Summary
Overview
Work History
Education
Skills
Websites
Awards
Timeline
Generic

Auriel Howell

Charlotte

Summary

Retirement Plan Implementation & Onboarding Specialist with 13+ years of experience guiding employers through 401(k) plan setup, payroll integration, and regulatory compliance. Proven ability to manage high-volume implementation pipelines while partnering with founders, HR leaders, and payroll providers to ensure seamless plan launches. Deep expertise in ERISA and IRS retirement regulations, payroll conversions, and SaaS onboarding workflows. Known for translating complex financial and compliance requirements into clear operational processes, improving client adoption, and delivering high-touch customer experiences in fast-paced fintech environments.

Overview

16
16
years of professional experience

Work History

Retirement Onboarding Specialist (Implementation)

Human Interest
03.2025 - Current
  • Own and manage a rolling book of 40-50+ active client implementations, balancing urgency, risk, and customer impact to ensure on-time launches
  • Lead 1:1 and small-group implementation and training sessions with founders, operators, and HR leaders, focusing on workflows most critical to their business
  • Guide customers through core financial workflows, translating complex IRS/ERISA requirements into clear, confidence-building decisions
  • Make real-time prioritization decisions across customers with varying timelines, data readiness, and levels of complexity
  • Monitor usage signals, customer feedback, and operational data to identify risk, friction points, and opportunities for improvement
  • Distill recurring insights and trends into actionable feedback for Sales, Account Management, and internal Operations teams
  • Ensure thoughtful documentation and clean handoffs post-implementation, setting customers and downstream teams up for long-term success
  • Collaborate cross-functionally to improve onboarding processes, reduce launch timelines, and improve time-to-value for new customers
  • Advised clients on plan design options, such as Safe Harbor 401(k) provisions, to mitigate annual nondiscrimination testing (ADP/ACP) risk.
  • Conducted thorough reviews of employee and payroll data to ensure compliance readiness before plan launch, mitigating potential audit risk.
  • Clarified the implications and requirements of annual Nondiscrimination Testing, guiding clients toward plan structures that maximize tax benefits while adhering to regulatory standards.
  • Orchestrated the end-to-end launch of retirement plans for a diverse portfolio of clients, ranging from small businesses to nationwide corporations.
  • Managed all internal and external stakeholders-including client HR teams, payroll providers, and internal sales/account management-to keep the onboarding timeline on track.
  • Drove an efficient onboarding process that resulted in faster plan launch time which led to improving client time-to-value.
  • Cultivated strong client relationships through proactive communication, maintaining a client satisfaction score throughout the setup phase.
  • Collaborated cross-functionally with Sales and Account Management teams, ensuring a seamless transition of new clients to ongoing service.
  • Identified process inefficiencies and recommended/implemented improvements that scaled team capacity and reduced administrative workload.
  • Developed training materials and resources to simplify complex retirement concepts, empowering clients to confidently manage their plans post-launch.

Payroll Conversion Consultant (Implementation)

