Private Markets, One Year Later | Charlotte Hickey and Josh Anderson

A year ago, Charlotte Hickey of BlackRock and Zachary Rosenoff of Marsh McLennan Agency sat down with Dan Dal Degan to have one of the more timely conversations in Gray to Great history. Private markets in defined contribution plans had just become a topic every advisor needed an opinion on. A lot has happened since then.

In this follow-up episode, Dan reconnects with Charlotte and welcomes Josh Anderson, AIF®, CEPA®, Vice President, Investments at the Workplace Retirement Group of Raymond James, to revisit where things stand. What has changed. What has not. And what advisors should actually be doing about it.

A Year of Progress

When the August 2025 executive order called for the democratization of private market access in retirement plans, the initial reaction from many plan sponsors was concern. Josh describes fielding questions from clients who feared they would be required to add private market investments to their plans without the time or process to evaluate them properly.

Charlotte adds that a year ago this news was met by some with excitement and by some with skepticism. The consulting community and the industry have since done a meaningful job of easing into that conversation, helping sponsors understand that the fiduciary obligation here is to evaluate, not to act.

What the Regulatory Picture Looks Like Now

Charlotte sees the DOL’s proposed rule on fiduciary duties in selecting alternative investments as the clearest signal of where things are heading. In her view, if finalized, the rule would potentially establish a process-based safe harbor for fiduciaries selecting designated investment alternatives, built around documented evaluation of factors like fees, liquidity, valuation, and performance benchmarks. While the rule is still pending, Charlotte believes the direction is clear: process and documentation are becoming the foundation of defensible decision-making in this space. Rather than prescribing a specific course of action, it provides a framework for fiduciaries to evaluate these decisions with rigor and documentation.

Where Most Plans Should Start

For plan sponsors just beginning to explore private market exposure, Charlotte and Josh both see target date funds as a natural starting point. In their view, the structure already comes with built-in liquidity and public market exposure, which makes the questions sponsors ask most often around transparency, expenses, and liquidity easier to address in a committee setting.

Josh also notes that private market exposure in retirement plans is not a new concept. ESOPs have given participants access to private assets for decades. What is different now, in his view, are the more diversified and in many cases more liquid structures available today. While vehicles have evolved, Josh believes the underlying principle of broadening participant access has been part of the retirement plan conversation for a long time.

What This Means for Advisors

Charlotte’s advice is direct and worth repeating: you do not have to be the expert. But your partners need to be. Being selective about who you work with in this space carries the same weight as any other fiduciary decision a plan advisor makes on behalf of their clients.

Josh adds the process dimension. Whether a plan sponsor ultimately decides to add a private markets allocation or concludes it is not the right fit right now, the documentation of that evaluation is what matters. For advisors who have not yet brought this topic to their clients, Josh offers a straightforward observation: the conversation is happening whether you initiate it or not.

More About Our Guests

Charlotte Hickey is a Director of Defined Contribution National Accounts at BlackRock, based in Boston. With experience spanning roles at PIMCO and BlackRock, she brings deep expertise in DC plan strategy and the evolving conversation around private markets in retirement portfolios.

Josh Anderson, AIF®, CEPA®, is a Vice President, Investments and partner of the Workplace Retirement Group at Raymond James. With over two decades of experience in retirement plan consulting, Josh guides companies through the full spectrum of plan strategy including governance, plan design, fiduciary responsibility, and service provider evaluation.

Disclosure: The opinions and thoughts expressed here are those of Charlotte Hickey of BlackRock and Josh Anderson of Raymond James, based on their professional and personal experience, and do not represent the views or opinions of BlackRock, Raymond James, Great Gray Trust Company, or any of their parent companies or affiliated entities.