NEW YORK - March 28, 2023 – TIAAOpens in a new window and its defined contribution plan clients earned 2023 Eddy AwardsOpens in a new window for communications campaigns designed to increase access to – and education about– in-plan lifetime income options. The Eddy Awards recognize best practices in offering investment and financial education to defined contribution plan participants and is sponsored by Pensions & InvestmentsOpens in a new window, a leading publication for pension, portfolio, and investment management executives.
"Our institutional clients work tirelessly to enhance their retirement savings plans, increase access to in-plan lifetime income solutions, and raise awareness of their plan benefits," says Kourtney Gibson, Chief Institutional Client Officer at TIAA. "Congratulations on their efforts to improve retirement outcomes for their participants. We’re proud to continue working with these institutions to ensure more Americans can retire with confidence."
Details on the awards and winners:
The conversions and consolidations category recognizes campaigns devoted to explaining the move to a new record-keeper and the consolidations of record-keepers by the 403(b) plans:
- Johns Hopkins University – First place for its efforts to streamline and simplify its retirement program from six recordkeepers to just one, and from over 300 investment options to 33. Notably, JHU retained TIAA Traditional annuity, offering the ability for participants to have income for life in retirement. Throughout the process, JHU also enhanced its retirement education program for more than 38,000 of its employees through digital-first, omnichannel communications. These changes naturally led to lower costs for JHU, as well as for plan participants.
The ongoing investment education category identifies projects that educate employees on investment options of a plan and how it helps them save and reach their retirement goals.
- California Institute of Technology – Second place for a multi-touch campaign focused on educating its employees on the value and benefits of available in-plan lifetime income options. The campaign’s goal was to increase the number of 1:1 sessions Caltech participants booked with a TIAA financial consultant. Ultimately, the lifetime income campaign prompted an 8% increase in the number of sessions booked, compared to the previous year.
In addition, TIAA congratulates the State of Rhode Island Office of Employee Benefits, a TIAA client, for tying in second place in the special projects category for developing a campaign to bring more awareness to the importance of naming a plan beneficiary and streamlining the process.
About TIAA
TIAA is a leading provider of secure retirements and outcome-focused investment solutions to millions of people and thousands of institutions. It is the #1 not-for-profit retirement market provider , paid more than $6.4 billion in lifetime income to retired clients in 2021 and has $1.2 trillion in assets under management (as of 12/31/2022) .