Empower Retirement
04.2022 - 07.2024
  • Responsible for the successful plan design, setup of payroll integration and installation of standard/complex new transfer, startup retirement plan sales and spin off plans.
  • Served as the primary implementation contact for a portfolio of founders, operators, and plan sponsors onboarding new or migrating financial products.
  • Coordinate the integration and mapping of payroll files/methods with conventional plan sponsors to Empower.
  • Coordinated closely with Sales, Product, payroll vendors, and internal operations to remove blockers and maintain momentum.
  • Managed 60-70 concurrent implementations, prioritizing across deadlines, dependencies, and customer readiness.
  • Utilize project management methodologies throughout the implementation process.
  • Acts as a liaison and conducts ongoing weekly conference video calls on assigned projects and consults with various client contacts including plan sponsors, payroll vendors, financial advisors, third party administrators, relationship/client service managers, regional sales director's and various internal departments with respect to the timing of conversion, outstanding items and critical tasks in the overall lifecycle in the waterfall project management methodology.
  • Led customer kickoff calls, technical walkthroughs, and training sessions to guide clients through payroll integrations and financial workflows.
  • Relay project status and blockers weekly to all contacts associated with the plan.
  • Discuss and gather required data to support the automatic enrollment and feedback file processes for standard client groups.
  • Discuss service product features with assigned plan sponsors, financial advisors and third-party administrators to determine suitability of payroll method to maximize value and provide comprehensive explanation of administrative duties associated with payroll.
  • Provide an overview of products and services offered for integration to ensure the correct programming is being selected to suit the clients needs. This allows for a personalized programming.
  • Analyze data utilizing pivot tables and Vlookup.
  • Maintain established internal deadlines and timelines for all assigned client groups, associated with payroll activity Coordinate with internal teams to facilitate FTP (File Transfer Protocol) connections with payroll vendors/clients using direct FTP.
  • Communicated clear next steps and timelines to customers, keeping implementations on track despite ambiguity or changing requirements.
  • Work with network payroll vendors for plans transferring to our Payroll Bridge product Coordinate with internal departments for issue resolution of incoming cash/payroll files.
  • Work with internal stakeholders to review data from prior provider to ensure data load is accurate.
  • Handle client facing kick off calls to effectively provide technical support and guidance while training clients on the features and functionality of the Empower system.
  • Map new elementary payroll files ensuring required data is provided to support the plan features.

Payroll Processing Specialist I

Principal Financial Group
06.2021 - 04.2022
  • Establish, maintain and develop strong/trusted client relationships acting as the primary day to day contact.
  • To ensure timely receipt and delivery of payroll data including net funding pay in accordance with payroll schedules.
  • Responsible for submission of all payroll data to required partners and/or clients.
  • Perform reconciliation of payroll files and resolve any errors related to participants loans, contributions and eligibility status.
  • Communicated discrepancies to plan CSM for timely completion of payroll processing.
  • Process an average of 150 client payroll files per day.
  • Responsible for reconciling client accounts by submitting mistake of facts (MOFS) and refunding any outstanding unused funds to keep records balanced.
  • Responsible for performing loan recalculations to determine the exact amount for the exact loan payoff amount.
  • Responsible for recalculating defaulted loans to process them and bring them current.
  • Responsible for processing any new entrant enrollment for employees. Ensure payment frequencies and elections align accurately.
  • Responsible for processing Beneficiary elections on participants accounts according to the designations on the forms we received and uploaded to the system.
  • Responsible for processing incoming rollover from both plans to plan and external financial institutions. Ensure the request is in good order with all necessary components and money is applied according to the correct money type.
  • Responsible for maintaining participant accounts to meet the IRS contribution maximum to prevent over-contributing.

Payroll Processing Specialist II

Wells Fargo
01.2016 - 06.2021
  • I organize and control workload so that all transactions are processed within required time frames.
  • Utilize various arithmetic to calculate totals and reconcile each file to ensure errors all balance back out to original file totals client has sent to be processed.
  • I go through to edit, manipulate and process payroll transactions in a timely, accurate and efficient manner in adherence with established service standards.
  • I process roughly 20 to 40 files per day for loan repayments and contributions to the 401k plan for specific clients' employees in a high-volume environment with time sensitive deadlines.
  • I ensure that files are being processed in accordance with federal regulatory laws while monitoring and maintaining correct 401k contribution amounts allotted for the year which helps eliminates the plan failing audit.
  • Work directly with plan contacts confirming data and troubleshooting discrepancies.
  • Deliver quality customer service by researching and responding to all internal and external client inquiries quickly, efficiently and professionally.
  • Assist team members in processing workload as necessary.
  • Conducts necessary research to formulate the documentation needed for any audits that may occur.
  • Recognize, analyze & interpret report messaging in order to carry out necessary actions.
  • I research and resolve transactional issues.
  • Requires strong data entry skills and knowledge of various computer programs.

