need and address it. They’re actively working on some people’s biggest concerns, like billing and organization.”

“Now with Stax, it’s easy to look at all 12 statements and see what happened and when... I just open our template, copy and paste, and I’m done.”