Paula Hendrickson

Senior Vice President, Retirement, NFP

Local Board Member, Colorado

Paula leads our Retirement team and provides consulting services and oversight to all retirement plan clients at NFP. With over 30 years of experience in Retirement planning, Paula believes in actively engaging with clients to provide creative plan designs that accommodate their businesses and employees. Her creative philosophy is backed by her expertise in strategic investment advisory, ERISA plan process, regular plan benchmarking and maintaining a consistent dialogue with plan providers. Through her strong relationships with clients and her meticulous, creative process, Paula provides the roadmap to success for plans and their participants.

Paula’s professional experience is unparalleled in the Retirement field, and she has been recognized time and again for her achievements and innovation. She is one of the nation’s top 40 advisors and was nationally recognized among her peers as one of the Most Influential Advisors in Defined Contribution by the online publication 401k Wire, for two years in a row. In 2014, she was recognized by the Denver Business Journal as one of their Outstanding Women in Business.

Paula speaks regularly at various conferences and workshops, and she is a Founding Lecturer of The Retirement University at UCLA Anderson School of Management Executive Education.

Prior to joining First Western, Paula served as a principal at Mercer Human Resources Consulting Firm, where she oversaw consulting relationships of Fortune 500/1000 companies in Colorado and Utah. Previously, she was director of Retirement services for Reber/Russell Company.

Paula received her Bachelor of Arts in Business Administration and Accounting from Western State College, where she also was a member of the Western State College basketball team. Continuing her passion for the sport, Paula has coached various levels of basketball teams, from 5 year olds at the YMCA to high school girls’ teams. She is currently coaching a 4th grade boys club team, and she is a board member of Positive Coaching Alliance (PCA). In her free time, Paula enjoys spending time with her husband and their three children.

Credentials

  • Bachelor of Arts in Business Administration and Accounting from Western State College, Gunnison, CO.

Involvement

  • Member of the Financial Planning Association
  • Member of the Western Pension and Benefits Conference
  • Speaking engagements with the SPARK Conference and continuous retirement plan participants’ education workshops, among others.

Interests

  • Paula is married with three children and coaches the Junior Varsity Girls Basketball Team at Arvada West High School
  • Paula played basketball at Western State College in Gunnison, CO

Accolades

  • One of the top 40 national advisors and asked to be a Founding Lecturer of The Retirement University at UCLA Anderson School of Management Executive Education
  • Paula was nationally recognized among her peers as one of the Most Influential Advisors in Defined Contribution by the online publication 401k Wire, for a second year in a row

The latest from Paula