National Harbor, MD — The American Society of Pension Professionals & Actuaries (ASPPA) honored Mark Iwry with the prestigious Harry T. Eidson Founders Award during the Oct. 21 opening session of the 2018 ASPPA Annual Conference.
Iwry, currently a Nonresident Senior Fellow at the Brookings Institution in Washington, DC., a Visiting Scholar at The Wharton School, and a Senior Policy Advisor to AARP, also serves as a member of the board of advisors of, or otherwise advises, the American Benefits Institute, the Council of Scholar Advisors of the Georgetown University Center for Retirement Initiatives, the Panel of Outside Scholars of the Center for Retirement Research at Boston College, United Income, Inc., and Blueprint Income, Inc. From 2009 to 2017, he served as Senior Advisor to the Secretary of the Treasury on employer-provided retirement, health plans and tax policy. Iwry is a long-time proponent of automatic features in 401(k) plans and auto-enrollment in IRA programs.
ASPPA established the Eidson Award in 1995 to honor the memory of its founder, Harry T. Eidson. His belief in the importance of the employer-sponsored retirement system in the United States and in having an organization dedicated to preserving and enhancing such a system was the inspiration for the formation of ASPPA in 1966. A list of previous winners is available at https://www.asppa-net.org/member/eidson-award.
Other industry awards presented at the organization’s Nation Conference included:
Educator’s Award
The 2018 Educator’s Award was presented to Margaret (“Maggie”) Younis, ERPA, CPC, QPA, QKA, TGPC. Younis is a Senior Consultant with Lincoln Financial Group with more than 19 years of experience in the industry.
The Educator’s Award was established in 1997 to recognize and honor outstanding educators. It is awarded to an ASPPA member who has made a significant contribution to retirement plan education.
Edward E. Burrows Distinguished Achievement Award
At the annual ACOPA Actuarial Symposium in August, longtime ACOPA member Norman Levinrad was presented with the 2018 Edward E. Burrows Distinguished Achievement Award. Levinrad is the founder, owner and chief actuary of Summit Benefit & Actuarial Services, Inc. in Eugene, OR. With more than 35 years of experience in the pension industry, he has been a frequent speaker at national pension conferences for the past 25 years and has served in many leadership roles in the profession.
The Burrows Award is presented annually to a pension actuary who has, by his or her actions, set an example for other pension actuaries. This is an actuary who has gone above and beyond in forwarding ethics, education, beneficial legislation or regulations (or such other actions as the selection committee deems appropriate) that enhance the private pension system or the professionalism of enrolled actuaries within the private pension system. Burrows was a beacon in this regard, and ACOPA honors him by presenting an award that recognizes those who follow in his path.
Martin Rosenberg Academic Achievement Awards
ASPPA honored three industry professionals with the 2018 Martin Rosenberg Academic Achievement Award:
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Molly Tollefson, for receiving a perfect score and outstanding performance on the DC-1 exam;
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Nita Parekh, for receiving a perfect score and outstanding performance on the DC-1 exam; and
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Lauren Akisada, for receiving a perfect score and outstanding performance on the DC-2 exam.
The Martin Rosenberg Academic Achievement Awards are presented in honor of the late Martin Rosenberg, a Fellow of ASPPA, and are designed to recognize top performing examination candidates based upon their total score as well as their overall exam performance. ASPPA established the award in 1990.
PenChecks Trust/ASPPA QKA Scholarship Endowment
Six PenChecks Trust/ASPPA QKA Scholarships were awarded to individuals interested in pursuing ASPPA’s Qualified 401(k) Administrator (QKA) credential. The scholarships will cover the QKA exam registration fees, related exam publications and the awardee’s first year of membership dues. The 2018 scholarship recipients are:
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Calvan Medeiros-Rice, Client Service Manager at the Hilb Group of New England
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Amy Evans, Compliance Analyst at Newport Group
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Kevin Tomek, TPA Account Executive at American Retirement Plan Services
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Grame Hansell, Retirement Plan Support Administrator at Associated Benefit Planners
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Megan Yearous, Retirement Plan Services Consultant at Paradigm Benefits
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Christina Smalls, Administrator at Midwest Pension Actuaries
About the American Society of Pension Professionals & Actuaries (ASPPA)
ASPPA, and its four sister organizations — ACOPA, NTSA, NAPA, and PSCA — comprise the American Retirement Association, the premier organization for more than 20,000 retirement plan professionals nationwide. Based in the Washington, D.C. area, ASPPA is a non-profit professional organization established to educate all types of retirement plan professionals, and to preserve and enhance the employer-based retirement plan system as part of the development of a cohesive and coherent national retirement income policy. For more information please visit, www.ASPPA.org.
Media Contact: Nevin E. Adams, JD, Chief Content Officer, American Retirement Association, 703.516.9300 Ext. 114, [email protected]