About Carmela Kotchevar
A dedicated pensions researcher
Carmela Kotchevar
MANAGING CONSULTANT
Carmela brings over 25 years of experience in pension operations consulting to her role at Septon Strategies. She excels in all facets of retirement plan administration, including retirement calculation audits, plan rule assessments, and certification of calculations to ensure accuracy and regulatory compliance. Carmela also advises on the implementation, maintenance, and integration of retirement administration and related systems.
Before joining Septon Strategies, Carmela held various roles at Aon and its predecessor company, Hewitt. She began as a team manager overseeing calculation specialists for one of its largest pension outsourcing clients. Over the next two decades, she managed complex implementations, calculation audits, data management and cleansing initiatives, and supported pension valuation teams. Her project management expertise and deep understanding of pension systems positioned her as a trusted advisor to plan sponsors navigating significant transitions.
Carmela is renowned for her ability to effectively lead a broad range of pension and benefits-oriented projects. She has conducted employee benefits training on defined benefit plans, defined contribution plans, health benefit plans, and Social Security. Her experience includes reviewing participant communications, plan documents, and plan provisions; conducting data analysis in conjunction with payroll assessments and system reconciliation processes; and consulting on the conversion of paper records to electronic systems. She has also translated training materials into Spanish to help serve diverse employee populations.
Carmela holds a Bachelor of Business Administration (B.B.A.) degree from Bradley University and is fluent in Spanish. She also co-hosts a weekly radio show dedicated to promoting the value of education within the Spanish-speaking community in the Twin Cities.