About

Why wait for the problem to happen? A friendly email from the DOL, or a disgruntled committee member?

Let Culpepper RFP be your sherpa through the RFP process. With years of experience, we know where the blind spots are and where the potential minefields are hiding. Waiting just keeps you up at night while the to-do list grows.

With our years of institutional experience, we help clients in three areas:

Fee & service benchmarking
RFI evaluations
RFP evaluations

Our secret sauce?

We have sat on all sides of the fiduciary table. With experience as an advisor, recordkeeper, investment manager, and investment committee member, we have a unique perspective. We have decades of experience helping clients evaluate and select service providers, and we have no actual or potential conflicts of interest with any of the firms we evaluate.

The team

The people behind the process

Jay Gepfert

Managing Partner

Jay Gepfert is the managing partner of Culpepper RFP, LLC. He has spent more than 20 years providing retirement consulting and investment advisory services to plan sponsors of all sizes.

Before founding Culpepper RFP, Jay was with Russell Investments, a leading international investment consulting organization. He has sat on all sides of the fiduciary table: recordkeepers, investment managers, investment advisors, and plan sponsors. That 360-degree view gives him particular insight when evaluating and selecting vendors for clients. He received his BA from Davidson College.

Jay has a lifelong love of sports, including playing Division One tennis at Davidson. After many years of coaching, he continues as a fast-pitch softball umpire at all levels, including collegiate. He has served on numerous boards and currently volunteers as a wish grantor with the Connecticut chapter of Make-A-Wish.

Jake Gepfert

RFP Engagements

Jake plays a key role in managing and executing complex RFP engagements, helping clients identify best-fit partners through structured, data-driven evaluation processes. He brings extensive experience in sourcing, project management, and risk-focused evaluations across a broad range of industries.

Jake has led and supported RFPs for 3(38) investment managers, 3(21) investment advisors, recordkeepers, and comprehensive fund and fee analyses. His experience spans evaluations for actuarial firms, health brokers, and retirement plan service providers, plus mental health parity (MHPAEA) evaluations supporting compliance-focused assessments.

With a strong foundation in cybersecurity best practices, Jake brings a risk and controls mindset to every engagement, ensuring vendors are evaluated on data security, governance, and operational resilience as well as pricing and capabilities. He is a graduate of Presbyterian College in South Carolina.

Zoe Gepfert Wendel

Client Services & Operations

Zoe brings 13 years of experience partnering with clients across healthcare, consumer packaged goods, nonprofit, and technology.

Her background in client services and project management is complemented by a deep focus on operational excellence.

She is recognized for her ability to bring order to complexity, strengthen client partnerships, and translate strategic goals into actionable, well-managed execution.

“Working with Culpepper RFP greatly streamlined the process for our team and helped us achieve our goals via an efficient and thorough process.”

Manager of Benefits

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