Red-faced ASPPA apologizes for e-mail gaffe

The American Society of Pension Professionals & Actuaries issued a mea culpa to its members yesterday over a solicitation many of them received from a financial advisory firm looking for recruits. Captrust Financial Advisors yesterday e-mailed more than 800 ASPPA members who will be attending the organization's annual 401(k) summit later this month, requesting a meeting at the conference about potentially joining the firm. “We can welcome advisers with, or without, an established book of business,” Jason Heathcote, Captrust's senior manager for acquisitions, wrote in the e-mail. “We are most interested in your future potential under the Captrust umbrella — not your past.” Later that day, Brian Graff, executive director of ASPPA, sent an e-mail to the members it expects to attend the conference, apologizing about the solicitation. “Please know that ASPPA does not condone such activity, nor is it our policy to distribute attendee e-mail addresses to any party, including our sponsors and exhibitors,” Mr. Graff wrote in the e-mail. “We are very concerned about protecting your privacy and have taken the necessary steps to ensure that this activity does not happen again.” Mr. Heathcote didn't return calls seeking comment. ASPPA is currently working to figure out how Captrust received the contact information for the attendees of its conference, said Melinda Semadeni, a spokeswoman. The summit is being held March 14-16 in Orlando, Fla.