Jacquelyn Clouser

When asked about Transamerica Client Executive Jacquelyn Clouser, Martin Mastascusa, director of human resources at Bryn Mawr College, stresses her attention to detail. He has worked with the school’s 403(b) plan since 2014, and with Clouser for the six years the school has been her client, and he praises her support.

“Jacque [pronounced Jackie] monitors events related to our policy and gave me a heads-up that was beyond the call of duty,” he says. During the pandemic in 2020, Clouser had noticed an abnormally high number of Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security Act withdrawals—all at the same time—even though Bryn Mawr had had no lay-offs.

“Suddenly, we had 20 people in the dining hall take money out,” Mastascusa says. Clouser alerted him, as she was concerned the employees did not know the consequences of taking the withdrawals. “They weren’t understanding that you have to pay taxes on this over three years—it’s not free money,” he says.

Mastascusa with Clouser and her colleagues’ help quickly ramped up education to explain the tax rules and the downside of the withdrawals. “I appreciated that she reported it to me, and we were able to counsel, at least at some level, to prevent it from being withdrawn for the wrong reasons,” Mastascusa says. “I really did feel like [what she did] was above and beyond.”

Clouser also alerted him when a hacker tried to set up online access to 13 participants’ accounts in one day. Transamerica stopped the potential fraud before it happened, and Mastascusa says he appreciated being notified quickly. “[Jacque] knew [how] I’d care about this and I’d reach out to the people,” he says. “She gave me the opportunity to be a proactive part of that. It all went smoothly. None of the people were upset.”

Clouser learned good service at the start her career, as a benefits administrator at a bank, she says. “I had some really bad experiences with some 401(k) vendors, so I knew exactly what I needed to do to make my clients happy. My role as a relationship manager is to provide support to the plan administrator.”

—Kimberly Lankford