Retirement Service Representative

Wells Fargo
10.2013 - 01.2016
  • Counsel clients on retirement planning, plan specific information and providing account information/education on investment options.
  • Accurately perform 401k Transactional processing such as loans, rollovers, withdrawals etc.
  • Responsible for 401k plan enrollment, effectively communicating product information and research and analyze complex information.
  • Manage a high volume of information while effectively balancing quality and productivity.
  • Maintain great delivery of quality service and pride myself on first call resolution.
  • To maintain excellent stats and continue to adhere to the adherence within the department. I consistently provide stellar customer service and first call resolutions to every customer.
  • I work with profiles, pension accounts, request withdrawals (in-service, hardship and lump sum) and I also do handle trades of investment elections.
  • Assisted participants with proper pay off amounts, time frame it was good for and where to send the payment to close out a loan on their 401k account.
  • I have extensive knowledge on ERISA for qualified plans and IRS regulations.
  • Worked as a liaison to the trust administrators to rectify balances on existing retirement accounts as roll overs addressed to the trust.
  • Review documents in the system to ensure they are in good order to proceed forward with any roll overs.
  • Handles account inquiries from clients and beneficiaries, CPAs, FAs, and attorneys.

Benefits Open Enrollment Specialist

Alight
09.2010 - 10.2013
  • Serve as a primary point of contact for employees during open enrollment, assisting with benefit plan selection, enrollment changes, and eligibility questions.
  • Provide clear, accurate education on medical, dental, vision, life, disability, FSA/HSA, and voluntary benefits.
  • Support employees through life event changes, new hire enrollments, and qualifying status updates.
  • Process enrollment transactions accurately within Alight platforms and client systems.
  • Ensure compliance with plan rules, carrier requirements, and federal regulations (ACA, ERISA, HIPAA).
  • Troubleshoot enrollment issues, escalations, and discrepancies, partnering with internal teams and carriers as needed.
  • Maintain detailed documentation of employee interactions, resolutions, and follow-ups.
  • Meet productivity, quality, and customer satisfaction metrics during high-volume enrollment periods.
  • Deliver empathetic, high-quality customer service while managing time-sensitive inquiries.
  • Stay current on plan changes, system updates, and client-specific benefit offerings.

Education

Bachelor of Health Sciences -

Kaplan University
Davenport, IA

Skills

  • PAYROLL PROCESSING
  • PROJECT MANAGEMENT
  • PAYROLL IMPLEMENTATION
  • STAKEHOLDER MANAGEMENT
  • CROSSFUNCTIONAL COLLABORATION
  • PROCESS OPTIMIZATION
  • CLIENT EDUCATION
  • DATA ANALYSIS
  • WATERFALL
  • 401K ADMINISTRATION PLATFORMS
  • QUICKBOOKS
  • CRM SYSTEMS
  • SALESFORCE
  • SAAS
  • ALTERYX EXPRESS
  • EASY
  • RIS
  • BLUE ZONE SESSIONS
  • ACCOUNTING
  • OPERATIONAL SUPPORT
  • PEOPLE SOFT
  • PERSUASIVE COMMUNICATOR
  • MEETING DEADLINES
  • MICROSOFT WORD
  • MICROSOFT OFFICE
  • MICROSOFT EXCEL
  • IRS/ERISA
  • 401(K)
  • CLIENT ONBOARDING

Websites

Awards

  • BEST PERFORMER
  • MEETING MONTHLY METRICS
  • EVMP RECIPIENT

Timeline

Retirement Onboarding Specialist (Implementation)

Human Interest
03.2025 - Current

Payroll Conversion Consultant (Implementation)

Empower Retirement
04.2022 - 07.2024

Payroll Processing Specialist I

Principal Financial Group
06.2021 - 04.2022

Payroll Processing Specialist II

Wells Fargo
01.2016 - 06.2021

Retirement Service Representative

Wells Fargo
10.2013 - 01.2016

Benefits Open Enrollment Specialist

Alight
09.2010 - 10.2013

Bachelor of Health Sciences -

Kaplan University

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Auriel Howell