Loren D. Stark Company – Retirement Plan Consultants

Company Legacy Philosophy

The Loren D. Stark Company (LDSCO), as a Retirement Plan Consulting firm, has developed a close relationship with the business community in Houston and across Texas, Louisiana and Oklahoma. From the beginning our objective has been to provide our clients with a Plan design that meets the needs of the business owner(s), as well as the employees. LDSCO believes that the selection of an Employee Benefits Consulting Firm will have a significant impact on the shape and perception of your Employee Benefit Program. Hiring the right Third Party Administrative (TPA) firm will make that impact positive and add value to an employer’s Retirement Plan. In making a recommendation to a prospective client, LDSCO prepares custom illustrations identifying the different results obtainable by the employer. These recommendations may include Safe Harbor provisions, New Comparability, Integrated allocation features, as well as Defined Benefit plan designs. The LDSCO Staff of Actuaries, Attorneys and Consultants are specialists in Pension, Profit Sharing, Cash Balance, Employee Stock Ownership and 401(k) Plan Administration. These services include in part plan design and document preparation, compliance testing and reporting, annual plan participant ERISA compliance statements, participant loan and distribution documentation, and the plan’s signature ready Form 5500. LDSCO has an ongoing commitment to the development and integration of state-of-the-art technology and services to provide our clients with the most comprehensive Retirement Plan available.

With our origins beginning in seventeenth century England and our pioneer descendants migrating to America, the foundation of perseverance and integrity of Loren D. Stark’s company was established.

Loren D. Stark’s grandfather Francis Marion Stark moved to Iowa in the late 1800’s and at the turn of the twentieth century circa 1901, Francis’s son Leander Jesse Stark, left Iowa with his wife Mary Evaline Dayton, and young son, Loren Dayton Stark, journeying to Navina in the Oklahoma Indian Territory. There Leander became a banker and in 1910 established L. J. Stark & Son as a life insurance consulting practice specializing in Estate Planning and Employee Benefits. Then in 1917 Leander became the state supervisor of American Life Insurance in Guthrie, Oklahoma. Loren D. Stark, at the time, was attending Northwestern University, but interrupted his studies to serve as a Second Lieutenant in the Artillery when the United States entered the First World War. Loren returned to finish his studies and graduate in 1921 then joined his father who expanded the business to Tulsa.

After enduring the Depression for years and its grim trajectory continuing, Loren scanned the geographical horizon for a city that would become a metropolis of opportunity and prosperity. He chose Houston, Texas where in 1938 he brought his family and young son Donald Dayton Stark (Don). Loren continued to operate under the name L. J. Stark & Son until Leander’s death in 1940 when he changed the name to the Loren D. Stark Company.

Don joined his father in 1957 following his graduation from Wharton Business School and serving as a First Lieutenant in the Navy. As he surveyed the business climate in Houston Don identified the greatest opportunity to be in Employee Benefits and foresaw the demand for increasing specialization. He received a law degree from South Texas College of Law in 1966 and opened a law practice that he operated in conjunction with the Loren D. Stark Company until the early 1990’s. During the recession of the 80’s, Don again envisioned a market demanding more specialization in Employee Benefits, specifically Retirement Plans, and directed all his attention to developing the Loren D. Stark Company into a boutique retirement plan consulting firm.

Loren Dayton Stark II (Dayton) joined his father, Don Stark, in 2006 after attending the University of Houston. Having been born into a family of entrepreneurs, the business environment came easily to him and Dayton anticipated the need for international operations in the twenty-first century. He opened the Loren D. Stark Company’s first back office in Vietnam in 2007 and then in 2011 expanded the operation to the Philippines, creating significant leverage that allowed the Loren D. Stark Company to enter into multiple cities and preserve a legacy that will continue for generations.

With the Stark tradition transcending a century the legacy of endurance and honor will persevere. As the family name Stark suggests when translated from its German origins; “stark” means “strong”.

LDSCO’s most valuable asset is our employees, our most priceless possession is our reputation and our foremost privilege is to serve you, the client.

When our forefathers founded this company they established a precedent for integrity, professionalism and loyalty to their employees and clients. This concept has been taught by example in continuing to guard and protect our reputation which has always been the hallmark of LDSCO. As our employees are participants in this honorable tradition they contribute to LDSCO by maintaining their own personal reputation for integrity, professionalism, and loyalty to the company and to our clients.

The dedicated professionals at LDSCO are the fountainhead of our expertise in creating benefit plans specifically designed for each individual client. Their integrity and pursuit of excellence is demonstrated in every endeavor to provide the ultimate innovation in our benefit plans for the employers and the employees.

To better serve our clients, the staff of LDSCO’s Actuaries, Attorneys and Consultants continually hone their skills by increasing their knowledge and proficiency in the ever changing technology and governmental regulations. You are their first priority.

“The purest treasure mortal times afford is spotless reputation…mine honor is my life; both grow in one; take honor from me, and my life is done.”

–Shakespeare, King Richard II

“Who, with a natural instinct to discern what knowledge can perform, is diligent to learn”

–William Wordsworth

All Plan Design Plan Services