Pfau named director of RICP program at The American College

Wade D. Pfau (pictured) will also serve as co-director, with Steve Parrish, of the New York Life Center for Retirement Income at the college. College president and CEO George Nichols III also announced professional transitions within the college for Colin Slabach, David Littell, and Chad Patrizi.

Wade D. Pfau, Ph.D., CFA, has been named director of The American College of Financial Services’ Retirement Income Certified Professional (RICP) designation program, college president and CEO George Nichols III announced this week.

Pfau will also now serve as Co-Director of the New York Life Center for Retirement Income, joining Steve Parrish, JD, RICP, as Center Co-Director.

Pfau joined The American College in 2013 as a professor of Retirement Income in the Financial and Retirement Planning program. He has been a core contributor to the college’s RICP designation program curriculum. In his new roles, Pfau will lead the Retirement Income Center and its RICP courses and curriculum.

From 2003 to 2013, Pfau lived in Japan, where he worked with the National Graduate Institute for Policy Studies and published a landmark paper challenging the so-called 4% safe withdrawal rule. He won the Journal of Financial Planning’s inaugural Montgomery-Warschauer Award for his paper on the topic.

Pfau holds a doctorate in economics and a master’s degree from Princeton University, and bachelor of arts and bachelor of science degrees from the University of Iowa. He is also a Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA).

The American College also named Colin Slabach as assistant director of the New York Life Center for Retirement Income and an assistant professor of retirement. In these roles, Slabach will continue to develop The American College’s retirement programs, teach courses, and support Pfau and Parrish in leading the Retirement Income Center. Slabach will assume this role over the summer.

Slabach joins The American College from the faculty of Texas Tech University. He holds a master’s in Personal Financial Planning from Texas Tech and bachelor’s in business finance from Eastern Illinois University, and is currently a doctoral candidate at Texas Tech.

David Littell, JD, ChFC, a creator of the RICP designation, will move to working with The American College in a part-time capacity as senior contributor to the RICP program and a mentor to College faculty and students.

In another personnel move, Chad Patrizi, PhD, was named executive vice present and provost at The American College beginning May 1, 2019. This newly created position will be the second-ranking administrative officer at the college. He joins from American Public University System, where he is currently vice president and dean of the School of Business.

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