The Morningstar Center for Retirement & Policy Studies
About the Center
Our Research is Holistic, Covering:
The needs of the people in them as the defined contribution system matures
The more than 600,000 retirement plans in the United States
The impacts of policy changes and proposals on retirement security
Meet the Research Team
Our researchers bring decades of experience to analyzing retirement and policy issues.
Jack VanDerhei
Director, Retirement Studies and Public Policy
Morningstar Investment Management LLC
Jack VanDerhei is the Center’s Director for Retirement Studies. Dr. VanDerhei has more than 200 publications devoted to employee benefits and insurance, but his major areas of research focus on the financial aspects of private defined benefit and defined contribution retirement plans. From 1996 until 2022, Dr. VanDerhei was the research director at the Employee Benefit Research Institute, co-authoring updates of the 401(k) universe for account balances, asset allocation and loan activity, among other work.
He received his BBA and MBA from the University of Wisconsin-Madison and his M.A. and Ph.D. from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania.
Spencer Look
Associate Director, Retirement Studies and Public Policy
Morningstar Investment Management LLC
Spencer Look is an associate director for The Morningstar Center for Retirement & Policy Studies. He conducts research across many topics, but primarily focuses on annuity and life insurance products and lifetime income solutions. Before joining Morningstar in 2022, Spencer held roles as a life actuarial manager and a life-cycle advice senior analyst, specializing in goals-based financial planning, lifetime asset allocation, and retirement income.
He holds a bachelor’s degree in actuarial science and finance from Drake University in Des Moines. Spencer is also a Fellow of the Society of Actuaries.
