ICMA-RC Receives Prestigious CIO 100 Award

Washington, D.C., May 02, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- ICMA-RC is pleased to be a recipient of the 2019 CIO 100 Award recognizing organizations around the world that exemplify the highest level of operational and strategic excellence in information technology. ICMA-RC won the recognition for its ground-breaking work in enhancing the digital experience for public sector retirement plan participants.

"Across the business landscape, companies everywhere recognize the vital role that an innovative, value-driven approach to information technology plays in their success," said Maryfran Johnson, IDG’s Executive Director of CIO Programs. “This year’s CIO 100 winning companies are inspiring examples of how IT leadership, business collaboration and digital transformation will drive future growth."

As we focus our technology enhancements on providing participants with the best possible end to end experience, ICMA-RC has transformed the way the corporation engages plan sponsors and participants.  

• ICMA-RC’s retirement readiness tools helps participants track their level of readiness (or lack thereof) through “Am I On Track.”  This feature provides plan participants with a personalized retirement readiness score that incorporates not just defined contribution plan accounts, but also pension plans and Social Security benefits, allow users to customize their savings rate, optimal retirement age and ideal asset allocation, enabling them to perform what-if analyses on many retirement factors.
• Over the years, participants will accumulate multiple financial accounts. ICMA-RC’s account aggregation tool allows them to connect all of their accounts (checking, savings, credit cards, etc.); including those with other financial institutions, to give them a more comprehensive financial picture as they plan for retirement.
• ICMA-RC created text access to offer participants the ability to view plan information quickly and easily by texting a command to “ICMA-RC” and get account information delivered directly to their mobile phone. 
• ICMA-RC constantly strives to produce easy ways for participants to track their retirement planning progress. The company created a mobile responsive design, giving participant’s access to account information on the go and at their fingertips. Roughly two-thirds (65%) of public sector employees don’t work at a desk, so ensuring access across any digital channel to retirement plans was a critical objective for ICMA-RC. All tools, including account aggregation and “Am I On Track” are now available via smart phone.  Our total mobile logins exceed 4 million, as of January 20, 2019.
• Everyday ICMA-RC focuses on ways to relieve the burden on local municipalities around the county. Through visual analytics, ICMA-RC plan sponsors can easily identify where the plan is excelling and where the plan may need attention.  ICMA-RC is among the first public-sector retirement organizations to add visual analytics capabilities for its plan sponsor website, allowing employers to interact with plan data in real time and make strategic decisions based on a range of metrics and trends related to plan participation.

 "ICMA-RC was founded to provide public sector employees with high-quality retirement plans, investments and services to help them achieve financial security.  ICMA-RC has always provided outstanding in-person service, but now we invest heavily to ensure that our technology delivers the same exceptional level of service. Our goal is to deliver a high touch, high tech standard of service that’s unique in the public sector retirement plan space,” said Bob Schultze, President and Chief Executive Officer of ICMA-RC. “Congratulations to Karla Gill and her team for their great work and success on this initiative —and for the honor that the CIO 100 Award brings to ICMA-RC."

"Winning the CIO 100 Award is a testament to the hard work and outstanding success of ICMA-RC’s technology team in developing digital solutions,” said Karla Gill, Senior Vice President and Chief Information and Innovation Officer.  "Our team’s efforts had a clear impact on participant behavior and played a key role in helping ICMA-RC earn the CIO 100 Award. It’s most gratifying, of course, that these new resources make it easier for participants to prepare successfully for their financial futures.”  Gill notes that, since introducing our new digital resources, the ICMA-RC participant savings rate has increased by 46%. For participants under the age of 40, the savings rate increased by 43%.

About ICMA-RC

Founded in 1972, ICMA-RC is a non-profit, independent financial services corporation with approximately $55 billion in assets under management and administration (as of March 31, 2019), focused on providing retirement plans and related services for over a million public sector participant accounts. ICMA-RC’s mission is to help public sector employees build retirement security. The organization’s mission is delivered through its RealizeRetirement® approach in which ICMA-RC representatives actively engage participants in their retirement programs, help them build their asset base, and help them realize their retirement goals through a comprehensive retirement planning strategy.  For more information, visit www.icmarc.org, download ICMA-RC's mobile app from the App Store^SM and Google Play^TM or follow ICMA-RC on Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter.

About the CIO 100 Awards

The annual CIO 100 Awards celebrate 100 organizations and the teams within them that are using IT in innovative ways to deliver business value, whether by creating competitive advantage, optimizing business processes, enabling growth or improving relationships with customers. The award is an acknowledged mark of enterprise excellence. Recipients are selected through a three-step process. First, companies fill out an online application form detailing an innovative IT and business initiative. Next, a team of external judges (many of them former CIOs) reviews the applications in depth, looking for leading-edge IT practices and measurable results. Finally, CIO editors review the judges’ recommendations and select the final 100. Coverage of the 2019 CIO 100 Awards will be available online at CIO.com in August 2019 and in the summer issue of CIO’s digital magazine.

About CIO

CIO focuses on attracting the highest concentration of enterprise CIOs and business technology executives with unparalleled peer insight and expertise on business strategy, innovation, and leadership. As organizations grow with digital transformation, CIO provides its readers with key insights on career development, including certifications, hiring practices and skills development. The award-winning CIO portfolio — CIO.com, CIO Events, CIO Strategic Marketing Services, CIO Forum on LinkedIn, CIO Executive Council and CIO primary research — provides business technology leaders with analysis and insight on information technology trends and a keen understanding of IT’s role in achieving business goals. CIO is published by IDG Communications, Inc. Company information is available at www.idg.com.

Aprile Pritchet
ICMA-RC
2029628067
apritchet@icmarc.org