Krueger v. Ameriprise Financial, Inc. - Blog

CASE 0:11-cv-02781-SRN-JSM Document 67 Filed 11/20/12 Page 4 of 44
2.4; 10.3.) EBAC has administered the Plan since October 2005 and its members are
appointed by Ameriprise’s Compensation and Benefits Committee of the Board of Directors
(“CBC”). (Am. Compl. 20, 56.) The CBC also supervises EBAC and has the authority
to remove its members. (Id. 32, 121.) The Ameriprise Financial, Inc. 401(k) Investment
Committee (“Investment Committee”) also administers the Plan by selecting and
monitoring the investment options in the Plan lineup. (Am. Compl. 26, 56.) The
Investment Committee directs how investment options for the Plan are invested. (Id.)
The Ameriprise Plan document authorizes investment of Plan assets in a wide variety
of investment vehicles, including both mutual funds 2 and collective trusts. (Sabin Decl. Ex.
13 § 5.2.) When the Plan was first developed, it offered participants several investment
options, including an Ameriprise stock fund, an income fund devoted primarily to
government bonds, several mutual funds and collective trusts managed by Ameriprise
affiliates and others, and a self-directed brokerage window through which participants could
invest in hundreds of other non-affiliated mutual funds. (2005 SPD at pp. 13–23; Am.
Compl. 55, 83–86.)
The Plan currently offers three groups of investment options. (Decl. of Shannon
Barrett, Doc. No. 61 (“Barrett Decl.”) Ex. C.) Tier 1 consists of several “target maturity
funds” that are designed for participants who do not wish to put together their own
individualized mix of investment options and who have a likely retirement date. (Id.; 2011
2
“A mutual fund is a pool of assets, consisting primarily of [a] portfolio [of]
securities, and belonging to the individual investors holding shares in the fund.” Jones v.
Harris Assocs. L.P., __ U.S. __, 130 S. Ct. 1418, 1422 (2010) (alterations in original and
citations omitted).
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