Our Board of Managers Include:

John D. Blossom, Jr.
John Blossom is President of Alliance Benefit Group,LLC.  Mr.  Blossom is also President and CEO of Alliance Benefit Group of Illinois, inc., the ABG licensee for Illinois, with a branch office in Milwaukee, Wisconsin and Chicago, Illinois.  The office serves over 800 retirement plans with participants in 42 sates and assets of more than $1.2 billion.   John has been in the benefits field over 40 years.  He is a full "Member" of the American Society of Pension Actuaries.  He is a CLU and life member of the life insurance industry's Million Dollar Round Table.  He is a founder of Retirement Administrators and Designers of America (RADA) a resource-sharing group for retirement plan administrators with a history of more than thirty years.  He has received the Professional Plan Consultant™ (PPC™) designation through Financial Service Standards, LLC.  He is a member of the Steering Committee of the Society of Plan Administrators and Recordkeepers (SPARK).  He currently is serving on the Charles Schwab TPA Advisory Board.  Blossom attended the University of Colorado, majoring in economics and finance and earned the Master of Business Administration degree from the Graduate Theological Foundation in January 1995.

Bradley K. Arends, J.D
Brad Arends is the President and Chief Executive Officer of Alliance Benefit Group Financial Services, Corp. and ABG Investment Services, Inc.; an officer and principal in Alliance Benefit Group North Central States, Inc., Alliance Benefit Group Payroll, Inc., and Alliance Benefit Group Kansas City, Inc.; and is an officer and on the Board of Directors of Alliance Benefit Group National.  Mr. Arends has worked in the ERISA and investment areas for over 19 years, concentrating on the design, communication and funding of defined contribution plans, IRC Section 125 flexible benefits plans, health savings accounts, and executive compensation programs.  Mr. Arends has been instrumental in negotiating strategic alliances with mutual fund companies and custodians for the funding of participant-investment-directed 401(k), 403(b), 457, profit sharing, and money purchase pension plans.  Likewise, he has extensive knowledge and experience in designing and implementing effective employee communication / education strategies for salary reduction retirement programs, medical and dependent care flexible spending accounts, health savings accounts, and multi-tiered health programs, for which the firm has received national recognition.  Mr. Arends is on the TPA Advisory Council for Fidelity Investments Institutional Brokerage Group out of Boston, Massachusetts, the Advisory Council for Corbel, a member of the Employee Benefit Section of the Minnesota Bar, and the former President of Retirement Administrators and Designers of America (RADA).  He is involved in various local volunteer organizations, including positions on the Board of Directors of the YMCA and JOBS, Inc., and works on the Albert Lea Lake Restoration Committee and United Way.  Previously, he worked as a legislative assistant in Washington, D.C., for a United States Senator and his position on the Senate Finance Committee.  He graduated from Washington University School of Law with an emphasis in tax, and holds the following securities and insurance licenses:

Series 6 - Mutual Funds and Variable Annuities
Series 7 - Individual Securities
Series 63 - Blue Sky Securities Law
Series 65 - Uniform Investment Advisor
Life and Accident / Health Insurance

Mike Pettey
Mike Pettey has more than 30 years experience in pension design and administration, group health programs, and life and disability insurance. In 1978 he and his brother founded Custom Benefit Services, Inc., to serve the retirement needs of small companies. In 1995 he started Alliance Benefit Group of Houston, Inc. to serve the 401(k) market for small and mid-size companies. Mike is a graduate of The University of Texas at Arlington, where he majored in finance and math. He is a Fellow of the International Society of Employee Benefit Specialists and is a Certified Employee Benefit Specialist. He is a member of the International Society of Certified Employee Benefit Specialists and the American Society of Pension Actuaries. In addition, he is a board member of the ASPPA Council of Houston.  Mike is a former Chairman of the Board of Partners Holdings, Inc., now National Financial Partners, and has served as President of Retirement Administrators and Designers of America. He is certified to practice before the Internal Revenue Service.


Lawrence B. Raymond, CLU, ChFC, CPC, CFP
Larry Raymond is President of the Alliance Benefit Group of Michigan a pension administration and consulting firm located in Bingham Farms, Michigan.   Larry holds a B.A. and MBA from the University of Michigan where he majored in Actuarial Science.  With over 30 years in the pension/insurance industry, Larry is a licensed Insurance Counselor and a Registered Representative of NASD/SEC. Larry has spoken at numerous venues on Qualified and Non-Qualified plan opportunities. In 2006, Larry was awarded the “E.H. Meyers Jr. Memorial Award” for outstanding service to the life insurance industry.   In addition to serving on the Executive Committee of AALU, he is a member of the Million Dollar Round Table (MDRT), the National Association of Insurance and Financial Advisors (NAIFA), American Society of Pension Professionals and Actuaries (ASPPA), Great Lakes TE/GE Council, Financial & Estate Planning Council of Oakland County, the Financial Planning Association, and the Society of Financial Service Professionals (SFSP).


John Van Buren, E.A.
 John Van Buren has over twenty five years of experience in the retirement plan consulting area, specializing in all aspects of employee benefit plans.  He is certified as an Enrolled Actuary.  He is a Member of the American Society of Pension Professionals & Actuaries and a Chartered Financial Consultant.    Mr. Van Buren’s areas of expertise include:

• Providing actuarial and employee benefit consulting services to numerous corporate and public benefit plans including the design of plans to meet the objectives of the sponsoring organization.
• Assisting organizations in the selection of actuarial cost methods and assumptions and in the development of funding policies for their pension plans.
• Performing comparability studies of various benefit programs already in existence to determine necessary areas of redesign.
• Developing cost estimates for plan amendments, mergers and acquisition, spin-offs and terminations of employee benefit plans.
• Design, implementation, communication and overall management of defined contribution retirement plans.
• Analysis of pension expense and other balance sheet liabilities required by SFAS No. 87.
• Assisting organizations with all business matters relating to their employee benefit plans.
• Speaking before various groups on accounting for pension plans and other employee benefits related topics.

Prior to forming Alliance Benefit Group-MidAtlantic, LLC, Mr. Van Buren was a partner with a major consulting firm.  He holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Economics from Pennsylvania State University.