Plan Sponsors Honored for Improving Plans for Employees
NEWARK, NJ, July 20, 2010 -- Prudential Retirement, a business unit of Prudential Financial, Inc. (NYSE: PRU), has honored six plan sponsors for redesigning their defined contribution retirement programs to assist plan participants in achieving a more secure retirement.
The plan sponsors -- Ply Gem Industries, the United Parcel Service (UPS), the State of North Carolina, Munters Corp, Bekaert Corp and EMC Insurance Companies -- received their awards at Prudential Retirement's recent three-day client conference, Leading the Way: A New Retirement Vision.
"The best workplace-provided retirement programs help build retirement security by encouraging individuals to not only participate in the plan, but to maximize contribution rates, diversify investments, and think about their accounts as a source of retirement income," said Michael Knowling, senior vice president, Plan Sponsor Solutions, who hosted the event. "We commend these plan sponsors for equipping their participants with the right products, tools, resources and services to help them meet their retirement goals."
Ply Gem Industries, an established leader of building construction and renovation materials, reported increased participation in its 401k plan, with the enrollment of 568 new participants in just one month, bringing up the participation rate 20 percentage points to 55 percent. Ply Gem also added Prudential's GoalMaker® asset-allocation tool, a feature selected by 42 percent of plan members.
Through a successful communications plan, UPS implemented automatic enrollment and automatic contribution escalation features, achieving nearly a 100 percent plan participation rate, while also prompting 33 percent of participants to elect the contribution accelerator.
Despite concern over current economic conditions, the State of North Carolina saw more than 2,000 participating employees increase their retirement contribution rates. Additionally, the state put in place an aggressive communications program that led 83 percent of new enrollees in its 401k plan to select the GoalMaker asset-allocation program.
Meanwhile, Munters Corp, the world's leader in humidity and climate control technologies; Bekaert Corp, a multinational producer of drawn steel wire products and applications; and EMC Insurance, one of Iowa's largest property and casualty insurance providers, each increased participation rates and each helped ensure that participants would receive a guaranteed retirement "paycheck" by adopting Prudential IncomeFlex®, which provides participants a guaranteed minimum withdrawal benefit for life upon retirement..
Leading the Way: A New Retirement Vision brought more than 250 of Prudential Retirement's largest institutional clients to Phoenix to learn about the latest retirement trends, services, products and plan options. The conference included more than 25 workshops, covering such topics as "Impacts of Changing Technology and Social Media on Retirement,' ‘Fiduciary Peace of Mind,' and "Women Investing Wisely- The Growing, More Savvy Investors.'
Clients also benefitted from presentations given by Peter Ricchitu, professor of Tulane University's School of Business; Tom Daschle, former U.S. Senate majority leader; Christine Marcks, president, Prudential Retirement; Jamie Kalamarides, senior vice president, Retirement Solutions; and Bernard Winogard, executive vice president and chief operating officer of Prudential's U.S. Businesses.
"It is a privilege to bring together our clients, and to listen to their ideas, as we continue to develop innovative retirement planning solutions that meet the expectations and needs of the marketplace of today and tomorrow," said Knowling. "We highly commend all who attended, both for their suggestions in improving our offerings and for their dedication to the financial security and peace of mind of their participants."
About Prudential Retirement
Prudential Retirement delivers retirement plan solutions for public, private and non-profit organizations. Services include state-of-the-art record keeping, administrative services, investment management, comprehensive employee investment education and communications, and trustee services. With over 85 years of retirement experience, Prudential Retirement helps meet the needs of over 3.6 million participants and annuitants. Prudential Retirement has $183.9 billion in retirement account values as of March 31, 2010.
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